Thursday, September 26, 2013

Why Coke, Apple, & Disney Promote -- And You Should Too!



One may wonder why such huge brands and internationally dominant companies spend significant resources to promote, market, and advertise themselves. The answer is simple: to return their brand image and hopefully expand it.

Authors and publishers should think the same-way and some do.

Without book marketing or book publicity, how much smaller would the book industry be? It’s not just a matter of getting a consumer to switch their book money from one book to another, but a matter of getting the consumer to switch their money from non-book to book purchases. The PR machine creates currency for authors and publishers.

Books get discovered when they are discoverable. Little happens by accident. Like the lottery, you have to be in it to win it.

Many authors tell me they don’t have the funds, time, knowledge, or desire to promote their books. Well, sadly, this virtually ensured their book’s readership will suffer greatly.

Certainly, there are two different skill sets at play here-one is to be a great writer (thinker, editor, researcher, dreamer, and communicator) and the other is to be a businessperson (marketer-advertiser-promoter-salesperson). Few do both really well, just as it is challenging to find someone well-rounded in life (How many smart jocks or brainiac beauty pageant winners have you met?)

It’s okay not to like the act of promoting yourself.

It’s understandable you’d rather write than promote.

Maybe you are really shy; that’s why you write.

You want the writing to speak for itself.

Your time or funds are limited.

I totally get it. But you need to accept that there are consequences to ignoring the role the marketplace demands that you take.

So what are the solutions?

1. Change your attitude and try to promote yourself.
2. Hire someone to help, even if it means borrowing money (but don’t take out a second mortgage).
3. Find a co-author, one who likes to promote.
4. Change nothing and pray.

Remember, if billion-dollar companies recognize they need to keep promoting, then you should make an effort to get your name out too.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

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