When
promoting and marketing a book, you want to do it in the most cost-effective,
timely, and successful manner possible.
But, like corporations or other authors and publishers, mistakes can be
made. Sometimes huge ones. Here are a few marketing blunders you can
learn from – and as a result appreciate the fact that even billion-dollar,
Fortune 500 companies with all of their research and resources can make catastrophic errors:
Almost
any search for “worst marketing campaigns” yields New Coke in the top
spot. The year was 1985 and Coca-Cola
thought it was time to change a formula that addicted hundreds of millions of
consumers worldwide. It failed
disastrously. Lesson here: Don’t screw
up a good thing. You’re an iconic brand
for a reason, so don’t alter the very thing you are known for!
Another
blunder of mass proportions was the underage Calvin Klein ads of the 1990s,
where teenagers were in racy ads and commercials that used sex to sell
jeans. The expensive advertisements were
pulled after protests.
7-Up,
back in the 1950’s, advocated for young moms to feed their babies the soft
drink instead of milk.
Starbucks
recently had to cancel its ad campaign where customers were encouraged to
discuss race with its baristas. It fell
apart after six days following social media ridicule about mixing politics with
coffee.
Pepsi
recently was forced to yank a Kendall Jenner political protest ad days after it
launched. There was a public backlash
over its video content.
The
GAP, after a 30-year run decided to change its iconic logo in 2016. After a six-day rollout of its new logo, the
backlash of criticism was so severe that the company reversed its design in a
matter of days.
For
authors and book marketers, the mistakes made are usually on a smaller scale
and less controversial. They typically
forget to mention something in a press release, come up with a horrible book
title, or select a bad image for their, book cover. Their common errors involve missing certain
media deadlines, failing to hire a professional publicist, and mistakenly
believing they can just use Facebook ads and a daily tweet to put them on the
map.
The biggest faux pas? Thinking that their book is great when it isn’t or having a great book and believing that’s enough to sell it.
The biggest faux pas? Thinking that their book is great when it isn’t or having a great book and believing that’s enough to sell it.
Authors
need to know that:
·
They
can’t market to everyone and that their targeted reader is not everyone.
·
They
must build up a mailing list of connections to solicit book sales from – and
that they need to call upon people on that list to solicit their own lists too.
·
In
a Do-It-Yourself world, sometimes you still need to recruit the advice and help
of a book pro when it comes to publishing and marketing.
·
You
should be active with Goodreads, Net Galley, Reddit, Amazon Author Central, and
other book communities.
·
You
can get some attention from paid book reviewers at legit publications like Kirkus Reviews, PW Select, and the Foreword.
·
Giving
away free books can pay off in the long run.
·
You
need to have a social media presence and to diversify your exposure amongst
several of these outlets: Facebook,
Twitter, You Tube, Instagram, Linked In, and Pinterest.
Plenty
of authors make marketing mistakes. They
didn’t know something. They
misunderstood. They thought they could
copy what someone else did and get the same results. They were misinformed. They misjudged. They bet wrong. It happens.
The key is not to give up or think that a setback defines you.
There’s
more than one way to write a great book – and there’s more than one way to
market it successfully. Learn from the
shortfalls and miscues of others, from Coca-Cola to best-selling authors. We can learn from the biggest brands, not
only of what to do, but of what not to do.
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
Do
authors have the right attitude to succeed at book marketing?
While
popularity of social media grows, traditional media still leads the conversation
Authors
should see book marketing like going to a gym regularly
How to
model success of authors for your own book publicity
How to be
persistent when marketing books effectively
How
authors convince media of their uniqueness
Authors
should zoom in on book marketing now
How
authors can communicate better when promoting a book
How authors can sell more books
No. 1 Book Publicity Resource: 2019
Toolkit For Authors -- FREE
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.