Remember, you’re a
business entity. You sell books, information, ideas, advice, and
expertise. As a business, adhere to some standards:
·
Keep
accurate records
·
Create
an advisory board
·
Protect
your intellectual property -- use copyrights, trademarks and patents
·
Use
written contracts and have an attorney review what you’re about to sign
·
Make
sure your contract avoids misunderstandings, identifies who does what by when,
assures payment, avoids liability, and clearly states what is being agreed to
In
Entrepreneurship: Starting and Operating a Small Business, Second
Edition, by Steve Mariotti and Caroline Glackin, several business plan
software packages are identified. These can help you focus on treating
yourself as a business:
To learn more about
the latest technology that can help your business efforts, consult: www.techweb.com.
Do You Need Some Market Research?
Big companies spend
millions researching and analyzing the marketplace. You can’t afford the
time or money to do this. But thanks to the Internet, you can find a lot
of information about your potential customer.
You may not be able
to conduct a phone survey of 1,000 people, but you can find out about the
buying habits and needs of the American public online. You can look into
the habits of people based on geography, demographics, book reading patterns,
etc. A harder thing to do is to measure what’s still relevant is the
behavioral or psychological patterns that people operate under. Reading
up on pop psychology may provide insight on how people tend to act or react
under a given situation. Even certain words can trigger emotional
responses, so take that into your consideration when marketing to others.
A lot is common sense, but it helps to know more about the people you market to
in order to get more yeses.
Keeping Track
Marketing, like
life, gets filled with to-do lists and lots of random notes that need a home.
How will you keep track of people, calendar events, things to check out,
etc? Many people are disorganized –
scribbled notes on napkins, old emails stored somewhere, online calendars mixed
with hand-written planners. We all try to create a system that works but we
start to lose track, get lazy in maintaining it, or find ourselves simply to be
our worst enemy. That said, don’t give up.
For marketing purposes, you will need to be
organized about the following:
·
Keeping
a list of your ideas
·
Listing
web sites or people you want to check out
·
Your
invoices and accounts receivable
·
Bills
you need to pay
·
A
marketing plan
·
A
budget
·
A
publicity plan
·
Daily
to-do list
·
Calendar
of appointments
·
Address
book of key contacts
·
Setting
deadlines
·
Reminder
to follow-up or reach out to certain people – with notes on what was said and
done
·
A
place to keep resources that you uncover
·
A
collection of articles and blogs that you plan to read
·
Notes
for things you plan to blog about
The list can go on
and on. You may do a lot of this on your phone or computer but rarely is
everything neatly in one place. Just be sure to update the system that you
create for yourself and print/copy/or back it up regularly. And know that you
will never be perfect in this area, but learn to prioritize and be on top of
the bread and butter things.
Also, Make Note Of These Rules For Managing
Your Cash:
1.
Get
paid upfront or collect payment as quickly as possible. Never assume
what you invoice for will always get paid. Every business has
debt-collection problems. Be prepared to get stiffed at least a few times
a year.
2.
Always
know your cash balance and keep track of planned receivables and of bills that
are due. Don’t get caught short or off guard simply because of poor
record-keeping or overly optimistic assumptions.
3.
Delay,
bill payment as long as possible – always stretch out the terms – but don’t
alienate vendors or incur penalties in doing so. Prioritize your bills
and pay what’s most overdue first or pay what’s most important first.
4.
Seek
to negotiate the best possible deal – on everything, all the time. Don’t
be afraid to ask for a discount or to counter-offer when buying
something. Everything is negotiable and everyone in business knows this.
Keep Good Records Of Expenses And Income So
You:
·
Can
do your taxes with ease and avoid an audit
·
Keep
track of cash flow
·
Analyze
activity and review ROI
·
Will
be able to examine which areas need attention.
Consult with an
accountant as to which business structure you should operate under (sole
proprietorship vs. LLC or S Corporation for example). Obtain the proper
documents or federal employer identification number for the business. You
may need to collect sales tax and pay it to the government, so look into
whether you need to obtain a sales and use tax registration number.
What Will People Pay?
·
People
will pay what they think it is worth.
·
They
will pay what they are told to pay.
·
They
pay what they can afford.
·
They
pay for perceived value of your offer vs. perceived value of competing offers.
·
They
will pay for comfort, security, piece of mind, ease.
·
They
will pay for relief to a problem.
·
They
will pay out of fear, guilt or pleasure.
·
They
will pay because they don’t know any better.
·
They
will pay to avoid a greater loss or payment later.
·
They
will pay a premium if they like you, if they are attracted to you, if they
think you like them and care about them and understand them.
You set your price
and you can choose to negotiate
downward. It is up to you. Make sure you understand the value delivered by you,
your book, your services, your brand. As long as you can articulate your value
in a confident way you won’t have to shy away from or apologize for your price.
By knowing your customer’s perception of competitive substitutes and alternatives
you can get into their heads about how you compare.
Perhaps author
Jeffrey J. Fox says it best in regards to price, in his book, How to Become a Marketing Superstar: “Price your products or
selves according to the value the customer receives from the product. Do not
price your product based on its production cost plus a markup. Do not price
your product solely according to supply and demand. (Even the most basic
commodities can be differentiated and priced to value. And gouging customers
who need plywood during a hurricane may produce short-term profits but will
long be remembered by the customer base). Do not automatically price your
product to mirror competitive pricing. Do not price your product below cost.”
Here are a few more things to consider:
·
Put
a dollar value on your time and keep increasing it.
·
Seek
the quickest and easiest ways to get clients and customers.
·
Always
look for cheaper ways to market yourself.
·
Sell
your solution – the result of what people will get if they read your book or
hire you as a speaker/consultant
·
Quantify
and monetize that solution and all secondary benefits.
You are an author -- and a business! Take ownership of it.
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
How Book Publishers Grow Their Brand & Sales With Their Authors’ Help
How Authors Get Bulk Sales Now
A podcast on book publicity that you need to listen to today
How Authors Can Market To Libraries Successfully
Unfu*k Your Book marketing
How Authors Get A Yes Out Of Others
Some key principles to rally your book marketing around
How to write powerful, effective book advertising copy that sells tons of books
So what is needed to be a champion book marketer?
The Book Marketing Strategies Of Best-Sellers
How authors can sell more books
No. 1 Book Publicity Resource: 2019 Toolkit For Authors -- FREE
Brian Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2019. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent. This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.