Advertising: It's torture! It's annoying to watch and painful to produce. But some special ads are fun to watch and/or memorable--the unicorns: Mayhem, "Where's the Beef?" "Tastes Great. Less Filling" "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" and jingles that get stuck in your head. Advertising is the best way to sell things, and it's the basis of how entertainment is paid for--including books!
For an author, advertising can be a daunting task. Many of us don't know where to begin. So I've compiled a list of Advertising Tips from a few experienced professionals (see links below). We can use these techniques to reach the right audience and sell books.
Tips for Effective Advertising:
- Know Your Audience - This is on every list--must be important! You may think you know your audience, but here are some ways to REALLY know you know them.
- Research - what other books does your audience read? which book could you say "If you like ____, you'll love my book!"
- Make your book appealing - Can you say your book is a mashup of which two popular books/movies?
- Optimize for searches - choose great key words that will make your book appear before your readers on Google!
- Get personal - share, relate, be accessible, answer questions
- Be Creative - Authors know all about being creative. Yes, you do. You have created worlds, in-depth personalities, and complex plots. Don't sell yourself short. Now use your creativity in a different way--Author hisses as she steps out into sun to peddle books...
- Have a Hook! Condense your book into one tantalizing sentence, no details, just a twisty, tasty tease!
- Stand out - What makes your book different than the rest of the books on the same shelf??
- Inspire action - Once you read the first chapter, you won't be able to put it down!
- Your ads need to be Memorable, Short, Relevant
- More Intense Targeting - repeat customers and fans are the goal...
- These key points are from World Stream
- Behavior and interest targeting: These are the people interested in your stuff.
- Remarketing: These are the people who have recently checked our your stuff.
- Demographic targeting: These are the people who can afford to buy your stuff.
- Geo-fencing targets more specifically by location (Blue Fountain Media)
- Visual Stimulation - still or video, an ad has to be eye-catching
- Image association/Branding - your images must convey the mood of your book and possibly go deeper to show your "brand"
- Great graphics - you get what you pay for - don't be just another pic that gets passed by
- Videos need to portray message with or without sound - many people watch videos without turning on the volume (I am one) Talk about "Show Don't Tell!"
- Variety of Media - social is the way to go, but be smart and spend wisely. Here's some advice on who, how, and why or why not...
- Facebook - good for small business, but some say not. Personally, I've tried these and they give feedback. Not sure if it helps, but I think exposure is helpful.
- Twitter - better to tweet with key words tailored to your audience than tweet "engagements"
- More--Medium, Hacker News, Reddit, Digg, Linked In--some I know, some I don't, but I'm going to look into these further
- Test your ads - ask friends, relatives, blog/newsletter readers, etc for their first impressions of your ad
- Have a Consistent Message - Know what you want to say. What's your theme?
- Why should people read your book?
- Testimonials of reviewers and readers work
So, when you're ready to publish, keep these tips in mind for ways to advertise your book. And keep writing--once you hook readers, they will want more!
Source articles: Blue Fountain Media, Target Public, All Business, World Stream, Entrepreneur
With my moving still in progress, I may or may not get another post out this month... Hope all is well with you and yours this holiday season--peace and love to you!
