October 2015 – client k

The Product Vs The Brand

Any half decent food scientist
can figure out the Coke formula.

Anyone with any
food manufacturing experience at all
can figure out
the Cadbury Caramilk bar secret.

Anyone with a computer
can order one of my books,
replace my name with her name,
and sell it.

Your products can be duplicated also.

But we’re not selling products.
We’re selling branded products.
These are more than physical objects.
They have emotion tied to them,
an experience.

Yes, your product is important,
but your brand is as or more important.

Dedicate resources
–time, money, creativity–
to both.

Every Day

I write every day.
I promote every day.
I blog here every day.

I get stories written
and books sold.

But as Seth Godin
shares

“More important than the output,
though,
is the act itself.
The act of doing it every day.
When you commit to a practice,
you will certainly have days
when you don’t feel like it,
when you believe
it’s not your best work,
when the muse deserts you.
But, when you keep your commitment,
the muse returns.
When you keep your commitment,
the work happens.”

This is true of art,
of marketing,
of sales.

Did you create today?
Did you promote your product today?
Did you see a customer today?

Pricing And Sales

The knee jerk reaction
to low sales
is to reduce pricing.

With so many people
and companies
willing to deep discount products
or offer them for free,
this is unlikely to result
in more sales.

Making prospects care more
is a better option.

Seth Godin
shares

“If people aren’t buying
your product,
it’s not because
the price is too high.
It’s because
we don’t believe you enough,
don’t love it enough,
don’t care enough.”

The problem with your sales
is unlikely to be your pricing.
Look at other aspects first.

Failing Faster

I’ve published over 100 stories.
Do I still have stories
that don’t work?

Yes, definitely.
However, it used to take me
a month’s worth of writing
to figure out a story didn’t work.
Now, it takes me
a day’s worth of writing.

I fail faster
and that makes a huge difference
to my success rate.

You’ll continue to fail also.
That’s part of trying new things.

Learn how to fail faster.

Color Matters

A pink cover on a romance novel
will reduce sales.
A green cover
tends to increase sales.

Color matters.

Hootsuite shares
“According to one study,
85% of shoppers say color
is the primary reason
they buy a product.
It also increases brand recognition
by 80%.”

Don’t have a color preference
for your marketing?
How about blue?

According to ColorMatters.com,
40% of people worldwide
named blue
as their favorite color.

Think about the colors
on your marketing,
your packaging,
your store walls.

Knowing Your Industry

Some of my fellow writers
refuse to read
books in the same genres
they write.
They feel they’ll subconsciously copy
the other writers’ works.

My issue is…
how do they know
they’re NOT already copying
other writers’ works?

How do they know
they’re bringing new, fresh ideas
to their genre
if they don’t read in it?

How do they know
they’re giving readers
in that genre
what they want
if they don’t know
what readers are buying?

The benefits to knowing
all about your competitors
far outweigh
the downfalls.
Know your industry.
Know what makes you special.

A Message From Your Heart

Carmine Gallo
shares

“When Pope Francis
presided over
the ordination of 19 priests
in Rome earlier this year
he offered this advice:
‘Your homilies should not be boring.
Your homilies should reach
people’s hearts
because they come
from your heart.
What you tell parishioners
is what you have
in your heart.'”

But… but… but…
you sell products,
not salvation.

Yes, but you believe
in your products, don’t you?
You’re passionate about them.
Tell people why.

Heck, just telling prospects
you’re passionate about a product
may be all your prospects need
to hear.
When I say “I love this book”,
I sell copies,
even if I don’t say anything else.

Share your passion
about your products.

Top Range Of Sales

A month and a half after release,
one of my stories
is still in the top 20
for its categories on Amazon.

Five years ago,
I would worry
that this story would run out
of readership.

Fifty Shades Of Grey
has proven that
this won’t happen any time soon.
4 years after first releasing,
Fifty Shades is still on bestseller lists.
It has sold over 125 million copies.

So I continue to market
my story,
knowing there are still readers
who haven’t yet bought it.

How many units
has the top selling product
in your industry sold?

When you reach that level of sales,
THEN you can consider
taking it easy with the marketing.
‘Til then, keeping marketing.

Everyone Isn’t Your Prospect

Some of my most
financially successful books
are written in a niche
not many readers buy.

The few readers who do buy
in this niche
buy everything.
They’re not a big enough market
to put me on
the New York Times Bestseller Lists
but they definitely are big enough
to pay the bills.

Scott Ginsberg
shares

“I heard an interview
with veteran television producer
who made a fascinating point
about network ratings.
I’ll never forget his words.

‘Ninety nine out of a hundred people
aren’t watching my show,
and I’m a millionaire.'”

You don’t have to sell to everyone
to be a success.

Whom You Listen To

A newer writer asked
for blurb (back cover marketing copy)
help.
She was writing in my niche.
She would likely be my competition.

I was once a new writer,
however,
and a more established writer helped me.
I gave her some advice,
not ‘popular’ advice,
REAL advice.

Another writer linked to advice,
the ‘popular’ advice,
the advice newer writes like to hear.

A quick check of sales ranks
on Amazon
revealed that both writers,
the writer recommending the post
and the writer
who wrote the post,
have sold very few books.

In contrast,
I currently have books
in the top 10
of the niche she’s targeting.
I have USA Today Bestselling
above my name.
Clearly, I have credentials.

The newer writer
listened to the ‘popular’ advice,
disregarding my conflicting advice.

In this information age,
it is VERY easy
to check credentials.
Only follow ‘popular’ advice,
if the people promoting this advice
have seen results.