Category: Marketing

The Helpers

I have a group of superfans
who always buy my books
and always help promote
my books.

They consist of
about 1% of my readers.
1%.
That’s it
yet that 1% makes
a HUGE difference in my sales.

As Seth Godin
shares

“If 2% of a population
takes coordinated action,
it makes a difference.
If 5% do,
it can change everything.

This simple math
also means that
most people rarely do anything.”

Expect most people
to do nothing.

Celebrate and pander to
the people
who help.

They are rare.
They are special.
Treat them well.

There WILL Be Spoilers

I warn readers
there WILL be spoilers
posted
about my newly released stories.

If they want to avoid
the spoilers,
they should pre-order the story.

I know there will be spoilers posted
because I design my stories
to be talked about.

Spoilers are a side effect
of a product launch
product designers should want.

We WANT customers
to rave to others
about our products and services.

During those raves,
too much information
will be shared.
That’s human nature.

So I account for that.
I offer a way
for spoiler-haters
to avoid spoilers
(pre-ordering the story).

And I ensure
the stories provide happiness
even if they are spoiled.
The magic isn’t
in the surprises.

We WANT spoilers
to be posted
about our products/services.

Design those products/services
to prompt spoilers
and to provide satisfaction
if…when those spoilers happen.

Sound On

We’ve all seen
the social media posts.
There’s a video attached
and the poster states,
“Sound On!”

Okay, if the viewer
needs the sound on
to understand
the message in the video,
it is a sh*tty video.

There should be
closed captioning, of course.

48 million Americans
have some sort
of hearing loss.

Many others watch videos
with the sound off
because…well…
we don’t like the noise
or we don’t want
the world to know
we’re watching videos.

A video should also
convey the key message
without the sound.
If words have to be spoken,
they should be
shown in text
on the screen.

Your video
shouldn’t need
to have sound on
to be understood.

Woo Your Superfans

I do the bulk of the marketing
for my Romance Novels.
I buy the advertising.
I post on social media.
I send newsletters.

Superfans are responsible
for about 95%
of the remaining promo.

Fellow writers do the rest.

Casual readers
do sh*t all
regarding marketing.

So I design my promo
to appeal to new readers, yes,
but to also appeal
to my superfans.

As Seth Godin
shares

“It’s peer-to-peer interaction
that shapes our culture,
and culture that shapes our world.

The opportunity for anyone
seeking to make a change happen
is to enlist people
who are on a similar path
and give them the tools
and the motivation
to engage with
the people around them.”

Woo your superfans
and they will sell
your products/services
for you.

Everything You Say Or Do

One of my buddies
in Human Resources
at a big company
(unofficially)
looks at the social media posts
of job candidates
and anyone else brought to her attention.

She isn’t looking for positive news.
She’s looking for ANYTHING
that she can find
to justify
not hiring
or firing that employee.

And she searches back
DECADES.
Anything the employee
is tagged on
is studied.
That includes other people’s posts.
If she can track the social media account
to other social media accounts,
like those of the employee’s parents,
she looks at those accounts also.

Everything you post
on social media,
everything you say
in public,
everything you do
is being recorded.

And it will be part
of your unofficial record
FOREVER.

Remember that
when you speak, act, post.
Take that same care
with loved ones’
words and actions.

Using Dated References

I recently read a post
from a business guru
referencing movies that were released
70 or more years ago.

I assumed all his information
was as dated
as his movie references.

You might think
using a ‘classic’ movie
is widening
the demographics
for the people
who have watched it.

It narrows the demographics
significantly.

Older movies look sh*tty on modern TVs
and often have sh*tty takes
on race and women and other stances.

And there’s an abundance
of modern movies
for everyone to watch.

Use current references
if you want to be viewed
as current.

Calling Someone A Doomist

The current trend
is to call anyone
who isn’t 100% optimistic
about the future
a ‘doomist.’

The danger to this
is
it shuts down conversation.
It prevents us
from hearing about
not-as-happy situations
and preparing for them.
It stops others
from warning us,
from talking honestly
with us.

And that will cause us
pain
…eventually.

The future isn’t
all sunshine and roses.
Heck, the past wasn’t
happy all the time.

There were
plenty of opportunities
then
and there will be
plenty of opportunities
in the future.

But we won’t be able
to fully take advantage
of these opportunities
unless we know about
and
avoid or minimize
the challenges.

Don’t EVER call
anyone
a doomist.

Work Events Aren’t Time Off

A loved one’s employer
organized a fun event
for their employees
on a Friday.

Then they decided
to give everyone
that Friday off
with pay,
whether employees
were going
to the fun event or not.

About 50% of the employees
who signed up
for the fun event
changed their minds
and decided not to attend it.

The organizers were upset.
But they shouldn’t have been.

Because a work organized event
is NOT time off.
It is work,
a more interesting version
of work
but still work.

Employees aren’t spending
the time
with loved ones.
They have to watch
what they say and do.
They have no control
over the activities
or the timing.

It is work
but merely in another guise.

Work events
are different from time off.

Trimming All The Special Out Of A Product

I love taking cruises.
Those are my vacations
of choice.

But cruising is changing,
going from being a treat,
a luxury,
to simply being a means
to visit a lot of places
easily
on one vacation.

When I first started cruising,
cabins were tidied
three times a day.
I thought this was
unnecessary
but I certainly saw it
as a luxury,
as being pampered.

Today,
cabins are tidied
once a day
but only
if the cabin is unoccupied
during that small slice of time.

In the past,
there were gleaming white table cloths
on the dining room tables.
Dinner was a production.

Today,
there are no table cloths
on the cafeteria-style table tops.
I feel like I’m eating
in a food court.

There are no individual toiletries
in the cabins.
There are pumps of shampoo and body wash
and no lotions.
The tissue is the cheapest stuff
ever produced.

There have been a thousand reductions
in quality,
a thousand cost savings
in every area.

And that has made
cruising a commodity,
replaceable,
not as magical.

If you cut quality everywhere,
your product or service
can’t claim to be a luxury
or a treat.

Those cuts will be noticeable.

If We Want To Be Talked About

There are writers
who complain
the Romance genre
isn’t covered enough
by the media.
It is the largest genre
(depending on the stats provided)
and it should be mentioned
when other genres are mentioned.

But then, these same writers
complain when Romance is covered
by media
negatively,
when it is criticized.

We can’t have it
both ways.
Either we welcome media coverage
and we accept there will be
some negative coverage
or
we don’t accept
there will be negative coverage
and we don’t get media coverage.

This is true of all groups
and all demographics.

If we want to be talked about,
we have to accept
there will be negative talk.