Book Marketing Strategy 101

There are almost 2-million books published every single year. What is your plan to stand out amongst all that noise?

If the thought alone is terrifying - we need to talk about your marketing strategy when it comes to your author platform. Content Marketing Strategist Melanie Herschorn of VIP Digital Content coaches authors every day on how to come up with a winning strategy.

“I’m on a mission to support and empower my clients to create clear messaging and content that shines a light on their individuality. A book doesn’t just exist in a vacuum. It is a tool that requires optimizing your marketing strategy, having the right lead magnet, and audience building by tuning in.” -Melanie Herschorn

The First Year

As you write your book, that first year is a very important time period for building. We talk so much about your author platform because so many authors come to us with nothing, zero, zilch. And then find themselves completely overwhelmed with trying to build an audience and attract them without having taken any part of their writing journey with that audience. A better option is to already have that audience built by the time you launch your book and then to use that book as a nurture tool to get your audience into your bigger programs. If you don’t have that going on way in advance, the chances are that you’re not going to have a strategy that works.

It Starts with Messaging

A lot of people overlook this because they've assumed that if someone knows what their book is about, that will be enough. The truth is you have to dive deeper and remember what your mission is, why you wrote the book in the first place, what your goal with the book is, and what transformation you want the reader to get. That has to always be front and center in your mind.

If you don’t know who you’re talking to, where they live, why they read, what their interests are, why they care about your book, and so on… you aren't going to reach them where they're standing.

Author Breakthrough: The truth is when somebody looks at a piece of content, opens an email, looks at a post on social media, all they’re thinking about is, “What’s in it for me?” You have about one second to give them a reason before they keep going.

Consistency Is Always Going to Matter

A good strategy is not just about what you’re doing but that you're doing it consistently. And in places that are effective to your audience. Where are you building your audience? How are you building? If you’re just making noise, and it's the wrong noise in front of the wrong people, they're going to start muting you. So with that consistency comes brand alignment and how your book aligns to your bigger picture as an author and a brand.

Customize Your Strategy

If you want to write a book for a market that is already very saturated, it’s a great idea to take another angle on your messaging. Niche it down even more, focus it on a subgroup of your audience and tailor your messaging specifically to that group of people. Cookie cutter strategies often do not work because they are either not aligned or falling into a very noisy market. Customization will help you really solidify your audience and then your messaging so your book and your marketing draws them in effectively.

Implementation Is Key

I see so many authors who funnel money into their book or their marketing and then don't take action. Marketing is amazing - but it's not good enough to work on its own - you have to be sharing, engaging, communicating - consistently. To add to that, all the talk online is always about funnels but after you've spent any time at all in the business, you start to realize that funnels are not going to get you those high ticket clients. You have to build relationships for that to happen.

“That starts with conviction marketing and relationship marketing. It’s got all these words, but you can’t spray it out online and walk away. You have to be strategic in what you post. You have to engage with the people who are responding to your posts. That’s how you create that excitement about you and your book. That is how you grow your audience of loyal graving fans.” -Melanie Herschorn

Author Breakthrough: As you build your strategy and bolster up your brand, make sure all of the pieces are in alignment. Not only with who you are but with one another. Your book, your social media accounts, your lead magnet, your webinar - all of it has to match, so to speak - so your audience knows what to expect from you and then gets that every single time they engage.

For more on building a marketing strategy for your book that will work, don’t miss the rest of this episode of Promote, Profit, Publish.