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Why Do-Overs Need to be Part of Your Marketing Strategy

I started thinking about do-overs and second chances after attending my cousin’s second wedding [same groom – the first wedding took place in the groom’s native country]. How they can be both positive and critical to your business success. I was thinking of all the times I stopped myself when I was probably inches or millimeters away from success. Can you relate?

Even if the improvement is only a millimeter over the last run, do-overs can make all the difference. Watching the Olympics recently, I saw a few races where millimeters or milliseconds were what separated the gold medalist from the rest of the competitors.

Anthony Robbins talks about how the difference between success and failure is only a millimeter apart in this inspiring video.

I am not talking about a Mulligan – the do-over in golf you request because you didn’t like your first shot. I am talking about an informed do-over. There are a number of places where the do-over make sense in your business and I believe should be built into your business practice. Part of the key to success, is to use available feedback or tools to help you improve on your previous attempts or initiatives.

Here Are a Few examples of How Using a Do-Over in Your Marketing Can Be The Key To Success

Headlines, Blog Post Titles, and even Book Titles or Sub Titles

A mentor of mine recently suggested that perhaps better blog post titles would help with readership and engagement. I decided to use an A/B split test tool to see if my original post title [‘A’], could be improved with an alternate [‘B’] . I used a free plugin called Title Experiments Free that randomly displays the 2 post titles and ranks them based on performance. I tested three titles: in two out of three cases, my original ‘A’ title was preferred, and in the third case, the alternative headline is proving to be a better option than my original headline.

Pitching the Press

If your story idea or pitch doesn’t land the first time, you can go back to a journalist or publication with a revised pitch or a new one altogether. Clearly, if you have gotten feedback from the journalist or media outlet on what improvement or changes your pitch needs to get them interested , that is ideal but that’s not always an option. You can do your own research by looking at some of their published stories and see if you can identify how they are different from your pitch, and use this insight to improve your stories before re-submitting.

[clickToTweet tweet=”‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretksy. via Why You Get a Do-Over” quote=”‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretksy”]

Your book launch or book marketing

Perhaps your book didn’t get the kind of reception that you had hoped for. Maybe you got rejected by publishing houses you submitted your book to. You are not alone. Agatha Christie’s book pitches were continually rejected for 5 years, before she landed a publishing deal. Her book sales are now second to the best selling author of all time, William Shakespeare.

There is no reason you can’t go back to your book for a do-over and make some tweaks until you succeed. This can include any aspect from the book pitch, the book title or subtitle, the book description, the cover, the book category it is listed under in Amazon and Barnes and Noble, to your book landing page design and content.

Coca Cola has done this numerous times, releasing ‘New’ versions of coke. Some have disappeared quickly and some have succeeded and stuck around.

[clickToTweet tweet=”Don’t Give Up Before the Magic Happens- F Flagg via Do-Overs Need to Be Part of Marketing” quote=”‘Don’t Give Up Before the Magic Happens’- Fanny Flagg”]

Where are there opportunities in your marketing for a do-over that can make all the difference in your success?

How Thinking Big Can Be Bad for Building Authority

How Thinking Big Can Be Bad For Building Authority

Think big. Create a big hairy audacious goal BHAG. You have all been encouraged to do that. The truth is that thinking big can hurt you in the short term when it comes to everything from building authority, seeking publicity to book reviews and more.
It’s great to create that big hairy audacious goal and to think big, however if it’s not put in perspective it can actually hurt you when it comes to achieving some of your goals, especially when those goals involve third parties such as building authority, getting media coverage, being a radio show guest or getting book reviews.

Prospects sometimes come to me stating their desire to be featured in Entrepreneur magazine, The New York Times or in the ultimate outlet – Oprah magazine. Those are great goals, however, sometimes you have to start out in the minor league, before the majors take notice of you.

Let’s take a page from Oprah’s path to success

Oprah didn’t start out as a nationally recognized, incredibly popular talk show host. She started out part time at a local black radio station in Tennessee. From there she went to another local station as both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville’s WLAC-TV. It wasn’t until 2 jobs later that she was discovered by a Chicago station that invited her to come work on a talk show, which soon lead to what we all know as The Oprah Winfrey show.

We might never have heard of Oprah if she only had her sights set on getting hired directly on a major network show, and wouldn’t consider anything less. Instead she began part time, at a local station and kept stepping up into bigger and more visible roles.

It’s important to not to overlook local or smaller opportunities because they often lead to other opportunities. You may be missing out if you’re overlooking opportunities, and holding out exclusively to land the big one first.

Starting smaller offers multiple benefits

By starting smaller or with lesser known media outlets, you get to do a few positive things:

Have an easier time getting opportunities – local media likes local stories, and there is often less competition seeking them
You can practice and polish your skills – better to flub in your small town paper than in The New York Times….
Larger media outlets, producers and book reviewers often scan local media or smaller blogs for story ideas.
The media mentions or reviews you receive are great content to fill your media room or press kit with

For the big win that you’re looking for, it just may not be the first publicity or place you get quoted.

Oprah got her break as an anchor on the news, because she was willing to work at a small local station.

So when it comes to getting publicity, being a guest on a podcast, getting your book reviewed and many other desirable situations, having some experience, even if it’s not from the top network or leading company counts.

Describing what journalists look for in a source, Dawn Reiss, freelance journalist /writer for various national outlets said,

“A lot of the major outlets will do a Google search on people to see where else they’ve been published.”

So being published, somewhere, counts. If you steadily and consistently build your authority and showcase it properly online, those big opportunities will come.

What opportunities are you overlooking because you think they are too small or insignificant?

This first appeared in Business2Community

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6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Even Publish

As I was watching the Bourne Identity the other night, I saw 6 ways to get readers lined up. I was seeing it for the umpteenth time and enjoying the commercial breaks for a change, because Matt Damon came on to talk about the soon-to-be-released movie Jason Bourne, and how the movies were made. He gave us some insights and behind-the-scenes looks into all Bourne movies, including the newest one.

It got me thinking about what a great job Hollywood does promoting movies and how there are lessons that can be applied to other products or services and particularly to selling books.

Here are 6 Ways to Get Readers Lined Up Before You Publish

Give a Sneak Preview

Create a preview and ‘coming soon’ content. Movies do this really well with trailers for upcoming features; we’re accustomed to seeing these before the main picture is shown in the theater. This starts to build interest and buzz for the upcoming movie. It let’s us know that it exists, and whets our appetite, so we start thinking about going to see it, before it even gets released.

This is something that many authors don’t take advantage of, and the results can be downright depressing. You work so hard to write your book, if you don’t offer some kind of preview, pre-announcement or information about your book to build buzz before it’s finished, you may publish and hear crickets. Not the way to go. You can take a page from Hollywood by giving away a sample chapter, making a video about your book, or talking about the writing process.

Create an Online Destination

A movie gets its own website and hashtag even before it’s released, so anyone interested in finding out more about it, can go to the site and find all the information in one place, making it easy for the interested audience to stay up to date, and plan to go see it.

Authors benefit from doing the same. Build an online home for the book; this can be a landing page, a free-standing website, or a page within your existing website where people can go to find out information about the book. You’ll want to include some information, preview content, when the book will be available for sale. You want to capture email addresses of the people who are interested in your book, so you can notify them of updates as well as when you actually publish. This is really key to making book sales right away on this book and future books.

Get in Front of Your Existing Audience

Hollywood knows where their existing audience is… in the movie houses! They show the coming attraction trailers in theaters, as they know they have an audience in those moviegoers – people who clearly like movies.

As a first time author, you won’t have the same type of existing audience of people you know read your books, but you do have friends, family, and anyone in your personal and business networks who most likely will be excited about your book, want to support you, and will buy a copy.

Find New Audiences

Hollywood gets in front of new audiences by taking out ads in publications, and they are now using social media more and more, including promoting a hashtag for a movie before it’s released.

You can do the same for your books. If you don’t know where your new audience lives, what you can do is find a lookalike audience. If you write erotic books then you could see where people are talking about Fifty Shades of Grey or some other book in that genre. You can assert yourself in the conversation – don’t just promote your books and spam the audience, but join the conversation and find out how to become part of that community. By doing so, when your book is published, you can then engage those people, introduce your book, and turn them into raving fans for your book as well.

Share Social Proof

Social proof is really a key factor in building credibility. People don’t care what a Hollywood studio says about its own movie, but they care what the critics and public say. Movie trailers, posters and ads will feature positive one line accolades from the media such as “The must see movie of the year- David Denby, The New Yorker”. Trailers created pre-release, are updated to include these quotes and any award nominations the movie receives after it’s released, to reinforce the positive buzz about a movie and entice you to see it.

The same is true for your book; just like moviegoers don’t care what the studio says about their own movie, they won’t care what you say about your book. So as an author what you can do for social proof is you can get pre-publication reviews for your book. Before you publish you can ask people to review it and give you a review or testimonial. You can get endorsements from influencers or well-known people in their field, or experts on the book’s topic. You can include these on your book landing page, in your book, or in your book’s promotional materials, as well as on social media to add credibility and positive buzz.

It’s very important to take advantage of social proof, as well as all the ways to build buzz for your book and to get people excited about it, and get them over to your book landing page, where they can optin to your list. Once you publish, you can get readers by directing all promotions right to your Amazon book page to make it easy for them to buy a copy.

A Promotional Tour

Before a movie release, the lead actors will make appearances on television talk shows to raise awareness and build buzz for the movies. A carefully selected clip is shown as a teaser for the audience. The release date and locations will be covered, acting as the audience’s call to action.

As an author, you can create a promotional tour before you publish, and without even leaving your home. There are many podcasts that will welcome you as a guest, before your book is published. Some blogs will also welcome you as a guest pre-publication. This is where your book landing page is key to capitalizing on the experience; when you create a call to action during your guest appearance, you’ll want to direct listeners or blog readers to your landing page, so they can sign up to be notified once you publish.

Do not make the mistake of waiting until your book is published before starting to put these initiatives in place. It’s very depressing to finish the hard work of writing a book and not see any results when you publish. Set yourself up for success by creating a book landing page that captures the email addresses of interested potential readers, so you can notify them as soon as the book is available for sale. You will get lots of sales that way.

You may not be thinking of turning your book into a series like the Bourne books that the movies are based on, but the studio has done something really smart by building a franchise or a series of movies; they’ve built a ready audience for the next one in the series!

You don’t have to write a series of books to benefit from a franchise. By building an email list you have a ready audience for when your next book comes out, even if it’s on an another topic.

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Why An Author Media Kit Helps You Get More Results

As an author, one of your goals is to have your books read by as many people as possible. To achieve this, you need to get as much visibility as possible. An author media kit will be a key component in assuring you succeed; whether you use publicity, public speaking or both of these strategies to get in front of your potential readers.

The Professional Standard

A media kit, is also called a press kit, or in its short form, a one sheet. By any name, a media kit is the standard professional tool used by authors, speakers and experts to present themselves to the media and event planners. Whether you are traditionally published or self published, you will be expected to have a media kit. It is not unusual to have a few versions of your media kit, from a one sheet to a full featured, detailed, multi-page media kit.

What exactly is a Media Kit

A media kit is like a folder of information about you and your book, containing the who, what, where and when. It should include a brief author bio, book blurb or synopsis, review or media mentions and contact information. It should also contain your book cover image, as well as an author head shot. The longer version of your media kit can also include a sample chapter, multiple reviews and longer versions of the author biography.

Just the Cliff Notes Please

In our busy world where information overload abounds, you don’t have much time to grab someone’s attention. People no longer read, but scan documents looking at headlines, bullet points and images. Busy journalists get bombarded with pitches and don’t have the time to read long documents. A concise, elegant and well crafted media kit is like Cliff Notes version of you and your book, providing just the right information to intrigue the reader, as well as make it easy for them to find out more about you online, and contact you.

How do I use my media kit?

Host your media kit on your website. You want to make sure it’s easy to find; an ideal location for it is in your online media room where you host your news and media mentions. You can also post your media kit on your about page; that way, it will also be viewed by your prospective readers who will want to learn more about you and decide whether they want to buy your book. When you send a pitch to a journalist or a book reviewer, link to the online version of your media kit, as many of them don’t accept attachments. Offering a media kit to those you are pitching for publicity or speaking, demonstrates you are a true professional.

A Media Kit Is A Living Document

Media kits should be updated routinely so as to reflect the latest news, reviews and information about you and your book. When you get a great book review or you get media coverage, you can add that to your media kit to showcase it, and keep it up to date.

A media kit is a professional tool that makes it easy for someone else to talk about you, write about you, and invite you to speak at an event, easily and efficiently. In some cases, they may not even feel the need to speak with you, as your media kit has done its job speaking on your behalf 24/7.

To get started creating your author press kit, check out our Easy Author One Sheets

This is excepted from an interview I did at the 9th Annual Book Marketing Conference Online: Reach More Readers. Listen to the full interview here

Publicity, The Lottery and Your 90% Advantage

When it comes to publicity, there are a few takeaways from the lottery that are worth considering. Getting publicity can feel like winning the lottery as it often comes with a lot of the positive attention and benefits. It can also create a cash windfall it that can help to attract more clients who now see you as a top expert who they are willing to pay top dollar to work with you.

The takeaway I want to bring to your attention is, a concept that has been used to promote the New York state lottery for years. Their campaign slogan: You have to be in it to win it.

It’s an apropos statement that applies to Public Relations. 90% of entrepreneurs and small businesses don’t do any PR, missing out on incredible free opportunities for visibility, increased traffic and recognition, as well as the value of transferred authority that media mentions convey.

Simply by adding PR to your promotional initiatives, you can jump into the top 10% of businesses, many of whom may be your direct competitors. Advantage Yours.
I recently wrote a guest blog post entitled: Why PR Should Be Part of Your Content Strategy

There are 2 great reasons PR should be part of your content strategy.
“We are living in a world now where visibility creates opportunities and reputation builds trust,” according to Dan Schwabel, author of Promote Yourself and a Forbes magazine contributor.

Your content can achieve both for you – create visibility and trust – in one easy step with public relations. Consider this: you are already creating content. Why not designate some of your pieces for public relations. You’ll need a few strategic pieces written for and pitched to targeted media where your audience already flocks.

When it comes to PR, don’t depend on Luck
Unlike the lottery, where luck and odds are your silent partners, PR shouldn’t depend on luck.

By definition, PR is the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by an organization or a famous person. Its also, the technique or process of attracting attention to people, products, etc.

A competitor’s media coverage that you may think was a stroke of luck for them, was most likely the result of a savvy strategy, PR plan and consistent implementation on their part.

I believe that Publicity happens when preparation meets opportunity. By becoming PR savvy and actively creating and implementing a PR strategy – you prepare, create and attract media opportunities on a regular basis.

With the definition of media and the number and type of outlets continually expanding [think Instagram, tablet magazines… ] there are increasing opportunities for media coverage and mentions. Journalists, bloggers, publishers all need steady stream of fresh content and expert sources – in other words they need you and your stories.

Your advantage gets even better if you utilize optimization. Create your pitches and press release on topics of interest to your target audience, utilizing language or keywords that they themselves would use. It helps create an emotional connection with your audience, resonating deeply and helping them connect with you better. It can also help you potentially rank higher in the search engines for your targeted keywords.

Ready for a PR win? Time to get in the game.

Want my help with your PR efforts? – check out my program Magnify Your Message

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