Creating a Marketing Roadmap

by Penny | May 13, 2009 | Book Marketing Basics

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After you’ve gone through the timing of how and what you’ll be doing, it’s important to decide which marketing options are right for you. Earlier in this book we discussed different ways to market your book and the timing of book launches, etc. But the plan for your marketing is like a roadmap. You’d never consider driving from San Diego to New York without a map, nor should you embark on a marketing program without some kind of a map to guide you through the process.

The following will help you start to formulate your marketing roadmap. Keeping in mind that this plan should be fluid but

Comparative Titles

So who else has written on your topic and what have they written about? It’s always a good idea to know your competition. Use this table as a guideline for information gathering. Having this title information could really help you in research, market analysis, and/or pitching for other experts to blurb your book! You should try to find at least five or six other similar titles.

Title Publisher When Released Pages List Price Still in Print?

Now you’ll want to list the ways in which your book is unique compared to these titles. There’s no reason why you can’t write on a similar topic as long as your topic is different or and updated version of information that’s already been published. Use the following chart to help formulate a title comparative and dig into the reasons why and how your book will differentiate itself from books that are already out there. You’ll want to do this for each title you’re comparing. (don’t forget you can download this free report from ENTER WEB SITE for buying this book) Keep in mind that anything you create here might be used in your marketing or sales copy!

Title:______________________

My book is different because:

1)________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

4) _________________________________________

5) _________________________________________

Who Will Buy Your Book?

We talked earlier about knowing who your reader is, but now I’d like you to dig a little deeper into the psyche and buying habits of the person who will purchase your book. Ideally you should have one main market and several sub-markets. For example you might have a book geared to busy moms, mothers would then be your primary target, a sub-target of that might be grandparents (buying copies for their busy daughters) or single dads looking for a little parenting wisdom. Let’s take a look at your primary target first. Ask yourself, who is your reader?

My reader is: _______ Female __________ Male

Age range: ___________ to _____________

Religion: _______________________ or • Doesn’t matter

Groups and/or associations my reader belongs to:

1)_________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

4) _________________________________________

5) _________________________________________

Does your reader go to any conferences or trade shows? These could be great places to market your book. Do a quick Internet search to see if you can find conferences and events. Then keep these in a file so you can pitch to them once the book comes out. Beside each conference listing I’ll want you to list how you could participate in this event. You’ll note that “get a booth in the trade show” is near the bottom. There’s a reason for this. Depending on the cost of the booth and your exposure at the trade show it doesn’t always make sense to display your book. Often the cost of the booth is too high to warrant this. Consider doing a speaking engagement instead or better yet, do a speaking engagement then see if you can share a booth with several other authors! That way you’re sharing the expense of the booth, getting help to man it for the entire show and giving yourself a place to meet with interested buyers after your talk!

1)_________________________________________

Here’s how I can participate:

• Potential speaking engagement

• Hot networking opportunity

• Get a booth in the trade show

• Great event, but it’s information gathering only

2) _________________________________________

Here’s how I can participate:

• Potential speaking engagement

• Hot networking opportunity

• Get a booth in the trade show

• Great event, but it’s information gathering only

3) _________________________________________

Here’s how I can participate:

• Potential speaking engagement

• Hot networking opportunity

• Get a booth in the trade show

• Great event, but it’s information gathering only

4) _________________________________________

Here’s how I can participate:

• Potential speaking engagement

• Hot networking opportunity

• Get a booth in the trade show

• Great event, but it’s information gathering only

5) _________________________________________

Here’s how I can participate:

• Potential speaking engagement

• Hot networking opportunity

• Get a booth in the trade show

• Great event, but it’s information gathering only

Targeting a city or region

Does your book have a strong demographic interest? For example is it set in a particular town or does it have a cluster of readers in one region over another? Consider this before you launch into your marketing campaign. I’ve had book that I’ve marketed in one region and one region only because of their significance to the area. If your book falls into this category you might want to figure this out early on and do a laser focused target on that region rather than diluting your efforts on a nationwide campaign.

Regional areas that are significant to this book and why:

1)________________________________________

This region is significant because: __________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

This region is significant because: __________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

This region is significant because: __________________________________________

Emotional Hot Buttons

Emotional hot buttons are important, we all buy on emotion. Whether we desire to be slimmer, wealthier, happier or smarter, a hot button drives all of our purchases. List at least five of your reader’s emotional hot buttons:

1)________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

4) _________________________________________

5) _________________________________________

Once you’ve finished your primary reader, you’ll want to do this for any sub-groups you’ll be marketing to as well.

Now you’ve developed hooks for your book. If all of these factors aren’t addressed in your book you might want to include them. Remember the more hot buttons you address, the more reasons your reader will have to buy your book!

Where will your reader buy your book? This is am important question. We all assume that our readers will buy our books in bookstores but given what we’ve covered in this book, by now you know that the bookstore component might not be as significant as you once thought. Right now, let’s brainstorm some other places that your reader might buy your book. Think of: electronics stores, hobby stores, grocery stores, coffee houses, auto dealerships (maybe as a give away), clothing stores, etc.

1)________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

4) _________________________________________

5) _________________________________________

Does your reader surf the Net? In all likelihood they probably do. Internet promotion is the single biggest way to promote your book so don’t overlook the power of the Web. List a few areas of interest you might be able to tie into. Remember that you’ll be going after not just your primary reader but all sub-groups as well. Once you’re done with this, I’m going to ask you to research a few sites so don’t worry about listing them here, all we want to do is look at the specific groups you’re going to target.

My reader surfs the following interest groups:

1)________________________________________

2) _________________________________________

3) _________________________________________

4) _________________________________________

5) _________________________________________

Some web sites that might be of interest:

www.________________________________________

www._________________________________________

www.________________________________________

www._________________________________________

Genres and Subgenres

Getting to know your genre is very important. Take a look at your primary genre and all subgenres. Keep in mind that while you might have multiple groups of readers, you might only have one genre and that’s ok. Your book must fit into one primary genre. You can genre-straddle as I call it. If your book does not fit into a main genre then you’re going to have to rewrite it until it does. I’m very serious about this, more books have failed because they’re been “fuzzy” on their genres. Be lightening specific otherwise rewrite until you are!

Main genre:________________________ Secondary genre: _____________________

It’s a good idea to get to know your genre, just like you got to know your reader. Do a quick search on Google for news items in your genre-topic and see what you can pull up. Also, ask your local bookstore what they know about your genre and how well it might be selling. This is a good test for the future marketability of your book so don’t overlook it!

Significant Dates or Holidays

When your planning your campaign, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and just start marketing and while that may be a good thing, there might be positioning factors you’re overlooking. Calendar dates, seasons and holidays are all things you can use as “hooks” to promote your book.

Seasons

The following season(s) is significant to my book and here’s why:

Season: ___________________________________

Significance: ___________________________________________________

Holidays and Calendar Hooks

Remember especially when it comes to holidays and calendar hooks, the more the merrier so get really creative with this. Think outside the book when it comes to these tie ins. We all know about Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween but how about the following you might not have considered:

January 1: Customer Service Day

January 12: Clean Off Your Desk Day

January is Financial Wellness Month

While not “holidays” per see they are calendar hooks just the same. So start do to an Internet search on your topic and then try finding not only holidays but calendar hooks you might be able to use to promote your book!

If you’re at a loss for ideas, here are a few I have used that worked very well for our authors:

Holiday: Valentines Day

Hook: Did you know you could meet Mr. Right in a soup kitchen?

The story behind the hook: our volunteerism author commented on how singletons are meeting their significant others while volunteering. While her book did not focus on singles and volunteerism, she knew enough about this topic to comment on it. Once we did our research we found that single volunteer organizations were springing up all across the country.

Holiday: Christmas:

Hook: Give your kids the gift of laughter this holiday season!

The story behind the hook: we were working with an author who specialized in the importance of humor and children. He offered ways to give kids the gift of a lifetime: laughter.

Calendar hook: Fire Prevention Week

Hook: How to Get Organized Without Resorting to Arson

The story behind the hook: our author had a book about organization but the title pulled right into Fire Prevention Week so while promoting it around other dates that supported organization, we also pushed it during Fire Prevention Week!

The following holiday(s) is significant to my book and here’s why:

Holiday:__________________________