Word of Mouth Marketing
By Tilly Rivers
Sometimes you can get lucky and someone of major influence will love your book so much that they tell the world about it, sometimes it is only one person who knows a lot of people, but most of the time, word of mouth marketing starts with your closest associates, friends and family.
Examples of luck are the bookseller in San Francisco who practically hand-sold over a thousand copies of one of the books there because she loved it so much. How did this happen? Because the author took the time to get to know the customer service people at the registers- the woman loved the book- and loved the author- so to recommend it to buyers who came in store was no hardship- her passion was genuine. She was not the store owner, nor did she have an influence over the buying or commission process, but she did have a major influence where it counted- the general public!
One woman was so passionate about the environment she purchased the book "50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth", for everyone in her community- all thirty thousand of them.
Ultimately however, there is only one person who is responsible for the success or failure of your book, and that person is you. By targeting your promotions, being consistent, building a network, and doing something everyday to promote yourself, you will achieve success.
The problem most authors have is patience- they want international attention- and they want it now. Realistically, unless you land a spot of Oprah, that will not happen. It will take time.
When you are networking it is not good enough to place a thousand plus names in a database – this is not networking, it is record keeping!
Your friends, your family, your community, your close associates are your level one contacts that will help you build word-of mouth sales and awareness. This is your core network. Ask them for help. Create & print flyers, postcards, or bookmarks and give a stack to each of them- simply say- “hey would you mind keeping these in your car, if someone asks about my book- you could pass them along.”
Next, build relationships, don’t put a name in a database and think they would be a good contact- and than never contact them! Remember- no one wants to be ‘sold’ to- like the used car salesman in the corner lot- you know the place- the one you avoid at all costs!-
Pressure should never be applied, the power of one voice, your voice, spoken with passionate awe and conviction will lead the way, and maybe, just maybe you too will find that one person in whom will tip the scales in your favor and become your greatest advocate.
Posted at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/promoteyourwriting/
PLEASE NOTE
13 years ago
