Note: Today’s blog post is by Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. Penny is a best selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Penny will be teaching a special marketing workshop for CIPA on July 21, Go Viral With Your Book Publicity. Get the details at CIPA’s website.
Penny Sansevieri
By Penny Sansevieri
Twelve years ago when I was first in business it was unclear whether blogs would even make a dent in news and communication. Back then, if you wanted to promote your business, product, or book you had to market to radio, TV, and print publications, otherwise your message would die quietly and all your efforts to launch your business would go with it. Cycle forward to 2011. We live online and social media has almost replaced the nightly news.
Publicity and marketing have changed in ways that no one could have anticipated and that’s a good thing. Why? Because now so many channels have opened up to help us market. Could you imagine living in a world where if you didn’t get traditional media or even a regional paper to pick you up, no one would ever know about you? I did, and we marketed in that world. Believe me, it wasn’t easy.
And while it’s great that we have these channels, there is always a downside to this new, tethered, social media world. We have a lot of news. A lot of it. And not all of it is news, either. Some is just wasteful white noise and much of it, we ignore. Now, the challenge is no longer can you get someone’s attention, but can you keep it? And can you keep their attention long enough to get them interested in your message, business, brand, or product to turn contacts into evangelists? One thing I’ve learned: it’s not a challenge everyone is up for and that’s OK. If it’s not your thing to wrestle your way to the top of the Twitter posts or Facebook mentions, that’s fine. But if you want to get noticed and sell product, you’ll have to ramp up your game. Here’s how to do it:
Be good or be gone: For lack of a better term, there’s a lot of junk online. A lot of people ramble on about things that only they care about. We currently run a program that gets a lot of “Likes” to a client’s Facebook Page. We’re such a numbers driven society that people love this program. Here’s the kicker though: you can get Facebook “Likes” but that doesn’t mean they will keep liking you. You have to post good, interesting, unique and compelling content. There is so much information out there, you must be good, or be gone. You won’t even have to leave the virtual party because if you keep posting self-absorbing, look at me posts, no one will listen anyway.
No one cares what you say: Truth be told, no one cares what you tell them. What people care about is what their friends say, who their friends recommend. You must be so compelling, interesting, funny, helpful – or whatever – that people will start to evangelize your work. That’s when it happens: when you are interesting enough that people want to tell other people about you. Remember, no one cares what you say. They only care what their friends care about. A survey done by Edelman Digital noted that fewer than one in three people trust marketing messages. Scary, isn’t it?
Give consumers what they want: It amazes me how often marketers make consumers conform to their needs. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about your consumers. Give them what they want and they will give you what you want. So often I see business people with messages that are highly ego based, meaning it’s about them. Leave your ego at the door and make it about your consumers. People want valuable insights, access to information and lots of free stuff. Yes, I said free. If the thought of free makes you shiver, here’s an article that shows you how to monetize “free:” (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/penny-c-sansevieri/how-to-monetize-free_b_676794.html)
Numbers matter: Let’s face it, we’re a society that pays attention to the numbers we see on Twitter and Facebook. If you are promoting yourself and have 10 followers on Twitter and 16 “Likes” on Facebook, you might want to think about paying more attention to these properties. Consumers like what other consumers like and the numbers associated with these sites often determine how “likable” you are. Bigger numbers get consumer (and media) interest.
Getting people to pay attention: You have to stop your consumers in their tracks, get them to put down their iPhone, iPad, Droid or whatever gadget they’re consuming their news feeds on and get them to pay attention to what you are saying. How do you do that? This goes back to my first point: Be Good or Be Gone. Get people to pay attention by adding solid, helpful and insightful content to your feeds. If you ramble on about the flight you missed or the bad day you’re having, I can guarantee that people will turn the virtual channel.
Do stuff people will love: Getting people to love you is easy. Do stuff they’ll love. This is why I talk so much about giving away information, being helpful, being on top of your industry. I am always stunned when people come up to me at conferences to tell me how much they love our newsletter (The Book Marketing Expert) or how much they love the information we share on Huffington Post. Give people what they want and they will give you what you want: love – and, hopefully, sales.
Do stuff people will hate: Not everyone will love what you say and that’s OK. When I wrote “Why Some Authors Fail” I thought everyone would hate that piece. It turns out some people did, and that’s OK. I once had a good friend and business coach tell me: “If everyone loves you you’re doing something wrong. Embrace it.”
Stay on top of current trends: This is a big one for most of us. We’re out of time, out of ideas and well, out of time. Staying on top of current trends seems like it’s just another time suck. But trust me, it’s not. First, head over to Google alerts (it’s free) and sign up for alerts in your market or area of expertise. What happens when you do that? You’ll get all news items and blog posts on your topic funneled to you. This will help you gather ideas on new topics to blog on and new developments in your arena. Staying topical is important, especially if you’re trying to keep someone’s attention.
You might wonder how all of this can help you get more exposure for your business, get more people to talk about your product, service, or brand and sell more of what you are offering. Here’s how: it’s not enough to get mentioned in the news. While it’s great, that alone won’t sell your stuff. You have to get in front of enough people in a very interesting and unique way. You have to get them to fall in love with your message so much that they’ll talk about you, Tweet about you, and tell all their friends to go buy whatever it is that you’re selling. The new PR is really about the consumers and the message. How will you get your community so enamored with your message that you turn contacts into evangelists? That’s the new PR.
Sites mentioned in this article:
https://www.google.com/insights/search/
Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert and an Adjunct Instructor with NYU. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. She is the author of five books, including Get Published Today and Book to Bestseller which has been called the “road map to publishing success.” AME is the first marketing and publicity firm to use Internet promotion to its full impact through The Virtual Author Tour™, which strategically works with social networking sites, blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, video sites, and relevant sites to push an authors message into the virtual community and connect with sites related to the book’s topic, positioning the author in his or her market. To learn more about Penny’s books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at https://www.amarketingexpert.com. To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:[email protected] Copyright ã 2012 Penny C. Sansevieri