I have recently been working on some marketing ideas and came across an article that said that a customer needs to see an image or product seven times for it to stick in their mind. I sometimes wonder about the best way to find visibility in a busy book marketplace, but still can’t quite decide about the idea of putting more book adverts on my Twitter or other social media feeds. I usually put one or two Tweets a day about my own books, that vary and change time, so the same people aren’t bombarded with marketing. I also fill my timelines with things that I think my Twitter followers and Facebook fans might find interesting rather than a different ad every half an hour. If I discover an interesting article or topic, I will share it.
I tend to do the same here and don’t make every post about my work, although I do, of course, share my writing journey, as I assume thats why people follow my blog. With social media, people drop in and out all day, so they may miss your information anyway, if they are not looking at the particular time of day. So how do you get your book seen, seven times, across a varied timeframe and in different guises?
I love finding new readers for my work and I find my best marketing tip, above all other, is word of mouth. I read somewhere that an author took her business cards wherever she went and if the conversation happened to turn toward work, she handily held out a card for them to slip into their bag to peruse later. I have tried this, and it works! I have met people in coffee shops, waiting at the swimming pool for my children, on a train and other various places. A passing chat to a lovely person can not only brighten my day, but they may become a new avid reader. I also take bookmarks and business cards when I travel and ask local businesses if I can leave them for their customers. They have all happily agreed. As long as you are polite and don’t quibble if they say no, then it’s a winning situation.
Mutual support his another great way to grow your audience. I don’t actually send out many tweets for my own writing, but I do RT authors that tweet about my books. This gets their Twitter bio on my account and my books on their timeline. I, in turn, will schedule tweets about their latest work and RT whenever I can and the same thing works again.
For me I think that if you have a product that benefits people in some way, like a book that will make them smile if they’re feeling down, then that adds to the buying impulse. Although, of course, customers are going to buy a book that they see everywhere over one they don’t know about yet! Back to that seven image rule … Lol:)
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Brilliant post, Lizzie! I have read a lot of articles about marketing on my quest to figure out what to do about marketing my book. I’ve never had a head for sales. Anyway, one thing most of these articles have in common is that they say that people tend to buy what is familiar to them. That’s the same way commercials on TV work. They keep showing you the same things over and over again, and before you know it, you want what they’re selling. So what you said about people needing to see something at least 7 times for it to stick makes perfect sense. I guess that’s how many times it takes for a person to familiarize themselves with something. 😉
Thanks Vashti. After you see something a few times, you start to recognise the brand. It’s a good way to gently relay your product, as long as it’s not all of the posts or ads at once! Lol:)
Hello and thanks for this post! I use a picture of myself in most of my memes about my blog and I try to use the same cover picture for posts that relate to one another. Do you think it’s ever too much? For example: this summer I am posting about a different chapter in the book of Psalms and I keep using this picture (at least 4 times a week, I post daily). Is that too much?
Reblogged this on Lisa Mackay – Author.
Thanks Lisa! Much appreciated. I’m glad you enjoyed the blog post.
I’ve been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.
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Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
Lizzie, I love everything you’re doing and your visuals are fantastic! I never thought of having business cards for my writing. I have them for Peace by Piece Puzzles! Thanks for sharing these great tips. And thank you (with hugs) for your support and tweets of my book. I’m most grateful! 🙂
Lizzie, your branding is exceptional! I love the graphics. And your advice about marketing is spot on.I’m book marking this post for sharing on Story Empire!
Thanks Mae. What a compliment! Happy to help. 😀
Thanks for the helpful post.7 times huh?
Thanks Joan. Glad you found it helpful. 😀🌟
GREAT advice, Lizzie! I love your graphic images. It’s part of your branding.
Thanks Jan! I wrote a blog about branding a while ago. I trained as a graphic designer and worked for an advertising company designing for brands many years ago, so I utilise the skills I learnt there and carry them through to my writing journey. I hope the tips I share can help other businesses and authors too.