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BookPromo Guerrilla Style Ezine "The Ezine for Do-It-Yourself Successful Book Promotions" Past Issues Archives: http://archives.zinester.com/11698 Issue 11 Year 1 November 16, 2006 http://guerrilla.clarylopez.com *************************************************** On this issue: *************************************************** 1- From My Desk 2- Article - Marketing Lessons from a 40-pound Cat 3- Useful Resources 4- Article – Seven Reasons Why Blogging Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Effort 5- Article – Marketing Your Book With A Blog: 10 Tips To Attract More Buyers 6- Letter to the Editor 7- Articles Submission *************************************************** From My Desk *************************************************** It hasn’t been an easy month for me, signing up for the NaNoWriMo competition is consuming most of my time but I welcome the pressure that has encourage me to tackle a new challenge. I guess that is what every author ultimately looks for, a challenge. Learning to be a succesful author is more than being a good writer, it takes a basic knowledge of the writing, publishing, marketing and promotion of the work as well. That’s a pretty tall order for many of us who would be content to write all day long instead. By taking charge of the marketing of our books and learning at least some of what needs to be done we could save some money, and who better than us to describe, market and promote our work. On this issue we go back to the importance of blogging and to use it to help you in your book promotions. You’ll also learn About viral marketing. I hope that this e-zine is being helpful to you and if it is, that you take some time this month and let us know about it. Please feel free to forward this ezine to your friends and associates. We are looking forward to serve the growing Community of writers around the world. Looking forward to help, inform and empower authors. Best Regards, Clary Lopez Editor-in-Chief BookPromo Guerrilla Style Ezine http://guerrilla.clarylopez.com Guerrilla Marketers’ Caf? http://guerrilla.clarylopez.com/blog Blog You can contact us at: editor@clarylopez.com Subject: eZine *************************************************** Marketing Lessons from a 40-pound Cat *************************************************** Copyright © 2006 Judy Murdoch A few months ago, my 10-year old son came to me insisting that I "had" to see a video of a "40-pound cat." Now, I'm very fond of cats and I've seen quite a few...some of which were pretty darn big, but I'm certain I've never seen one bigger than 20-pounds or so. I'd remember something like that. Sure enough, on YouTube.com, there was a 40-second video showing scenes from a typical day in the life of an enormous orange tabby cat. For your viewing pleasure you can watch kitty sitting on a chair, being carried a short distance by a human caretaker, lumbering up the stairs, eating, and sleeping. Accompanying the video was a rather strange, ominous soundtrack: perhaps anticipating the consequences should kitty fail to lose weight. The video is remarkably popular. On YouTube.com the "world's fattest cat" video has been viewed over 24,000 times in the last five months. On another video site, it's been viewed over 128,000 times since it appeared in September, 2005. To my knowledge there's no multi-million dollar advertising campaign. No postcard mailings or infomercials. Nor have I seen the 40-pound cat on Oprah or on the Tonight Show. Despite this lack of marketing support, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have watched this video. This is a perfect example of a viral message. A message that people eagerly share through word of mouth and email. It is an organic phenomenon that occurs on its own with no outside manipulation. If you own a small or mid-sized business, imagine the potential if your marketing message were viral. Perhaps you have even tried to create viral marketing by encouraging your customers and colleagues to spread the word but the results have been less than spectacular. What is it about the 40-pound cat video that has made it so viral? In a word, Novelty. Referral behavior (and sending an email telling your friends to watch a particular video is most definitely referral behavior) occurs because we want to look good to others. One way to look good is to tell people about something that we know they are not likely to have heard about or not known about before. Most people have never seen a picture of a 40+ pound cat, let alone a video of one that is lumbering up a flight a stairs. This is not to suggest that you need to find a 40-pound cat or a 12 oz. Tea cup Chihuahua to encourage customers to get the word out. You do, however, need to have something distinctive enough about your products and services so that your customers get a chance to look good by telling others about you. FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE NOVELTY #1 Use extremes. The 40+ pound kitty is a perfect example of using an extreme to create novelty. As human beings, we have a natural fascination with extremes: the biggest pizza (12- square feet for $135), the smallest dog (a 6" Chihuahua), a man who ate 36 cockroaches in 1 minute, and so on. Your business extreme doesn't need to be nearly so exotic.Novelty is relative to the frame of reference used by Your customer. A liquor store can advertise the largest election of champagne or the most extensive selection of sake within a "four-state region." Another example is a dockside restaurant that bills itself as selling the "freshest fish in town unless you catch it yourself." #2 Offer an extraordinary guarantee. Although they no longer use it, the "30-minutes or it's free" guarantee made Dominos pizza a household name. It was an audacious claim that no other pizza delivery chain had made in such a wide- scale, public manner. #3 Limited Editions. You see limited editions in a variety of products including soft drinks (Coca Cola Black), apparel (Gap 1969), games (60-year commemorative Monopoly edition), and automobiles (2000 Vapor Blue VW Beetle). The cachet is that the item is produced for a limited time and then pulled off the market giving it a "one of a kind" collectible status. #4 Limited distribution. Luxury products and services have long used the strategy of exclusive distribution to create an aura of exclusivity. But more prosaic products have used limited distribution to their advantage as well. For example, until the mid-1980's, Coors beer was only available west of the Mississippi. If you lived east of the Mississippi, Coors beer was something of a status symbol because of its association with Colorado and Rocky Mountain ski resorts. NOVELTY WITHOUT TARNISHING PROFESSIONALISM Those of you in traditionally conservative businesses such as banking, healthcare, insurance, and legal services may feel uncomfortable with the idea of novelty. After all, people give you business because they trust you to protect what they most cherish. Just keep in mind that novelty is RELATIVE to what others in your industry are doing. For example, a financial planner who works with professional athletes can use a "game plan" metaphor for marketing her services. Done tastefully, this adds enough novelty to provide a competitive advantage for getting more "looking good" referrals. Finding novelty in your products and services takes some creativity and imagination but once you get the hang of it, you may be surprised by the number of ways you can add distinction within the range professional decorum. CURIOUS ABOUT THE 40-LB. CAT? As a last word, for those of you wanting a look at the one of the world's fattest cats, you can watch the video by visiting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li8On8B1z3U ============================================= Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost, effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals, guerrilla marketing activities, and five-star strategic alliances. To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt? Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.com ============================================= Read More Articles From Judy Murdoch: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Judy_Murdoch *************************************************** Uselful Resources *************************************************** Book Reviewers Sites: Get Book Reviews http://www.getbookreviews.com/ Readers View http://www.readerviews.com/index.html TCM Reviews http://tcm-ca.com/authors.html Midwest Book Review http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ ************************************************** Seven Reasons Why Blogging Should Be Part Of Your Marketing Effort ************************************************** By Jim Estill I started my blog (www.jimestill.com) 18 months ago as an effort to increase communications with my staff but very quickly realized the power of it with my customers and my suppliers. Now I consider my blog to be an integral part of my marketing efforts. As an active blogger I have come up with seven reasons blogging should be part of any marketing program. 1.Blogs increase communication Anytime you increase communication, you increase profile and sales. 2.Although blogs have been around for awhile, they are still new and topical. People who see that you have a blog will think you are more leading edge. Even if you do not sell technology products, it helps. 3.Owning a blog is like owning a media. Similar to a newspaper, magazine, or a radio station. The advantage of owning a media is that you can say whatever you want where all other media tend to filter what you have to say. 4.You noticed that I said a blog should only part of a marketing program. Blogs on their own tend not to get much readership, rather they have to be crossed promoted so you need to put it on your email tag line, your website, your business cards, etc. People who see your blog address in another media are likely to come to it. 5. Blogging like writing tends to make you an expert. People tend to believe what they read. For this reason you don’t want your blog to be totally self-promotional. Add value. Provide information that helps your customer, amuses them, teaches them etc. 6.A blog should have an angle. People don’t want to log on and hear some promotional material about you and your company. They want to hear something that is a bit edgy, interesting, humorous, and resonates with them. Although you own a media, you still are in competition with all of the other media available. In my case, I have chosen Time Leadership/CEO as the title of my blog and I blog about personal self-development with a focus on time management and efficiency. 7.Blogging will often get picked up by other media and this added press can help you sell. For example, because I blog I have been featured twice in the Globe and Mail and once in Forbes magazine, as well I have been in our industry trade journals. I have also had many speaking engagements as a direct result of my blog. Blogging doesn’t need to be technically intimidating. Anyone can set up a blog in five minutes. My suggestion is to get an experienced blogger to show you how to start. Or ask your kids. Blogging is not for everyone. If you want to blog, you need to be willing to dedicate some time and you must enjoy writing. Because I blog about efficiency, I spend a lot of time focusing on my blogging efficiency and I spend less than 20 minutes on each of my blog entries. I do four or five a week; so I spend less than two hours a week on my blog. I have received some direct sales as a result of my blog. I know from the feedback I have received that many of my customers and suppliers read it. Blogging is one part of the marketing program. About the Author: Jim Estill started his business from the trunk of his car and grew into to $375 Million in sales before selling it to SYNNEX. He is now CEO of SYNNEX Canada a 1 Billion computer wholesaler. he is a regular blogger at http://jimestill.com Source: http://www.isnare.com ************************************************** Visit our Blog: Guerrilla Insight for Authors http://guerrilla.clarylopez.com/blog/ Marketing Your Book With A Blog: 10 Tips To Attract More Buyers (You Do Have A Blog, Right?) By Denise Wakeman Books and blogs seem to go together like butter and toast. It doesn’t matter whether you use your blog to develop content or your book, or you create the blog for marketing the already finished book. Some people have started calling this powerful combination “blooks,” books that are derived from blogs. But they only work well together when you implement these important tactics. 1. Use a domain name for your blog that relates to your book title so becomes known and “findable.” If your ideal domain is already taken, use a version of it such as “YourBookBlog.com,” or “YourBookOnline.com.” Forward that domain name to your blog so when people type in “YourBook.com” it goes to your blog site. 2. Continue the branding process for your book by creating a customized logo for the book and putting it in the header of your blog. The use of your customized branded header will mean your book gets instant recognition, and your blog will stand out from all the cookie-cutter look-alike blogs. 3. Participate in the blogosphere: Read and comment on other blogs in your field. This is a prime way to build readership of your blog. It is also a way of getting fresh content for both your blog and for your book Check out other blogs in your niche: use www.blogsearch.google.com, www.technorati.com, or www.google.com. 4. Submit your blog to the 170+ blog directories. You can do this manually (10-12 hours of time), or there is a service that will do it for you for $125: http://snipurl.com/Blog_Directory 5. Use your blog to collect names and email addresses of potential customers and clients. Make sure you have a subscription form on the upper corner of your blog, from a service like www.FeedBlitz.com . This service sends automatic email updates of your new blog posts to interested potential readers/customers. 6. Podcasting – create audio files easily by scheduling teleclasses and recording them. Some people like to get their information auditorily and at their convenience by downloading mp3 files to their iPods. Use a free teleconferencing bridge line like http://www.freeconference.com to host a call. Record your call, upload the audio file and then post to your blog or podcast using a service like www.audioblog.com. (As an added benefit, you can get these calls transcribed; then convert the word doc to a PDF file which you can either give away, or sell, in exchange for people’s email address.) www.CastingWords.com is a fast, affordable transcription service. 7. Use a newsletter to email to your list, and give readers regular updates about your book, your teleclasses, and your blog posts. You have to encourage them to visit your blog or they will forget you. You also have to educate them about your blog, and teach them to comment on it. A newsletter is an additional way to do this and complements your blog. 8. Sponsor a virtual blook tour, and participate in your own, by getting into a network of bloggers who will support you and your book. Bloggers are known for their link love, and their propensity for sharing other people’s information. When you do this for others, they reciprocate. 9. Run a contest from your blog, giving away something fun and coveted, like an iPod. While this may seem expensive, it is actually low-cost marketing, considering the number of new email addresses you will collect into your database. 10. This 10th tip isn’t about blogs, it’s about the best automated way to manage your database, your digital downloads, your newsletter broadcasting, your affiliate program, and your ad tracking, as well as sales. Get a Kick Start Cart system, which will manage all this for you. There is a learning curve involved in setting it up, but worth it as you will be able to control your marketing efforts with one system. http://snipurl.com/KickStartCart About the Author: Blogging experts Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman are The Blog Squad. They help professionals arness the power of blogs, newsletters, and ecommerce systems to make marketing tasks easier and more effective. They have 16 years of Internet know-how and write on 10 blogs. Get their free weekly ezine Savvy eBiz Tips at http://www.SavvyeBizTips.com Source: http://www.isnare.com *************************************************** Letters to the Editor *************************************************** Let us know how we are doing and what you would like to read about. Send your comments and suggestions to be included on this section. editor@clarylopez.com Subject: Letter to the Editor Do you have an idea for a topic on this eZine? Send it to ideas@clarylopez.com Subject: Ezine idea *************************************************** Articles Submission *************************************************** If you would like to write an article for this Ezine please send your request to: editor@clarylopez.com Subject: Article Submission *************************************************** BookPromo Guerrilla Style Ezine Copyright 2006, Clary Lopez All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Clary Lopez will not be held liable for any direct or indirect losses or damages originating from the use of any information listed on our website, newsletters or eZine. By using this site and ezine you agree to indemnify and hold all owners and representatives parties of Clary Lopez/Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe harmless from any claim or demand originating out of your use of Clary Lopez/Guerrilla Marketers' Cafe website and/ newsletters or eZine. Use of our website, Newsletter and eZine is and indication of your complete understanding and acceptance of these Terms of Service. Articles can be reproduced on websites or ezines as long as the article and bylines are included without any alterations. No part of the website can't be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage or retrieval systems without the written permission from the publisher/owner. |
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