Every now and then, someone asks me: “How do I create a market for my product?
The answer is simple. “You don’t.”
Many people who get into product development want to develop products on their own terms. They don’t want to consider the needs of the end user; they want to develop the product first and then convince the end user that he or she needs the product. This approach requires a heavy amount of selling, and often results in customers developing postpurchase dissonance — they buy because they’re sold to, and they wind up dissatisfied with the product in the end because it doesn’t solve their problem.
And that’s not marketing… or, I should say, that’s not effective marketing. Good marketing involves finding a need that already exists and then finding a way to fill it. That means listening to customers from day one. That means shaping ideas to fit the desires of the end user. That means refining designs instead of rushing them to market.
All of which can be accomplished by using STP — Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning.
Read more »
Today, I read two articles that offered distinctly different messages about consumers.
The first was a report that the film The Dark Knight set a box office record during its opening weekend, both in terms of its midnight release revenues and its overall revenues for its first day. This is great news for the people involved with the film, since the economy is on the brink of a recession and people are spending fewer dollars on entertainment options right now.
I love this quote from the story:
“If you’re worried about mortgage payments and gas prices, when you’re sitting in `The Dark Knight’ for two and a half hours, you’re not thinking about any of that stuff,” Dergarabedian said.
The second article talked about how consumers have changed as fuel and food prices have risen… and questioned whether or not these changes are permanent. The article cites a case of a woman who opted to buy some shoe glue to repair a damaged sole rather than go out and spend more money on shoes. Here’s what she has to say:
“We weren’t big spenders, but now we are watching our money more,” said Radtke, of Manitowoc, Wis., whose husband works in construction. “Even if I fell into a pile of money, I still wouldn’t be spending a lot.”
“That’s great, Sean,” you might be saying. “What does this have to do with publishing?”
Read more »
As I’ve researched the publishing industry over the last year, I’ve been struck by two things:
1) Manuscripts being developed into books are typically given a long lead time – often 12 to 18 months – for “marketing” purposes.
2) Most of the “marketing” being done in the publishing industry seems to be lacking when it comes to strategic planning.
As I’ve said before, marketing is much more than making sales and scheduling author signings. Marketing begins when a product idea is conceived, and doesn’t end until the product is retired. It affects products, product lines, brands, companies, stakeholders, and even the individuals involved with any of the things I just mentioned. It’s very, very important.
So, why do so many publishers seem to rush through it?
Clearly, a lot of small publishers are run by people who have the entrepreneurial spirit, but who lack formal training. A lot of mid-range publishers are run by people who have editorial knowledge and publishing experience, but not necessarily formal business knowledge. And many trade publishers are structured like corporations, separating the marketing department from the editorial department and relegating marketing decisions to sales and advertising instead of allowing the marketing department to be involved in all stages of the process.
Read more »
Over the last year, I’ve spent a lot of time researching the publishing industry and trying to figure out how I can make my own products successful once they launch. There’s a steep learning curve in the world of publishing, and it’s clear that most of the people who get into this game don’t stick around too long once their initial investment money wears off. That’s probably because, due to the Pareto Principle, 80% of all new products fail within three years. I had trouble believing this statistic when I first heard it, because it would seem to me that the release of a new product is often accompanied by months of planning and refinement. But looking practically at the world of business, it’s clear that many products are introduced at the wrong time, or in the wrong way, or at the wrong price, or to the wrong people, or any combination of the four. The real question is not whether or not a product makes it to market; it’s whether or not a product can remain in the market by making enough profit that it’s worth the manufacturer’s while.
We can talk about return on investment, and we can talk about profit margins, but what the business of publishing really boils down to is profitability — the money the publisher rakes in after everyone else involved in the process has gotten his or her cut. If a publisher is making a profit of 5% or less, the firm is going to have trouble staying in business, because inflation renders such a small return almost meaningless. No, a publisher needs to shoot for a higher return, to the tune of 10-15% to be considered healthy, and it needs to generate at least 15%-20% to be able to grow.
But those sorts of returns are extremely hard to find in the bookstore market. And that’s why I’ve become convinced that the most valuable type of marketing work a publisher can do is not sales or promotion. It’s in building a better plan for distribution.
Read more »
So, you’ve written a press release, and you’re ready to get it out to the public. But you don’t have a lot of media contacts, and you’re not sure who’s going to pick up your news. What’s a small publisher to do?
First, you need to consider how you want to put your releases out. I’d suggest email, since it’s inexpensive, though e-mailed press releases can get caught in spam filters. Your most important sources should also receive hardcopy releases, whether they’re in the form of a fax or a press kit. And you should most certainly post any official announcements on your company’s website, if for no other reason than so that the search engines will pick them up.
Once you’ve determined your plan, you need to find a way to get people to actually see your release. Here are 10 tips that will help you get your press release out in front of the public. And while they might not all be practical for your promotional plans, the more of these tips you employ, the better exposure your news will get!
Read more »
If you’re thinking about launching a product, chances are good you’ve considered putting out a press release – a simple little announcement intended for members of the press to pick up and use as the basis of a story. But unless you’ve got a background in marketing or journalism, chances are good that you have no idea how to write a press release. And, judging by the press releases I’ve seen from many small publishers out there, chances are also good that even if you have put out a press release, it wasn’t written properly.
Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place: I’ve been writing press releases for almost a decade, and I’ve developed a style that works very well. By the end of this article, you’ll have a good understanding of the mechanics of writing an effective press release. And if you don’t, don’t worry – you can always hire me on an affordable freelance basis to write your press releases for you. (Contact me for details!)
But first, it’s probably a good idea to explain what a press release is actually for.
Read more »
An article in the Washington Post today reminded me about something I’d come to realize about a year ago when the seventh Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was about to be released. In the publishing world, the release of the last four Harry Potter books has been a major event, with each book generating more buzz and hype than the last. Every publisher out there would kill to have even a tenth of Harry Potter’s popularity, and many publishers have released “me too!” products that are meant to do just that.
For example, Scholastic is publishing a series that was originally called Children of the Red King in the UK that’s been repositioned to become the Charlie Bone here in the United States. The covers and logo look very similar to those found on the US Harry Potter books. Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials wasn’t on the radar of many readers until Scholastic Point brought the series over from the UK, renamed the first book The Golden Compass, and positioned the series as “the series that’s even more popular than Harry Potter in Britain right now.” Never mind that His Dark Materials is closer to The Chronicles of Narnia than it is to Harry Potter; The Chronicles of Narnia doesn’t get the headlines that Harry Potter gets.But the question that came to mind for me last summer was this: who made Harry Potter popular in the first place?
Originally, the pitch was that Harry Potter was something that children had discovered and begun devouring, much to the surprise of their parents. I remember reading articles in Time and Newsweek around the time the fourth book was released that talked about how children were suddenly reading again, thanks to Harry Potter. And what’s interesting is that while children certainly were reading Harry Potter, it was because adults were reading it too. Read more »
I first got into marketing for the same reason that most people get into the field: I had a product that wasn’t selling as well as I wanted it to, and I wanted to find out what I could do to make it sell better. And for many people, that’s all that marketing really is.
But that concept of marketing, generally known as the “Selling Concept,” is outdated in today’s marketplace. And while sales are an important part of the marketing process, they’re only part of the whole, and publishers who rely on sales tactics are missing out on the bigger picture…
Read more »
My previous post on the perils of advertising was lacking, it seems. After all, I only talked about expensive television and print advertising; I didn’t cover the area of advertising that is, presumably, working — web-based ads…
Read more »
Do you have cable television? If so, check out C-SPAN2 some afternoon, and you’ll probably catch a glimpse of BookTV. This program, though about as exciting as anything else you’ll see on C-SPAN, features journalists interviewing authors about recent books, and it’s fascinating if you’re into the world of publishing because you get to see authors attempting to generate buzz for their work. Some of them pull it off with great success by looking great on camera and offering interesting quips, while others look terrible and ramble on about things that no one cares about.
But whether the authors do a good job or a bad job, they’ve got a great reason to participate in the program…
Read more »
Marketing 101 | SeanJJordan | 
July 28, 2008 10:37 am | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe
