NOTE: This is part of a series I am doing here, which explains how I am marketing my new book, Ask, Believe, Receive - 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Better Relationships, and a Life You Love. If you enjoy be "behind the scenes" info on this promotion and feel the book would help you, please purchase it. :)
One of the things which totally blew my mine when I got discovered that I wasn't the only guy marketing stuff online and that there was actually an "IM" community, was how people would start something, have a huge blow out, and then drop it like it was infected with something awful... These guys would come up with huge courses for hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars, which took weeks of work to prepare, do a promotion for a week, and that was it.
Of course, a lot of this stuff is outsourced, and there are shortcuts to creating "big" products (transcripts, audio interviews, transcripts of audio interviews, worksheets, screen capture videos, a CD with mp3 files of everything, using 25lb paper with large margins), but still, I found it odd that people would spend so much time on making something, only to promote it and take it off the market a few days later.
I understand why people do this, and I understand that much of the content which appears to be "gone forever" is actually repurposed into another course with another name, but a lot of folks are missing the boat when it comes to product promotion...
In the publishing business, you must to two things:
1. Always be creating. - This is something the online marketing crowd has done well. The big guys like Yanik Silver, Armand Morin, Russell Brunson, and Dan Kennedy seem to have something new on an almost weekly basis. That's smart.
But what I don't see a lot of people in this market so is:
2. Always be promoting. - There is a pre-launch, a massive blowout of dozens of "guru" emails about the product on a single day, and then that's it. Once those few hours (or even minutes) of the product being on the market are done, that's it.
Now, sometimes the product goes off the market. And I understand that this must happen in order to really do well with a "scarcity" pitch.
But what about the products that are still on the market? For example, all the "Amazon Best Seller" books, which hit number one for a day, and promptly tank after that.
I know Amazon. In the last year, I've released 12 books which are available there. And that is what got me thinking about all of this.
A few months ago, I came out with a new book called Quit Your Job (and Never Go Back) - How to Create, Start, & Market an Online Business for Under $500 in 30 Days or Less. And because of my aggressive release schedule with other books, I haven't done much to promote it. I certainly haven't done a big push.
And that brings me to my point...
What I have done has been enough to get consistent sales. Nothing spectacular, certainly, but I'm selling more than other books which came out around the same time and had a "best seller" push.
And when you add these consistent sales to the other books (and products) I have which do the same thing, it all adds up to a nice amount of money.
My background is in the music business. And I've always said that I'd rather have a band on my team who is consistent at hitting "singles" every time they're at bat, rather than a group that will give me a home run every so often, but strikes out 90% or more of the time.
This same concept applies to the business of marketing...
Yes, you can hit #1 on Amazon. It's easy. I've made the Top 20 with one email promotion from a small list, while I was on the road speaking. Anybody can do it.
But that book, and others like it, don't do nearly as well as the ones who are promoted in a "slow and steady" way.
You don't have to be a marketing genius if you'll put your nose to the grindstone and come out with products on a consistent basis. And you don't have to be a marketing genius to outsource simple promotion methods, which work day after day, month after month...as long as you continue to do them. It's not as sexy as a big launch where everybody is praising your name for a day, but the money you make will be plentiful and more beneficial to you in the long run, I promise.
I'm in the process of gathering ideas for authors to promote their books and I plan to post them here. These will work for musicians with recorded music, online marketers with web sites, and anybody in the information product business. If you're interested, make sure you bookmark my page or subscribe to my feed to keep updated.
And if there is anything specific you'd like to know, please leave a comment. :)
