Tag: marketing strategies

Your First Step to Expand Your Author Platform: Develop a Community Built Upon Service

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date November 12, 2024
1 Comment on Your First Step to Expand Your Author Platform: Develop a Community Built Upon Service

Our author platform will never grow until we reach beyond our circle of family-and-friends to those in our target market whom we do not know…yet. Some feel the key to finding that specific group within the world’s population of more than 8 billion people is to YELL LOUDER. Uh, no…

Serving our audience in God’s name is the first step, and guess what? We can serve them long before our book is even published! Hooray!

If this sounds like madness, it’s actually genius, because as we serve, our audience is drawn to our message. They participate, ask follow-up questions, talk amongst themselves, and ask more questions. They want to know how our message applies to their specific situation.

This is called engagement, also known as building community. We want this!

As we create content: social media posts, podcasts, and Lead Magnets to name a few, we’re sharing MORE answers to the questions our audience is asking and helping them solve MORE problems they’re encountering today.

The real impact comes when they apply our message. We don’t offer information only. (You don’t, do you?) Our message must offer change. A synonym for change is transformation.

Our audience comes to us–or stumbles upon us–and discovers we know what they’re going through. We offer solutions, not as an armchair quarterback but as someone who’s been down the same (or a similar) road. As we share our story and listen to theirs, commonalities spring to the surface that both parties recognize. Commonalities that we already knew existed but that they didn’t (at first). Those common traits, questions, challenges, or fears bind us together in (say it with me) community.

Now we’re not an outsider; we’re a trusted resource. We must do our utmost to earn and protect that description.

They’ll want to dive deeper or discuss a related issue and hear our solution for that. They’ll look to us for guidance, strategies, and encouragement. We can offer this as no one else can because of our life’s journey, which includes God delivering us over and over as we muddled our way through the maze of each problem. Our audience is in the same maze. Christ delivered us in part for our own sake and in part so we could guide them to freedom in His name. Hallelujah!

As they apply the wisdom in our message–which is God’s wisdom–stubborn problems begin to improve. Long-standing challenges shift, becoming less difficult. Their lives begin to change in ways that matter to them. They’ll remember that. They’ll remember us.

This is how we can build an online platform that will last for our ministry’s lifetime and not simply for the lifetime of one book.

This is why we don’t have to start over from scratch with every.single.project. Ack!

Once in relationship with audience members, we earn the right to let them know–periodically–how they can help us. Perhaps they can buy our book, attend our event, give their input on our next book’s cover image…the list goes on and on.

“Oh, no,” some say, “I don’t want to be one of those pushy authors always asking their audience to, “Buy! Buy! Buy!”

Does that thought weigh on your mind? Relax, Padawan (Star Wars reference there 🙂 ).

Remember, these people are in your community, and others are joining them. Why? Because you’ve helped them change their lives. So, they trust you and want to support you. You’re in their community now, too. Cool, huh?

And it all began when you started serving your audience for His sake and their benefit, letting Him bless your service as He saw fit, which, since He called you to write for Him, will likely include book sales. He’s so wise!

Part Two of this series next month.

Patricia Durgin is an Online Marketing Coach and Facebook Live Expert. She trains Christian writers and speakers exclusively, helping them develop their messaging, marketing funnels, conversational emails, and Facebook Live programs. Patricia hosted 505 (60-minute) Facebook Live programs from 2018-2020. That program is on indefinite hiatus. She’s also a regular faculty member at Christian writers and speakers conferences around the country.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags Author Platforms, Build online community, Building platform, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies

Marketing Sense

Sell a Paid Program Using a Free 21-Day Challenge

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date September 13, 2024
No Comments on Sell a Paid Program Using a Free 21-Day Challenge

Serving Your Audience for Free Always Opens the Door to Opportunity

You’ve created a paid program. “Now all you need to do is send an email to your list with a link to your sales page, sit back, and watch the money roll in!” Or so some experts say.

Have you noticed that those same “experts” only serve people who already have an established tribe? Their training doesn’t help people who are working to build their following.

A 21-Day Challenge is the perfect way to attract your ideal target market by serving them live, using Facebook Live. While you share great content for free, the Holy Spirit will draw those in your audience—many who don’t know you today—to your message. And thus, your platform will grow.

Let’s Break the Process Down

A 21-Day Challenge lasts longer than 21 days for you. Surprise! Those 3 weeks are only the free training portion. During those live sessions, you’ll deliver nuggets from your best content—for free—using Facebook Live.

Here’s a sample schedule (change the numbers shown below to suit your needs):

21 days of free, valuable content,
5-7 days when your sales cart is “open,” (when your paid program can be purchased) and,
21 days to deliver your paid training.

There are 3 additional, behind-the-scenes tasks.

Before your challenge goes “live,” you’ll want to determine what content you’ll offer for each day of both your free training and your paid program.

You’ll also want to create eye-catching promotional graphics to share on your various social media accounts before and during your challenge. Those promotions will intrigue potential audience members, drawing them to your Facebook page so you can help them reach their goals, escape their pain, build a better mousetrap…whatever results your message offers.

Let’s say those 3 items take 2 weeks total.

That’s 9 weeks—on the high side—to create a life-changing challenge that, once everything’s in place, you can offer for sale again and again, ideally making money each time you offer it. Sweet!

You’ll also have more readers on your email list—people who want your message—and in the long run, those results may be more beneficial than your first sales.

What If You’re Not Ready to Sell Anything Yet?

You can still benefit from a 21-Day Challenge, because serving your audience is always a wise choice. And since they’ll be able to ask follow-up questions and share comments while you’re “live,” you can help them solve their problem that very day! Of course, they’ll want more from you after that!

Each day, invite them to join your email list, so you can continue serving them with even more great content long after the challenge is over. This further strengthens your relationship with them.

Then when you do have a paid product, they’ll be the first to be interested in it. And since their name will already be on your email list—because you’ve been serving them via email since your challenge—you can contact them directly to promote your product.

Facebook Live is the tool that can make this happen, and make it happen faster.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags 21-day challenge, Facebook live, free content, marketing for writers, marketing strategies

Marketing Sense

How To Create Your Website’s Content Hub

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date July 12, 2024
No Comments on How To Create Your Website’s Content Hub

Creating a content hub is the best way to organize your website’s content IF your topics coordinate with one another. I’m sure yours do. 🙂

Content hubs benefit both you and the reader by giving you a content plan and by giving your readers an easy way to access all your great content. It takes time to build a hub, just like it takes time to build any body of work.

You’ve visited many websites organized with a hub, though you may not have realized the website used this internal infrastructure tool.

Imagine a website that offers recipes for appetizers, brunch, desserts, salads, and snacks. Their Home page, perhaps titled Quick and Easy Dishes, would list the various types of food. That’s level one. Let’s say those options are shown in five columns across the Home page, one column per food type.

Each column would link directly to a list of dishes shared under that food type (level two), with a direct link to the specific page with that specific recipe (level three).

***

Readers would select one food type. Let’s say they choose Desserts (which is level two). The reader neither knows nor cares which of our organizational levels they’re on. All they know is they’re getting closer to the recipe they want. Hooray!

They’re taken to a page with all the desserts available on that website. They choose one. Let’s say they choose banana pudding (always a winner). Now they’re on level three.

Draw a map or make a graph to show which topics, sub-topics, and sub-sub-topics you plan to offer your readers over time. Then create that content beginning with your main topics and build out from there.

A hub still allows you to create content on your schedule, and each new blog post adds more and more value to your reader.

More people will stay on your website longer if: 1) your content fits their need and 2) it’s easy to find.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags content hub, Content marketing, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies

Marketing Sense

Do You Really Need to Use Email? (Part Two)

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date June 12, 2024
No Comments on Do You Really Need to Use Email? (Part Two)

In Part One we discussed how very valuable email is to our platform, and why using an email provider such as Aweber, MailChimp, Active Campaign, or others, was the best way to experience continued growth. Let’s continue the discussion in this article.

Is There a Charge to Use an Email Provider?

Virtually all bulk email providers offer a free level to start. Fees are based upon how many subscribers are on your email list.

The more subscribers–whether they open your emails or not–the higher your monthly fee. But don’t fret. For most of us, it takes years to get enough subscribers to warrant a significant monthly fee. (NOTE: It’s relatively pain free to move to another email provider if you so desire.)

Though free, don’t use Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo to send emails to your subscribers. In the early Internet years, these services were safe and free. They were the cool kids in town. 🙂

Years ago the marketplace, weary of spam, made room for better options. Along came MailChimp, Aweber, Constant Contact, and Active Campaign, among others.

Email regulations became stricter as the decades added up. The latest round of regulations, released in February of this year, tightened email requirements even further, in part to reduce spam, which is rampant.

So…Is It Hard to Learn How to Use Email?

The Big Dog email companies like Active Campaign, Constant Contact, etc., offer free training, usually via video, which I prefer. You, too?

As you research these companies for yourself, consider not only their cost but also their customer support. Sooner or later, you’ll need help. So find out what each offers before you sign up. This will reduce frustration ahead of time.

Is their support available 24/7 or only Monday-Friday? Can you reach them by phone day or night? Is there an additional charge for one-on-one assistance? Or do they only offer help via email? This information could make the difference between email success or failure.

Also be aware that some email providers only offer help via text on FAQ pages, so it’ll be up to you to dig through their documentation to figure out how to use their service. I don’t care for that approach. I’m guessing you don’t, either.

After choosing a provider, don’t let your new account lie fallow. The majority of these companies offers a free 30-day trial period. Take advantage of that time to learn the basics.

And conduct trial runs during this time. Ask up to 6 friends to be Test Subjects (guinea pigs). 🙂 Go through the full process of writing, uploading, scheduling, and sending perhaps 3 emails over a week’s time to these volunteers, to get comfortable with the process.

You’ll experience glitches here and there. We call that “learning.” 🙂 Give yourself grace, keep moving forward, offer great content, and your audience will grow.

Last step?

Close your computer and take a well-deserved break. Happy emailing!

Tags email content, email list, email marketing, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

6 Benefits of Serving Your Audience In a Private Group Online or Off

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date May 13, 2024
No Comments on 6 Benefits of Serving Your Audience In a Private Group Online or Off

This 3-part series focuses on growing your author platform in 2024, specifically, via an online community such as a private Facebook group. Note that each article applies to any group, online or offline.

You’ll be surprised how valuable serving your audience in Christ’s name can be to both you and your audience.

It’s easy to feel we’re simply delivering the message God’s given us and letting it fall upon the ground where it may, as in The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.

But in a group where members join because they want your message, it’s a bit different. You can offer your knowledge without hesitation or equivocation, knowing it will fall upon good soil. Your readers, listeners, or visitors want your message, and want to apply it. That frees you to communicate with more confidence, creativity, and boldness than you may have previously communicated. To answer a question and receive a heartfelt thanks in minutes is more than gratifying. It energizes your soul!

Let’s explore six specific ways serving your audience in Christ’s name directly benefits you.

Benefit #1

Promising to show up regularly will pull you out of your writer’s cave mentally, physically, or both. The more that thought makes you squirm in your chair, the more necessary it is you do it. Your audience–and mine–needs us to engage with them. And though we may not realize it yet, we need to engage with them, too, as a Christian communicator and as a human being.

Benefit #2

By definition, such a group gathers like-minded people together. Both parties are blessed. As you and I show up to serve our audience, they show up to learn from us.

In that back-and-forth process, they serve us by asking additional questions, requesting further clarification, sharing insights we haven’t experienced, and by talking amongst themselves, which confirms our point was understood (or not).

Benefit #3

As members apply your message (which is really God’s message in you) their lives begin to change. They’ll mention that to those they know, some of whom are also in your target audience. Thus, your community grows, and in some cases, your expertise is recognized even outside the group.

Benefit #4

Some both serve and promote their products or services in their group.

Benefit #5

Whatever your preferred method of serving, it fits a group: in-person, online, via posts on your social media only, short or long videos offering short or long content or training…and so on.

Benefit #6

All of the five options above refine your message. How so? No matter how often you’ve sat in your office reviewing your content in your mind, there’s no substitute for discussing it over and over (and over).

As new members join, they’ll ask the same questions “old-timers” asked when they joined, giving you yet another opportunity to share your applicable answer. Over time, this polishes your message in ways that delivering it once, such as in your book or speaking presentation, never will.

The result?

Your message becomes deeper, richer, and more on point. You’ll share it more succinctly, with new, clearer examples than before. You’ll notice patterns previously unseen, and the organization of it will become a visual in your mind, ready to be drawn upon instantly.

Those benefits will make you a better communicator, which in turn will make you a more interesting interview guest. And dare I say it? That gives you an opportunity to grow your audience even further while also–if Christ allows–selling more books.

No wonder so many successful Christian authors host a private Facebook group!

(This concludes this short series.)

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips, Private online group, serve your audience

Marketing Sense

Use Free Events to Grow Your Audience

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date April 12, 2024
No Comments on Use Free Events to Grow Your Audience

Your book is launching in 6 months. Reviewing your email list, you see 37 active subscribers (people who currently open your emails) and 236 dormant subscribers (people who subscribed long ago but then stopped opening new emails, so while they’re on your email list, you’re basically strangers).

This is not good. Your subscribers are VIPs…Very Important People. Other than your family and friends, they’re the ones most likely to buy and promote your book. It takes time to attract new subscribers and then 2-4 months to develop a relationship by serving them regularly via weekly or bi-monthly emails. So you’re tight on time. But don’t panic. You can do this!

Of all the potential options to build up your email list, consider offering one or more free online events.

That might mean one event. One every month. One every other month. One each day for a week. You choose.

You’ll need to make a basic plan, write several emails, promote each event in its turn and give people time to respond to your invitation. The cost to attendees? They only need to share their first name and email address to be added to your email list for one or more events. This allows you to serve them well before the event, keep them up to date about the events as they get nearer, and to follow-up afterwards to stay connected.

Event suggestions

Webinars (a “web-based seminar” focused on your book’s subject), free trainings (to teach attendees how to complete a single, basic task connected to your book’s topic), live Q&A, or interviews (with you as the host, or ask a friend to interview you) are all good choices.

The purpose of these special events is to attract potential book buyers, not by using sales tactics but by offering free, valuable education directly related to your book’s content.

If you don’t have many email subscribers or social media followers, most attendees won’t know you, so they won’t value your offer…yet. Some will attend just to get your free stuff. Then they’ll decide if they want to hear more from you. They’re expecting to see you in action offering your version of humor, help, and wisdom.

You don’t need to be a professional presenter; you need to be prepared.

Think of these events as an online get-together with friends who don’t yet know each other but they’re all interested in learning what you’re offering. Lord willing, they’ll warm up to you and each other as the event progresses. 🙂

A few tasks must be completed before you begin promoting and well before your event begins. Expect to work these tasks into your schedule for 2-4 weeks. You’ll be soooo glad you worked ahead.

You’ll want an “email provider,” a company that stores your attendees’ info so you don’t have to, which allows you to send out emails to all your attendees at once rather than emailing them individually from your personal computer (don’t ever do that!).

Invite interested parties to “sign up” or “opt in”

Create a page on your website dedicated for this purpose or by contacting your email provider (Aweber, Constant Contact, MailChimp, there are many to choose from) and requesting their help to build a “landing page.” That’s super-simple once you know how to do it, and miraculously, most email providers offer to do it for you at no charge. Check with your provider.

Once created, that page will have a unique URL (link) you can share in your emails and social media promotions. You must get the word out if you want people to attend! Ask friends to share your promotional graphics on their social media.

It’s important to include subscribers who’ve gone dormant.

They were interested in your message once. Give them a chance to reconnect by sending a re-engagement email. See How to Reactivate a Dormant Email List.

After that email goes out, send them your regular weekly or bi-monthly emails so they won’t go dormant again. You want them on your email list to let them know about your upcoming free events.

For new subscribers, write a short series of Welcome emails and upload them to your email provider. For help with content ideas, see Welcome Email Series Part One and Parts Two-Four.

Write in your voice.

Help readers “see” your personality. Offer valuable advice. All in one 4-part email series. These emails should be roughly three short paragraphs. Then, with help from your email provider if necessary, send all your readers weekly or bi-monthly emails that you’ve written and uploaded ahead of time. Ask your email provider about an “email automation.”

Must you be the leading authority on your subject matter for your events to succeed? No, though it’s wonderful if you are. 🙂

Remember that you know more about your topic than your audience does. That’s why they’ll attend. They’ll want your content.

Free events require preparation time on the front-end, but by completing the various tasks mentioned above, you’re less likely to need paid ads (though they’re wonderful if you have the funds).

Book launches–and free events–have multiple moving parts. Do what you can, as you can, even if it’s less than you’d hoped to do. Christ sees all you’re juggling personally and professionally. Have peace that He knows you’ve done your best. That’s all He asks.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags email marketing, live events, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, Marketing while waiting for publication

Marketing Sense

Write Blog Posts Readers Read

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date March 12, 2024
No Comments on Write Blog Posts Readers Read

The most engaging blog posts have five elements: content, a title, subheads, images, and white space.

If you haven’t already, break your primary topic down into 6-8 secondary topics, those subjects you consistently offer your audience. If you use WordPress, these subjects can become your blog categories.

Then dissect each secondary topic into a tertiary topic as a “mini topic.” These can become your blog’s tags…still a vital part of your message but lower on the food chain.

If you’re new to blogging, first create blog posts about your primary topic, then each secondary subject, and finally, your tertiary material. Working from the center out allows you to offer a broad range of helpful information without straying from your primary message.

After you go broad, go deep next. Choose one of your three content levels (primary, secondary, or tertiary) and take your reader on a deep dive focused on a single point. A short blog post that’s utterly clear is more valuable than a long one that bounces back and forth, getting nowhere.

There are no rigid rules here. This is a simple way to offer valuable content without covering your office walls with content ideas. Even a content plan as simple as the one mentioned above can keep you on track. Offer what you know your readers want to know, and they’ll return, bringing their friends.

Create a Great Title to Catch Your Reader’s Eye by Revealing Your Content’s Direction (Not the Content Itself)

Be careful your title doesn’t include every pertinent morsel or your reader won’t need to, well, read it. 🙂

Here’s a fictional example for an article about a prisoner’s escape and subsequent financial gain: How I Escaped Alcatraz and Became a Millionaire.

No reason to read that article! The title reveals all the main points.

What if we changed it to… The Last Man to Escape Alcatraz. There’s some intrigue in that headline, yes? The title reveals enough about the article’s content without revealing everything. Curiosity would draw readers to this article.

Why Are Subheads Important?

Everywhere we turn, we’re exposed to content. Usually it’s too long, too boring, and disorganized. So we’ve learned to scan before reading.

Subheads–bolded words sized slightly larger than your content’s text–seen above–show readers your post’s structure at a glance.

Without subheads, readers have two options:

#1: read the entire article to discover what it’s about, or

#2: leave your website.

Guess which one they’re more likely to do? Subheads help readers scan. Use them.

Images Support Your Content

Photographs, diagrams, maps, and so on increase your content’s value by supporting it. Even a basic visual is better than none, “pulling” readers down the page so (say it with me) they will keep reading.

Why Readers Like “White Space” Even if They Don’t Know What It Is

Blank, empty space gives readers a visual break. We’ve both landed on a website crammed with paragraph after paragraph of single-spaced text. Don’t we leave immediately? Our eyes need space to differentiate one point or paragraph from another.

White space increases readability. We’re more likely to understand-and share–content when we can read it, right?

These five elements, used together, can transform a “so-so” blog post into one your readers will savor for years. Write one. Then another. And another. And watch your audience grow.

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

Are You Making This Costly Email Mistake?

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date February 12, 2024
No Comments on Are You Making This Costly Email Mistake?

It seemed like such a great idea. Last summer, with four Lead Magnets offered on my website’s Home page, I created five more (private) Lead Magnets, each coordinating with one of my five-part continuing sessions at a Christian writers’ conference.

Nine active Lead Magnets! Sweeeet, right? Read on!

Content, design, and creation went smoothly. At the end of each continuing session at the conference, I shared the link to that session’s Lead Magnet with class attendees. (They were not made public.)

A few conferees opted-in for one session-related Lead Magnet. Some for three. Some for all five. It was smooth sailing until (cue the scary music)…my 4-part Welcome email series, unique to each Lead Magnet’s topic, ran its course.

That’s when I realized I’d goofed. BIG TIME! My email well had run dry because though I’d worked ahead and had my Welcome email series uploaded, I stopped working ahead without realizing I’d pay for it.

One bright morning, having already posted a well-thought-out email for each of my four Home page’s Lead Magnets each week, it hit me…I’d need an email for each of the five new Lead Magnet subscriber groups, too.

Nine weekly emails, each requiring content unique to that Lead Magnet’s topic.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Every week. Along with my many other duties. Ack! But I met my obligation.

I rode that horse for four months. Then, exhausted, I merged all nine Lead Magnet subscriber groups together and sent the same email to everyone.

But that’s not a long-term solution. In my *Welcome email series, I’d promised to guide new subscribers deeper into the topic of their chosen Lead Magnet. I couldn’t keep that promise if I stopped writing nine separate emails.

In a revolving door of poor choices, I had to choose one.

So I’ve been sending one weekly email to all subscribers of all nine Lead Magnets,
rotating topics each week. Not just a short paragraph or two; a fully developed article. But only one per week. Not nine.

Subscribers are getting powerful content, but it’s not focused on their unique interest, revealed by the Lead Magnets they requested. Sigh. 🙁

I’m asking Christ for a better solution. (He is The Perfect Marketer, you know.)

Unintentionally trapping myself into this content corner is a valuable lesson I’ll not forget. Plus, it’s embarrassing. Then why share it here…publicly? To help you avoid such a slip-up.

Does That Mean You Should Only Offer One Lead Magnet at a Time?

No! Lead Magnets are your most effective marketing asset…and they’re FREE! Done well, each one helps you grow your online platform by showcasing a different slice of your knowledge to your ideal audience. Show them you know “your stuff” via this short content piece, and they’ll want more from you including, perhaps, your just released book. 🙂

Here’s the Secret to Getting It All Done on Time

Create your Lead Magnet: design, content, and great title. Next, write your Welcome email sequence. Then plan and write your next 4-8 weekly emails. Upload everything…BEFORE promoting your lead magnet.

Continue working ahead. This healthy habit gives you room to breathe, to address unexpected issues in your personal or professional life, and to enjoy peace of mind. BIG payoff there!

This is how you can avoid the costliest email mistake I’ve made in 20+ years.

Click here read part 1 of my Welcome Email Series and here for parts two-four.

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, marketing on a budget, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

Welcome Email Series Example: Parts Two-Four

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date December 12, 2023
No Comments on Welcome Email Series Example: Parts Two-Four

Last month I shared Email #1 of my 4-part Welcome email series example. Here are the remaining 3 emails and the strategies associated with each. Create your own Welcome email series and include whatever you’d like. Be sure they’re short, clear, and welcoming to your new subscriber.

Why bother? It sets the stage for your email relationships. Be helpful. Be yourself. And connect serve your new subscriber.

In each of the three successive emails below, you’ll first see the content of my fictional email series plus red asterisks to identify which words / phrases / paragraphs have a specific strategy. Then in a separate section directly below each email, one-by-one, the strategy itself.

Here we go!

Strategies for Email #2

In the Strategy List below, you’ll find a duplicate of every sentence above shown with a red asterisk, then my strategy, so you don’t have to scroll up and down the page constantly. You’re welcome. 🙂

#1: [*Info you requested]

When sending information your new subscriber requested, it’s very important to include this phrase, or one like it, as part of your title.

Why? They may have forgotten their request. Can that really happen…after all, it was only 24 hours ago! Yep. It happens. Not because they’re stupid…they’re B-U-S-Y. We need to cut through the never-ending noise in their mind to get their attention.)

#2: **Slide Deck

This tells the subscriber what to expect when they open this email. Scammers have taught us not to open emails that don’t explain what’s in them first.

The phrase “slide deck” does that. It’s not cute. It’s clear.

#3: Publish (send): One day after Email #1 (***unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)

(Shown to the reader in the Welcome Email #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your second Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂

#4: ****As promised, here’s the download link to the Slide Deck.

Clear as a bell so the reader cannot miss it but some will. See #XXX below.

#5: *****What’s your biggest frustration when creating a title?

My goal here is to start a dialogue. I don’t want to be the only in this two-way conversation. We can’t make our readers respond, but we want them to know we welcome it.

#6: ******Tell me what’s challenging you in this area and I’ll respond in a future email that will help everyone.

This sentence explains what will happen if they do respond. They’ll help other readers by asking me a question others might be timid to ask.

#7: Enjoy the slide deck, and *******I’ll talk to you in a few days!

A duplicate link to the slide deck so my reader doesn’t have to hunt for it.

After they’ve received the promised / delivered Slide Deck, what can they expect going forward? They can expect me to continue staying in touch with them!

Some send the promised resource then never send another email. Bad! B-A-D choice!

—————————————-

—————————————-

Strategies for Email #3

#1: *When We Do Our Part We Set the Stage for God to Do His Part (See Strategy #3 below.)

#2: Publish: **3 Days after Email #2 (unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)

This point has been mentioned already. Repeated here for clarity. Yes, you’ll see it again in Email #4. 🙂 (Shown to the reader in the Welcome Emails #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your third Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂

#3: ***It’s another beautiful day to serve Jesus!

New subscribers see immediately that I write for Christians. They can guess I’m a Christian. This is core to my message, so I reference God three times before the content even begins. That doesn’t have to be your strategy. Follow His leading. What or who is most important to you related to your audience? Identify that person or concept early on in your email relationship.

#4: ****Questions? Comments? Hit reply and I’ll answer.

Another invitation to new subscribers, letting them know I’m open to a two-way relationship.

#5: *****In case you haven’t had time to download my FREE RESOURCE TITLE GOES HERE yet, here’s that LINK GOES HERE again.

Many of us intend to download that great “thing” we requested, but we get distracted and forget. So I’m gently mentioning it again to help my reader remember…without badgering or chastising them.

Strategies for Email #4

#1 (Last time to see this… *3 days after Email #3 (unless it’s Sunday, then send on Monday)

This point has been mentioned already. Repeated here for clarity. 🙂 (Shown to the reader in the Welcome Emails #1, this need not be shown to them again. It does show you–as MY reader–when to send your third Welcome email to YOUR reader. 🙂

#2: **Grab a pen and paper so we can make two short lists.

In this fourth Welcome email, my reader sees that I don’t offer fluff. We’re here to work while having a good time. I’ll walk them through the task step-by-step so they can 1) see the value of it and 2) know how to do it themselves next time.

#3: *** Write down 3 (three) strengths your audience has on the first list and 3 (three) weaknesses they have on the second list. (See #2 above.)

#4: **** Now, create one piece of content (blog post, social media post, email, Reels, whatever) for each strength and each weakness. (See #2 above.)

#5: ***** Do you have another free or a paid resource that could help further? Mention it and share the link to it.

Many people have content already created in a blog post, an interview, a free resource called a Lead Magnet, but they don’t think to offer access to it in another medium. Do it! 🙂

#6: ****** No resource that fits? That’s okay. Find someone else’s applicable content on this topic and share the direct link on their website.

My reader may be brand new to writing / speaking, or highly accomplished. Sharing someone else’s content–if applicable and spot on–tells their subscriber they’re primary goal is to serve them, not impress them.

#7: *******P.S. Last invitation to download my FREE RESOURCE LINK GOES HERE Enjoy!

The goal is to give readers every chance to download the free resource. Added this last time separately, away from other content so it’s not lost to the reader.

If you haven’t used a Welcome email series before, give it a try!

—————————————-

Welcome Email Series Ends

Regular Email Content Begins Next Email

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing sen, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

What’s the Big Deal About Lead Magnets?

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date September 12, 2023
No Comments on What’s the Big Deal About Lead Magnets?

A Lead Magnet is a marketing tool. “Lead Magnet” is marketing speak for what is typically a 3-10 page PDF. It should answer a single question or solve a single problem 1) your audience is experiencing that 2) ties into your message.

No need to give away a fantastic resource that has nothing in common with your topic. Sharing the first 10 questions for readers to ask when booking a ski lodge won’t attract your ideal target market if your message focuses on homeschooling. Can I get a witness? 🙂

You’ve seen scads of Lead Magnets throughout your years online. A 5-day challenge. A 3-part video training. A webinar. Some other type of event (the sky’s the limit) that your ideal target market will find useful. Plus, the basic standard mentioned above (a 3-10 page PDF).

By default, Lead Magnets are free.

Why go to all that work only to give it away to strangers?

Because our goal is to attract people who do not yet know they’re in our target market!

Marketers give away valuable resource(s) to draw the attention of new readers. We want them to sign up to our email list so we can stay in touch with them consistently (not constantly!). The long-term goal is to develop a relationship via email.

As we serve our subscribers regularly, offering practical, actionable information to make their life easier (related to our message), they get to know us, and vice-versa. We serve them. Serve them. Then serve them some more.

And occasionally, we share our latest or greatest CD, book, product, or course. Whatever we’re offering for sale at that time.

It’s much easier to share such info with a friend you’ve helped every week for years, isn’t it?

Pitching our products to people we don’t know and who don’t know us is an expensive, uphill battle.

Make it easier for yourself and your reader by giving them a taste of your knowledge, personality, wisdom, and so on, in only 3-10 short pages filled with content that HELPS THEM.

This could be the start of a beautiful relationship. 🙂

Including a free Lead Magnet offer on your website’s Home page “above the fold” is wise. More visitors look at that section of your website than any area other. If they like what they see there, they’ll explore further. (See last month’s article to discover what to include in your Home page’s “above the fold” area.)

Creating a Lead Magnet isn’t rocket science, though it can seem to be when first starting out.

A few examples I’m offering right now listed below. Each is a short PDF.

Title: Platform Audit

Subtitle: Discover your platforms assets and liabilities in 6 key areas.

Title: Write Emails That Get Opened!

Subtitle: 35 Content Prompts to Write Great Emails Every Time

Title: Podcast Prep 101

Subtitle: 20 Questions to Nail Your Interview!

Title: Your First (Product or Program) Launch

Subtitle: Steps 1-5

There are more. That’s enough to give you an idea of the free resource’s content and your interest level in it.

That’s what we want to do with all our Lead Magnets.

Great title and subtitle. Helpful content that matters to your audience and is directly tied to your message, and an invitation to sign up for it using one of those itty-bitty boxes called an “opt-in” box. You’ve filled out 100s of them.

“But what if my Lead Magnet turns out to be a flop?” I’m often asked. It happens!

Get up off the floor, dust yourself off, and try again.

Keep creating new, fresh Lead Magnets until readers respond to first this one and then that one. Their response–or lack of it–shows you what they’re interested in. Make more like that.

And watch your email list (and your platform) grow!

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags lead magnet, lead magnets, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

What to Include in Your Home Page’s “Above the Fold” Area

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date August 12, 2023
No Comments on What to Include in Your Home Page’s “Above the Fold” Area

Are you pleased with your website’s Home page? The way it looks, its design, and most important, its effectiveness? If not, read on!

Beneath your Menu bar (sometimes called the Navigation bar–it’s at the top of your web page) is your most important real estate anywhere online. It’s referred to as the area, “above the fold,” or “above the scroll,” meaning the part of your Home page readers can see without having to scroll further down the page to see it all.

More visitors will see this area than any other on your website. Ever. It has a vital job: to get your visitor’s attention and inspire them to sign up for your free resource (called a Lead Magnet in marketing speak).

Within this “above the fold” area, the most effective websites include two columns. They’re not visually separated into columns, but you want each column’s contents to take up approximately the same amount of width and height.

Include the following elements in either the right or left column areas:

A great, color photo of YOU that takes up that area of the page “above the fold,” along with your name and title (Author, Public Relation Expert, whatever’s applicable). That should fill the entire “above the scroll” space but not spill out from it.

In the second, opposite column, include four short areas of text and an opt-in button:

#1: a short description of your audience (my audience is Christian writers and speakers).

#2: your main headline for this area addressing the frustration or goal your audience seeks to change, OR a strong statement that will resonate with your audience.

#3: a single line of text shaped in the form of a promise or a result.

#4: two short paragraphs–only 1-2 sentences each–identifying the frustration or goal you know your audience is seeking to change.

Plus:

– an opt-in box that includes two small text boxes, one each for your reader’s first name and email address, and

– your CTA (call-to-action) button for readers to click or press after they’ve “signed up” for your free resource (added their name and email to receive it).

You’ve seen 100’s or 1,000’s of these opt-in boxes through your many years online.

It’s very important that the text on your call-to-action button is not the word, “SUBMIT.” No one wants to submit. To anything. Particularly not to a total stranger.

The Website Police aren’t going to drag you out of your home at 3AM if you use SUBMIT, but since we know readers find it offensive, why use it?

There are so many other, non-offensive options! In fact, text that’s related to your giveaway (called a Lead Magnet) is much wiser.

Say you’re giving away a checklist of various sizes and uses of skillets for gourmet cooks. Your CTB button text could be, “I need to use the right skillet!” Or if it fits your personality, consider, “Gimme the checklist!” or, “Checklist, please!”

You could also use a phrase as simple and direct as, “Sign me up!” or “I need this info!” Use whatever seems best to you.

Note that your website theme may have a limit on how many characters (letters) your CTA button allows. So, if you have a fun phrase but it has too many letters, simply experiment until you find a shorter version and you’re all set!

Studies show that filling your Home page’s area “above the fold” with an offer your audience considers a “must have” will spur growth.

Fill the balance of your Home page with pertinent content that seems right to you.

The options are limitless. Research competitors and near-competitors for fresh inspiration. No need to copy anyone. Christ is creative enough to give each of us a unique viewpoint for the message He’s gifted us to serve.

But keep your Home page’s area “above the fold” exclusive, using it only to showcase your current free resource (Lead Magnet).

Try it! You’ll like it! So goes the Alka-Seltzer marketing phrase from the early 70’s. 🙂

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips, website design

Marketing Sense

How to Serve Multiple Audience Categories via One Email

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date July 12, 2023
No Comments on How to Serve Multiple Audience Categories via One Email

(NOTE: This doesn’t apply to multiple audiences. They rarely have sustainable, overlapping needs.)

Serving multiple audience categories via email is one of our most challenging goals as marketers. So why is it necessary?

“THAT is the right question, Detective Spooner,”
(I,Robot reference there). 🙂

Unless you’re a brand-new marketer (if you are, welcome!), you likely have more than one audience segment, sometimes called an audience category. If we regularly send one-size-fits-all emails, subscribers won’t stick around long. There are too many others who will offer them what they specifically want. Generic won’t do.

Let’s back up and start at the beginning with an oversimplified example.

Let’s say our audience, in one word, is “mothers.” And our topic is also one word, “relationships.” There are roughly, oh, about a gazillion intersections between those two descriptions, agreed?

So, let’s break it down further, separating all mothers in our audience into groups called “categories” or “segments” in email lingo.

We want to identify the strongest commonality between them.

That might be their age, ethnicity, nationality, marital status, income…the list goes on and on. When we dig deeper, we see a clear distinction not in their ages, but in their children’s ages.

We can further separate them into–in this case–three groups: moms with toddlers, moms with elementary age children, and moms with high school / college age children.

In this fictional scenario, these mothers want content related to their children’s relational development.

While each group has unique differences from the other two, collectively, they have intersecting needs, goals, pain points, and interests, too. Instead of one generic email that doesn’t fit anyone, we can send a single email to focus on one specific question, goal, etc., the entire group is asking or working toward. It will fit each of these mothers individually…with only one email. Sweeeet!

But how we identify their common points of interest?

Picture a 2-circle Venn diagram. Each circle is independent of the other, except for a small area where they overlap. That overlapped area is what both groups have in common.

Now add a third circle to make a 3-way Venn diagram. Each circle is still independent of the others, yet there’s one 3-way overlap (it’s obvious if you ask Google to show you an image).

That single section where the three circles overlap represents your audience’s common challenges, obstacles, dreams, joys, etc., for their children and their children’s relationships.

If your goal is to write ONE email that’s applicable to each of your three audience groups, draw from that small, intersecting area in your 3-way Venn diagram for an idea, and it will fit every reader in these three categories to a “T.”

Suppose you want to send a Special Notice of some kind to only one of your three audience groups, and you want the remaining two groups to get a “regular” email?

Send that specific group a unique email (separate from the other two groups) with the Special Notice that pertains only to them.

Follow your normal process (based upon your 3-way Venn Diagram’s overlap) to write one email for the remaining two groups and send.

Next time, return to the overlapping obstacles, dreams, etc., shown in your diagram, and continue sending readers your best content!

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

35 Blog Post Ideas When You’re in a Slump

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date June 12, 2023
No Comments on 35 Blog Post Ideas When You’re in a Slump

The age-old question, “I’ve covered everything under the sun! What else is there to write a blog post about?” trips us up regularly.

See if any of the suggestions below prompt new ideas for you.

Make a list of your message’s foundational points. Cover one point per blog post.
Make a list of FAQ from your audience or readers. Answer one question per blog post.
What about the most common challenges your audience / readers face? You guessed it! Address one challenge per blog post and help them overcome it.
Write a bulleted list of helpful, insider tips or DIY instructions related to your message.
Share how God called you to your ministry and invite readers to share their stories with you via a return email or a comment on the social media post you create to promote this blog post.
Share how you knew this ministry idea was from God and not from last night’s pizza. 🙂
What’s going on in the news that ties into your primary message?
Have a new project coming up? Share the behind-the-scenes activity.
Which new book have you read or heard about recently? Why might that be a good fit for your readers?
What’s the history of your favorite holiday? How can you tie that into your message?
Share a gift idea for those you serve (that their loved one might give them).
What startling or just released statistic relates to your message and your audience?
Book launch coming up? Invite readers to support you as book launch team members or ask them to post just once.
Been to a conference lately? What was the most valuable info you learned?
Conference–who was the most interesting person you met, and why?
Conference–who was the best presenter and what made them the best one?
Conference–what’s your overall opinion of it and would you suggest your audience attend?
Conference–does the conference above offer scholarships and if so, how does that process work?
What else can you tell your audience about the conference mentioned above or any other conference?
Write a long “roundup” blog post highlighting all the other blog posts you’ve written on that same topic. Be sure to share the link to each article as you highlight it!
Share book reviews you’ve written, explaining what you did (and did not) like about the book.
Write a blog post listing your favorite blogs about your topic.
Write a blog post listing your favorite podcasts about your topic.
Explain your research process for books, projects, or courses.
Share a list of quotes that apply to your topic.
Share a heartwarming story about your child or grandchild that ties into your topic.
Share your favorite writing or speaking tools, platforms, or resources, and why they’re your favorite.
Share three common myths related to your topic and explain why they’re not true.
Share your daily schedule and invite readers to share theirs.
Share how you manage your time and invite readers to share their schedule.
Share your process to find the perfect title for your books or products.
Share your primary goal(s) when posting on social media.
Explain what a blog tour is and how your readers can be part of one.
Make a list of the influencers you follow and why.
Describe how you hope your message impacts your audience.

Whew! That’s a lot of ideas! Praying more than one is helpful. 🙂

Tags blog ideas, blogging, blogging tips, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips

Marketing Sense

6 Benefits of Serving Your Audience In a Private Group Online or Off

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date May 12, 2023
No Comments on 6 Benefits of Serving Your Audience In a Private Group Online or Off

This 3-part series focuses on growing your author platform in 2023, specifically, via an online community such as a private Facebook group. Note that each article applies to any group, online or offline.

You’ll be surprised how valuable serving your audience in Christ’s name can be to both you and your audience.

It’s easy to feel we’re simply delivering the message God’s given us and letting it fall upon the ground where it may, as in The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.

Let’s explore six specific ways serving your audience in Christ’s name directly benefits you.

Benefit #1: Promising to show up regularly will pull you out of your writer’s cave mentally, physically, or both. The more that thought makes you squirm in your chair, the more necessary it is you do it. Your audience–and mine–needs us to engage with them. And though we may not realize it yet, we need to engage with them, too, as a Christian communicator and as a human being.

Benefit #2: By definition, such a group gathers like-minded people together. Both parties are blessed. As you and I show up to serve our audience, they show up to learn from us.

#3: As members apply your message (which is really God’s message in you) their lives begin to change. They’ll mention that to those they know, some of whom are also in your target audience. Thus, your community grows, and in some cases, your expertise is recognized even outside the group.

#4: Some both serve and promote their products or services in their group.

#5: Whatever your preferred method of serving, it fits a group: in-person, online, via posts on your social media only, short or long videos offering short or long content or training…and so on.

#6: All of the five options above refine your message. How so? No matter how often you’ve sat in your office reviewing your content in your mind, there’s no substitute for discussing it over and over (and over).

The result? Your message becomes deeper, richer, and more on point. You’ll share it more succinctly, with new, clearer examples than before. You’ll notice patterns previously unseen, and the organization of it will become a visual in your mind, ready to be drawn upon instantly.

No wonder so many successful Christian authors host a private Facebook group!

(This concludes this short series.)

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies

Marketing Sense

Reach Your Audience in 2023

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date January 12, 2023
1 Comment on Reach Your Audience in 2023

This month’s edition of Reader’s Digest (Dec ’22 / Jan ’23) included a section near the back called To: Book Lovers, New releases on our wish list, which shared the title, cover image, and a short paragraph about each book.

Two were immediately added to my mental Wish List: The Space Shuttle: A Mission-by-Mission Celebration of NASA’s Extraordinary Spaceflight Program by Roland Miller, a mission-by-mission log of NASA’ space shuttle program, and Our America: A Photographic History by Ken Burns, a pictorial record covering 180 years of U. S. history.

Wow! Both titles intrigued me so! How to choose? Should I purchase one, both, or invest my funds elsewhere?

Your audience asks these same questions as they compare your book with other books and other non-book items. Sometimes they’re comparing apples to apples; sometimes apples to giraffes.

We compete with a bazillion products for our audience’s time.

How can your book get the attention it deserves?

Consider focusing on the quality of your writing, the title and sub-title of your book (as well as the back cover copy), and your marketing plan.

My expertise lies in the latter two categories.

Every author has scads of tasks, but these three rise to the top because they will–or won’t–attract your ideal target market.

Without interested readers, even a perfect book won’t gain traction.

You may wonder, “But what about my website, email, social media, Lead Magnets, and the other seemingly endless items everyone shouts for me to do?”

Yes, those items (and more!) need your regular attention. 🙁

But you’ll want to keep The Main Thing your primary focus. Christ first. Family second. Your ministry and book third. The other things next, listed in the order He identifies.

Beginning next month, we’ll dig deeper into ways to market your non-fiction book.

Let’s address one myth right now. The old, “My book is for everyone” myth. If you haven’t yet released that idea, let it go today…please.

God is the only One who can write a book that fits the needs and answers the questions of women in the armed forces, oncologists recently diagnosed with cancer, homeless veterans with school-age children, entrepreneurs and company CEOs, and so on.

No human being can address every potential issue in a single book.

God’s already done that flawlessly in the Holy Bible. He is the perfect Author. 🙂

I believe every non-fiction book’s audience must have a common thread with each other and for a Christian book, the author needs that same commonality. Our writing is more powerful and more effective when we’ve experienced the issues and/or goals of our audience. This is God’s way.

The experience, pain, challenges, and deliverance should be in our past. How can we guide our audience to a solution if we don’t know the path to freedom? How can we discover that path if we haven’t been on our version of their journey? And how can we assure them He is trustworthy if we haven’t yet been delivered ourselves?

God shapes us for His service tomorrow by applying His principles to our lives today.

Your book must stand out not only from other books on your topic, and not only from other books in general, but from other products whose makers cry for your audience’s attention. You’ll never know what those other products are, but you can make choosing YOUR book amongst all the options a no-brainer.

The good news? While it takes a long-term, focused approach, it can be done. Yay!

So, which of the two wildly divergent book(s) did I choose? In the end, wisdom prevailed. Since I’m not scientifically minded and unfamiliar with the language and concepts of space exploration, I removed The Space Shuttle from my list. While I would definitely enjoy digging into NASA’s mission logs, that book wouldn’t become a new treasure on my bookshelf.

But Ken Burns’ Our America would be an instant treasure. Why? I’m a history buff, particularly American history. I could picture myself getting lost for hours in that one!

It’s the same with your audience. They’re attracted to YOUR non-fiction book for several reasons: they share common traits with you, they enjoy your communication style, your personality, and your sense of humor, and the clear, results-oriented words you use to describe how your book will help them have a better life in ways that matter to them.

In the coming months, we’ll discover how to sharpen your focus, increase your clarity, and attract your ideal target market.

We have lots to do in 2023. Are you in? See you next month!

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags comparative titles, focus and perspective, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies

Uncategorized

Five Questions to Find Podcasts That Fit Your Message

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date October 12, 2022
No Comments on Five Questions to Find Podcasts That Fit Your Message

All your proverbial ducks are in a row. It’s time to “pitch” podcasters, to let them know you’re available to be interviewed. Woo-hoo!

Do you contact your family, friends, email readers, and Facebook group pals, asking them to connect you with their favorite podcaster? Hmmm…they’re unlikely to have a personal relationship with many podcasters.

Should you Google podcasts or Christian podcasts or Christian podcasts in America to find potential podcasts whose listeners will surely want to hear your story? Perhaps…

Or, like any good writer, you could follow your normal process and do the research to discover which podcasts are a good fit for you before sending your pitch. Let’s choose that path, shall we? 🙂

****

Select up to five podcasts from your research results, then listen to three entire episodes of each. Not one episode, or two, but three, all the way through, and answer the following questions about each podcast.

First question: Is it an interview-style program?

Does the host regularly invite guests to join him or her? If not, move on immediately.

Second question: What patterns do I notice as I listen, and are they positive or negative?

Patterns not noticeable in two episodes tend to surface after listening to three. Is that program–and that host–one with whom you want to be associated publicly? They ask themselves this question about you. You’re wise to ask it yourself…about them.

Third question: What can I offer their audience?

Focus on serving the host’s audience, not on pitching your book. Both goals are two sides of the same coin. Listeners are savvy. Just like you, they know when they’re being used and when they’re being served.

Identify how your presence will benefit the podcaster’s audience. If you can’t answer that question, wait to send out your pitch until you can. From the potential host’s perspective, this is the most important information in your pitch. It needs to fit their audience. Don’t be generic.

Fourth question: Will my personality mesh well with theirs…for a full hour?

As you listen to the various episodes, you’ll get a feel for the host’s interview style and their personality. You know which types of people you connect with best. Most of us have enough experience to adjust on the fly, but we don’t want to spend 60 minutes zigging if the host is consistently zagging. This makes the audience uncomfortable.

Fifth question: How can I connect (not contact) with the host?

Podcasters are people, too. 🙂 They like to know you recognize the value of their program and that as a listener, you appreciate their efforts (not just as a potential guest who wants access to their audience).

For each podcast program you’ll pitch, choose one episode and write a review about it. Then take a screenshot of that review (after you’ve posted online) and include that screenshot with your pitch email. That allows them to see that you’ve listened to their program and didn’t randomly pitch them.

Bonus Point #1: When writing your pitch, be sure to include a clear request to be a guest on their program. This applies whether you’re close friends or total strangers. Sounds obvious, right? But not everyone actually types those words.

Don’t be like the young man who thought he’d proposed but never actually used the words, “Will you marry me?” Clarity will help him get engaged.

It will also help you get booked more often.

Bonus Point #2: Be sure not to include these words in your pitch…”I’ve written a book and I’d love to join you on your program to discuss it.” If you don’t delete that from your email, the host will delete your entire email.

Why? You’re asking them to do you a favor. In their eyes, it’s a BIG favor: you want access to the audience they’ve nurtured and grown. But you’re not offering anything in return, such as a benefit to their audience. (See Question #3 above.) Though very common, this is rude, bad form, and unprofessional.

They’ll remember you, but not for the right reasons.

***

It’s a wondrous gift to be a podcast guest for a program that fits you, and vice versa. You’re given access to people who need want you’re offering but they didn’t know it until they heard your guest interview.

Following these five simple steps will place you light years of your competitors when podcast hosts are searching for guests.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags marketing, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, podcasting

Marketing Sense

How to Grow Your Audience Using Online Workshops: Part Six

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date September 12, 2022
No Comments on How to Grow Your Audience Using Online Workshops: Part Six

We’ve almost finished preparations for our online workshop! If you’re just joining us, you may wonder…

“Why bother with a live webinar? Can’t I just send that information in an email series?”

Yes, you can, but a live webinar is about more than transferring information. It’s about new and established audience members engaging not only with you…live…but with each other.

And in this, our final segment, we’ll talk about when and what to send in both your pre-launch and post-webinar email series.

Here’s our breakdown of this series so far…

In Part One, we chose our topic.

In Part Two, we identified and researched various title resources.

In Part Three, we chose our title (it’s a dandy!).

In Part Four, we discussed priming our audience for our upcoming webinar using what’s called “pre-launch” emails.

In Part Five, we confirmed our goal and our plan to reach it.

This “live” component is more powerful than it appears. Your readers will also experience community. YOUR community. While learning information they have sought from YOU. Boom!

They’ll learn. They’ll laugh. They’ll value you. They’ll want more. Voila! Your audience has just grown! Now, serve them well, and as Christ leads, periodically promote a paid product or service. Do that once a month or once a year–whatever your marketing plan is–and you’ll have a larger, loyal following. (Hint: That’s a good thing.) 🙂

The last step before our online webinar is our launch email series.

This is a group of emails (usually) created ahead of time and scheduled for release pre-webinar. It’s imperative that readers understand the benefit your free webinar offers, as that will help them choose to attend. It’s up to you to tell them in both your title (Survive These 3 Treacherous Ice-Fishing Dangers) and your email’s content (below).

First email: Send your Webinar Announcement email 14-30 days out.

You want to give your audience time to adjust their schedule if necessary. Better yet, sharing the date early will prevent conflicts altogether. Include all the normal information: date, time, location, topic, and your event’s URL, along with a clear benefit.

These days most of us present on Zoom. You can set your webinar up in your Zoom account weeks in advance and share the details in your announcement email.

You don’t have to include your Zoom link in this first email, but it’s a good idea because some readers are meticulous about details. You don’t know who those readers are, so go ahead and send the full details in this email and plan to add them to subsequent emails as well, for those readers who’ll wait till the last minute to take note of them. It happens. 🙂

Second email: Send a Webinar Reminder email 7 days out.

Simple. Clear.Almost a duplicate of your Announcement email, adding another benefit for those who attend. Consider placing your webinar’s URL, date, day, time, and so on in your postscript instead of the body this time, as scanners will read a postscript (a P.S.) when they won’t read anything else.

Third and Fourth emails:

One day before your webinar begins, and a final reminder email 30 minutes before your webinar begins. Isn’t that too many? No. We all get busy and miss important meetings without gentle reminders. You’ll be doing them a favor with these last two emails. Add one more benefit, please, or repeat the benefits you mentioned in your previous emails.

Fifth email:

Send a Thanks for Joining Me! email within two hours after the webinar is over. (Another reason you want to create this simple email series ahead of time.)

Share a recap of the webinar’s content and its benefits. Offer a limited-time replay link if that’s part of your marketing strategy.

It’s over! Serve your new readers as well as you’ve served your current readers. Offer them life-changing content that will draw them to your message and to Christ.

Create new webinars as you desire, and watch your audience grow. Offer your knowledge for free or via paid products or services and reach more people for Christ around the world!

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags live webinar, marketing, marketing for writers, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, online marketing, online workshops

Uncategorized

How to Grow Your Audience Using Online Workshops: Part Four

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date July 12, 2022
No Comments on How to Grow Your Audience Using Online Workshops: Part Four

Want to grow your audience faster? Online workshops (also called webinars) are a great option. In this series, we’re using an out-of-the-ordinary topic (ice fishing!) so you can follow the process step-by-step no matter which topic you offer. Learn the sequence then apply it to your message.

In Part One, we chose our topic.

In Part Two, we identified and researched various title resources.

In Part Three, we chose our title (it’s a dandy!).

This month, in Part Four, we’ll discuss how to warm up your current email readers, so they’ll be interested in your (as yet undisclosed) online workshop when you’re ready to market it.

Some call these “pre-launch” emails. Some call them “seeding” or “pre-webinar” emails. All are correct.

In this example, our audience is ice fishermen. I know, I know, unusual to say the least, but the goal is to learn the process. Grasp that, and you can use it for any content you want to offer, either to your established audience or those (in this case) ice fishermen who don’t yet know you can help them.

So…back to your email series.

You’re regularly sending emails related to your overall topic, right?

Since our workshop’s content teaches how to eliminate or survive ice-fishing dangers, we want to bring this concept into our pre-webinar emails. Indirectly. Why? Because we’re not yet ready to market our webinar.

During this, our warm-up or pre-launch phase, we want to help readers (ice fishermen, remember?) begin thinking about how dangerous ice fishing can be. That way, they’re more likely to be interested when we market our webinar on surviving those dangers. Get it?

Of course, they all know it can be dangerous, but they push that fact to the back of their mind, or they believe they already take every necessary precaution to stay safe. We want to challenge that notion without challenging them.

Increase the pressure on a potential problem bit by bit then offer your solution to that problem, and readers will want your offer.

There are many ways to introduce this topic without being pushy, abrasive, or an alarmist. I’ll list a few, then you can take it from there.

You might research various past or current news stories to mention in your email(s), highlighting what the victim(s) could have done differently. If you choose this path, be sure not to “steal” your workshop’s content. Simply point out a poor decision or, going in the other direction, share (perhaps for the umpteenth time) how to check the ice’s depth before stepping on to it or driving over it.

Whatever your topic, it’s always appropriate to review the basics from as many angles as possible.

You might suggest a book or magazine article (that you’ve read) that highlights this subject, but again, not anything that will cover what you plan to cover in your workshop.

You might interview someone who had a harrowing experience while ice fishing. The goal isn’t to scare your reader or cry, “Wolf!” It’s to bring this topic up in your regular email correspondence with them so that when you market your workshop (that solves this specific problem), they’re already warmed up to the topic. You’re not starting “cold.” Meaning they’re more likely to respond to a workshop related to how to eliminate or avoid the dangers of ice fishing.

Begin sending these pre-launch or warm-up emails 60 days before you begin marketing your webinar. If that sounds like a lot of emails, it’s not. One email a week (if you send emails out weekly) is only eight emails in two months. No more than you’d normally send.

Next month we’ll discuss ideas for your launch emails and beyond.

This process applies to anything you want to offer, whether free or paid. It’s not necessary to use this sequence of activities and emails, but if you do, it will be a smoother, easier, and hopefully, profitable process for both you and your readers.

See you then!

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags growing your audience, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, online marketing

Marketing Sense

How to Write Successful Promotions: Part One

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date February 12, 2022
No Comments on How to Write Successful Promotions: Part One

You’re finally ready to promote your latest book or product or course. All you need now is buyers. Woo-hoo! That’s what happened last spring to Sally Sue. The fictional promotional post below is typical of hundreds of such posts seen every day. Let’s dissect it, shall we?

Would you like to receive coaching training from Sally Sue?

Sally Sue, 3-time New York Times bestselling author and coach of 36 years

will be giving an exclusive training to new and established coaches to help you

be as effective and as successful as you possibly can be in 2021 and beyond.

The Headline

The headline is dead: Would you like to receive coaching training…? The writer lost me immediately. I’m out. Gone. Won’t be back.

You and I and Sally Sue have milliseconds to gain the attention of readers who are scrolling past our words at supersonic speed. That headline won’t cut it.

The Only Sentence

There’s a single sentence, as if Sally Sue was a breathless teenage girl running to tell her parents she just smashed into the garage door while parking and she had to get all the words out in one long breath. It’s exhausting to read, isn’t it?

The First Line

Readers don’t immediately care who we are, what we’ve accomplished, or how long we’ve been doing it. They DO care about themselves and what’s in it for them. You and I are the same way.

Sally’s only talking about herself; there’s no hint of any benefit to the reader.

It’s easy to forget that our readers are inundated every day with thousands–literally thousands–of promotions. Like us, they’ve become numb to them.

Some marketers swing to the other end of the pendulum with offensive or loud graphics and words in their promotions to get attention. They get attention, yes, but obnoxious promotions don’t help us reach our goals.

The Second Line

“Exclusive training to new and established coaches…” means what, exactly? What kind of training and how long will it last? Will it be free or is a price attached? Will it be delivered via a weekly Zoom meeting, at a weekend retreat center in California in May, or in Sally’s church basement next summer? Readers won’t know because Sally hasn’t shared that information.

What, if any, expertise does the reader need for this opportunity to be a perfect fit for them? Again, we’re not told. So how can they decide if they want to attend? If in doubt, they’ll pass right by. We tend to think they’ll stop, dig around in our post for a link we may or may not have remembered to add, and perhaps visit our website to find out more. Brace yourself. They won’t.

The Third Line

“…be as effective and successful as you possibly can be…” is not what we’d call a specific result.

Isn’t This a Bit Harsh?

We rarely see flaws in our work while others’ flaws leap out at us. This fictional writer is helping us learn through her weak marketing example.

Like Sally Sue, you and I write from our perspective, forgetting that the reader doesn’t know what we know, doesn’t have the details we have, so they can’t put two and two together. What will they do? Simply scroll on by, leaving us wondering why more people didn’t sign up for our fabulous offer.

It’s easy to think poor results prove we’re a failure and we should apply at our local Starbucks tomorrow. Perhaps, but probably not. What we need is reader-focused, results-oriented marketing.

In Part Two next month we’ll reword Sally Sue’s post.

Website: marketersonamission.com
Facebook: MarketersOnAMission

Tags Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, marketing tips, promotions

Guest Posts

10 Effective Marketing Strategies for Authors

Post author By Norma Poore - Managing Editor
Post date February 9, 2022
No Comments on 10 Effective Marketing Strategies for Authors

____________________________________________________________________________

It has become difficult to stand out in this competitive era, especially for small entrepreneurs, like authors. Therefore, you need to come up with unique marketing strategies if you want to stay ahead of competitors.

Although the traditional ways of marketing a book is still important, merging that with new strategies helps you reach a broader range of audiences. Not only this, understanding the 5 Ps of marketing will help you better shape your business strategy.

10 Effective Marketing Strategies

1. Pair Your Strategy With Google Ads

Google Ads is one of the effective online marketing channels. Although it may be a bit expensive, it is competitive, and once you master this platform, you can get a lot of benefits. Also, keep in mind that doing your on-page SEO perfectly, will give you the relevant search results to stimulate traffic.

2. Explore Content Marketing

You should generate relevant content that showcases what your book is about and answer any queries or dilemmas you think might come up.. Then, spread the content through a wide range of channels online. This way of content marketing is a powerful tactic to direct traffic from varied sources.

However, content marketing requires patience, as the results will take time to evolve. Therefore, don’t forget to leverage content marketing for the sustainable growth of visitors and readers of your books in the long term.

3. Partner With Publishers

Authors need to reach out to more publishers for expansion by partnering with other ventures, like anthologies and other collaborative works. This is a powerful way of marketing your writing or services as you promote yourself and your books. Moreover, leveraging pragmatic marketing becomes important here as it allows you to relate with not only your readers but with other publishers’ audiences as well.

4. Use Social Media

Most of your target audiences are on distinctive social channels. In addition, most of your target audience is utilizing social media for customer support. Therefore, your books need to be showcased on all the significant social platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Therefore, you have to ensure that you devote effort and time to the growth of your social media audience. Several smart marketing professionals invest a lot of time and money toward developing their social media presence.

5. Create Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising is an effective social media strategy that your book can benefit from immensely. In addition, Facebook is an affordable platform to reach out virtually to a wide audience.

You can set Facebook ads to target your particular set of consumers based on their location, online behavior, sex, age, etc. Facebook Ads Manager will lead you through creating, running, and testing various ad tests so that you can see which ad formula is getting the attention of your readers and audience.

6. Promote On Ecommerce Platforms

eCommerce sites such as Flipkart and Amazon have a huge number of your target audience. Therefore, you must explore marketing opportunities offered by these sites. Even big companies allow limited-time discounts to their members on these sites.

You can efficiently target your readers. As a result, it encourages brand awareness amongst the audience, grows manifold, and new readers come exploring your newly launched books.

7. Email marketing

An email marketing campaign is essential to your cold outreach marketing strategy. Since customers get numerous emails per day from marketers, you should make a plan that stands out from the rest and transform your leads into followers and buyers of your book.

First, your emails should be customized for all recipients along with a responsive and device-friendly design.

Today, with the help of automation, it has become easier to create an effective email drip campaign and send emails to numerous people with ease.

8. Start Writing Blogs

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to engage your audience. Now you must be wondering why? Because writing blogs is a great way to showcase your expertise and produce leads. Blogs are intriguing because they involve interesting topics and let viewers see what you write about and that you care about your audience. When they feel connected to you and encouraged about their particular problems, they also feel special and fulfilled.

9. Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to gain insight into books and spread information on other aspects of your writing business. The content you or a business representative highlight in a podcast is another way to share your entertainment or encouragement with your followers. The best part about a podcast is that you can make use of other people’s audiences while still marketing your business. You further get affirmation from various audiences and build your online authority.

10. Launch a referral program

Referral marketing, also known as word of mouth (WOM), is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. Referral marketing statistics show around 92% of consumers worldwide believe referrals from their peers. A referral program is where businesses incentivize people to refer their products or services to others – a particular type of promotion. Simultaneously, referral programs facilitate you to recognize its loyal customers to do word of mouth for your book.

Conclusion

In today’s time, there are a lot of marketing strategies that you can leverage for your business. In this post, we have enlisted some of the best strategies that are affordable and proven business tactics. Further, word of mouth is an organic way to drive new customers to your products and services.

Shivani Goyal is a content writer at InviteReferrals, which provides referral software that allows businesses to attract new customers from existing customers through referral campaigns.

You can find Shivani on social media. Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin | Instagram

Tags marketing for writers, marketing plan, marketing strategies

Guest Posts

5 Effective Ways To Promote Your Book on Social Media

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date September 28, 2021
No Comments on 5 Effective Ways To Promote Your Book on Social Media

Ever since the lockdown of 2020, there has been a flux of self-published authors all over social media promoting their publications. Nowadays, it is so much easier to make the dream of being a published author a reality without ever hiring anyone to assist in the process.

From pen to paper, to paperback printing, to promoting and finally selling, here are five effective ways to promote your book on social media:

1. Post pictures with book blurb on all platforms

2. Promote a contest on all platforms giving the book away

3. Create a website and social media pages dedicated to the book

4. Go live and read a chapter from your book and do a Q&A

5. Grow your niche network

Being self-published also means you are your book’s biggest fan and promoter. Ensuring you have reached as many fans and potential customers is the next important step in getting your work noticed. Keeping reading for effective ways to promote your book on social media.

1. Post Pictures on Social Media

It is all about pictures when it comes to social platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Investing in a good photo software app can really bring your book photos to the next level. Make sure to have a title that pops and a book cover that speaks for itself. Get a little more creative and showcase yourself holding the book or a group of friends lounging on the beach enjoying a read. Whatever the photo is, make sure to add links in the description and hashtag till your fingers bleed!

2. Have a Book Contest Giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff, and what better way to get your book out there than having a fun giveaway contest. You can generate a buzz about your book using social media to post blurbs or parts of chapters in the book and get participants eager for more. Creating a contest that involves a theme in the book, for example, cupcakes, get people involved like the first five people to comment on their favorite cupcake, get a free e-book, or the 100^th person to like the post about my book gets a free copy.

Some good contest ideas include:

Random winner generator app
Scavenger hunt – winner gets a free book
Go live first X people get the first chapter free
Hashtag contest- the person with the best hashtag for the book wins

Writing An Email Blast

When promoting a book for marketing, most authors will use contacts on their already existing email list and do an email blast showcasing a personal statement from the book and details on when and where it will be available. Choosing to have a professional, like a write my paper website, is a really easy way to hire a writer at affordable prices to take the pressure off of coming up with content for marketing your book in an email.

3. Create a Dedicated Website and Social Media Platform

People often try to mix their personal platforms with their professional ones, and the problem with that is everything gets combined, and a lot can get lost. It is important when branding yourself as an author that your work has its own separate website and dedicated social media platforms. This way, customers know exactly where to go to get all they need about your product and not be inundated with pictures from a birthday party you went to last weekend.

Some items you may want to have on your website can include:

Links to social media
YouTube channel link – for any live streams of reading the book
Customer review tab for new reviews and old
Blog – let readers know what is new and upcoming

4. Go Live on Social Media Platforms

Going live on any social media platform is the best way to get your book promoted by far. Promote a go-live session where you read a chapter of your book out loud and then do a Q & A session with viewers at the end. This will allow your customers and supporters to get a glimpse into the book’s energy and some insider viewpoints on burning questions readers may have.

5. Grow Your Niche Network

Promoting your book to other authors in the same niche category is a great way to efficiently build a network that will work for you. Whatever niche your book may be, for example, thriller, murder mystery, sci-fi, and the list goes on, make sure you utilize social media to build a network of like-minded authors. Their people will talk to your people, and those people will talk to other people, and before you know it, the link for your book has been passed around a bunch of times throughout all social media platforms.

Summary

Social media is free; it is easy to navigate and just as easy to use for marketing just about anything. It can be the thing that boosts your book to be a bestseller or the tool that helps get your book noticed by legit book publishing companies.

Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at Writeload. Jessica enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

Tags book promotion, guest post, marketing strategies, social media

Guest Posts Magazine and Freelance

A helpful tool for bloggers – SEO, Marketing, Content Creation Tools

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date September 14, 2021
No Comments on A helpful tool for bloggers – SEO, Marketing, Content Creation Tools

Online tools are providing tons of help to bloggers in every aspect. Starting from research, creativity, content creation, proofreading and SEO marketing, you have plenty of tools indexed on the web to help you become a successful blogger. Starting a new blog has become religiously important, thanks to the advancement in technology and the launch of online tools. This post will tell you about some of the most important and helpful tools for bloggers!

Helpful Tools for bloggers to try in 2021

Out of hundreds of online blogging tools listed on the web, we have handpicked the most effective ones:

HubSpot – Blog Topic Generator

The most important thing in blogging is you have to provide your visitors with informative and interesting content. This can only happen if you have fresh and authentic ideas. This blog topic generator is a famous tool that can help you find multiple topics related to your niche. You have to provide the noun or the keyword against which you are targeting your blog. Getting unique and interesting ideas is very easy with this helpful tool.

Google Docs – Blog writing tool

When it comes to writing content, you must subscribe with the best tool which can provide you options and features for beautifying the text. You must know that if the blog structure is not clear and optimized, it will be rejected no matter how informative it is. Using online tools like Google docs or MS word, you can create blog content with proper formatting. You can add headings, subheadings and bullet points in the blog content with these tools.

Grammarly

In blogging, you have to make sure that the quality of your content is up to the highest mark. You cannot afford to make any silly mistakes in your blog content if you don’t want to lose the interest of the organic traffic. We would like you to know that using online proofreading tools like Grammarly can help you find mistakes and remove them from your work in less than minutes. For enhancing the quality of the blogs, you would surely need Grammarly.

PlagiarismChecker.co

Plagiarism is an intolerable offence in blog writing. If your content has plagiarism, you will lose the interest and trust of the search engine and the organic traffic interested in your site. To check plagiarism, you need a reliable plagiarism checker tool. The plagiarismchecker.co is a designated resource that can help you check for plagiarism in your blog posts. The plagiarism detector tool cannot only scan your newly created content for duplication errors, but it can also scan your complete blog website and find out if someone is stealing from you. A plagiarism check is very important for a blogger, so you should never avoid or take it easy.

ReverseImageSearch.org

Images are also considered to be an important part of a blog post. Without an image, a blog post would look boring and unappealing for the common visitor. Images are important because images are more understandable than text. The human mind understands and accepts visual information sixty thousand times quicker than it perceives text. The reverseimagesearch.org is a search platform that is powered by the RIS technique. This image search utility can help you find relevant and royalty-free images for your blogs, and that too without any formalities and added expense.

Ahref

Ahref is a very powerful platform that you can use for free for two weeks. The main purpose of Ahref is to help you audit your blog site for different aspects. If you want to see your blog site rank in Google’s highest positions, you need Ahref. It would help you get information about the keywords you should use in your content and help you make a thorough competitive analysis of the sites working on the same niche as yours. If you want to get the right keywords or find out details about the directory links on your blogs, you should try out Ahref. Backlinks are very important when it comes to affiliate and SEO based marketing.

Live Chat

This is another important tool for a blogger. Having a live chat on your blog would help you communicate with your audience in a better way. If you want to understand your readers, then you should connect with them on live chat. You can get feedback about your blog posts and find out what they would like to read about. Create blog content according to the target audience’s requirements!

Paraphrasing Tool – SmallSEOTools

Paraphrasing tools are online software programs that can help you rewrite the content into unique and human-friendly content. You must know that you have to constantly create and update your old content in blogging so that readers can stay engaged with you. The online paraphrasing tools can help you rewrite and revise your old content in a new style. Instead of creating new content, you can use the spinner tools to revive your old and appreciated posts. The paraphrasing tool is also used to remove plagiarism from the content!

These are some of the best and most helpful tools that bloggers can use from all across the globe!

Amelia John is a digital marketer and a writer who has introduced various modern strategies in her published articles. She is also co-author of various famous digital marketing books. Amelia was born and raised in New York. She was a bookseller before moving to children’s publishing and worked for Knowledge Creators Company as a creative writer. She wrote a number of articles and blogs for teens and children on the adequate use of technology while working in that company. Amelia is famous for her great knowledge about the modern innovations that can be depicted in her writing.

Tags blogging advice, blogging tips, marketing strategies, SEO

Building Your Creative Space

Moving From Dream to Deal

Post author By Davis Bunn
Post date July 13, 2021
No Comments on Moving From Dream to Deal

“I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in something, I sell it, and I sell it hard.”
Estée Lauder

“People don’t ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.”
Robert Keith Leavit, author and historian

Preparing an overview has proven time and time again to be a challenge that stumps even the most experienced of writers. How do you take this massive idea for a story and condense it down to a page?

Somewhere out there is an author for whom writing a commercial overview is a piece of cake. They sit down, the concept is hovering in the air over their computer, they type it out, done and dusted. I haven’t met them, but I’m sure they exist. If you happen to be that lone individual, I’d advise you not to tell other authors. Your end will be swift and certain.

For the rest of us, the story overview is a beast.

You have all these ideas that are swarming around in your head. You have a huge cast of characters, a growing storm of events, and three or four hundred pages later, you’ve created a fabulous tale.

How on earth do you distill all this down to one page? How can you tell your story in just a few paragraphs, create in that tiny space a vision that is so compelling the gatekeepers will fall over themselves in their haste to offer you a publishing contract, a film deal, the keys to the kingdom, whatever?

After twenty-five years as a published author, the simple answer is, it doesn’t come easy.

For my latest story, I worked on the overview for seven weeks.

All through the initial phase of shaping the characters and the story, I returned over and over to this daunting task. I knew I had something great here. The challenge was, creating an overview that made other people feel the same way.

I am going to offer you a few simple steps that will help deconstruct the project, and hopefully guide you towards a synopsis that is magnetic in its appeal.

Do This Now:

Start with the question, so what’s your story about? Imagine you are seated in a television studio. The cameras swish around on silent rubber wheels. The lights are intense and aimed at you. The much-loved interviewer shows you that world-famous smile, and then asks you that question. What is your story about?

How do you respond? You have the live audience on the other side of the camera, and they’re genuinely eager for you to tell them what they’re going to go out and buy the very next day.

Write out what you would say. Limit yourself to just one paragraph.

Then set it aside.

Accept that it is a gradual process. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this first effort is going to be your finished project. Creating the winning overview is done through trial and error. A few days later, write your first paragraph again.

Keep a notebook just for the overview. If you’re like me, most of these early attempts are not going to fit. But gradually you come to terms with the key element to the successful overview, which is:

Your job is not to tell your story. Your goal is to SELL your story. At some point there will come that moment when you discover the amazing concept, the emotional foundation that fuels your quest to write this story. When that happens…

Focus on that silver thread. Usually this emotional punch will help you identify the key plot line and characters that drive the story. The entire overview must center upon this one element. This time, when you write the paragraph, you will discover that the entire concept is real in a new sense. The paragraph that results is often called the story’s hook.

Begin with the hook, end with the climax. Gradually you develop a story concept that was not there before. As a result, you will often perceive your story’sclimax in a new light. Write this final paragraph next. Remember, you are not entering into a contract. You are not required to actually keep this climax. You are selling.

Develop a log-line. The log-line is a Hollywood term, signifying the one sentence or even just a phrase that shouts to the world: This is unique, this is great, come join me on this amazing ride. At some point during the writing of my overview, I will go to the movies and walk down the line of posters for coming attractions. I visualize my story up there as a poster, and sketch out ideas for what this log-line might be. My goal is to come up with two, and I place one at the beginning and another at the end of my overview. These help the editor sell the story to the pub board, and the sales staff place your book with buyers. Oftentimes they also appear on the book’s back cover.

Polish and distill. Only at this point do I begin to concern myself with length. Because I want my overview to work with Hollywood, I must limit myself to one page. It is very rare for anything longer to be considered by senior executives. If an overview gets that far up the food chain, a junior exec will trim the longer structures. I much prefer to do that myself.

A final bit of advice: Refrain from speaking with anyone about your work until your overview is complete.

This serves two purposes. First, you have created a commercial structure, and that is what outside readers are really all about. They respond to your project, not to the tender seed of creative fire that exists at heart level.

Second, you now have a means by which you can present your story in a brief and concise fashion. When someone asks what the story is about, you actually know what to say.

I wish you every triumph in making a winning transition from creative project to commercial success.

Davis Bunn’s novels have sold in excess of eight million copies in twenty-four languages. He has appeared on numerous national bestseller lists, and his titles have been Main or Featured Selections with every major US book club. In 2011 his novel Lion of Babylon was named Best Book of the Year by Library Journal. The sequel, entitled Rare Earth, won Davis his fourth Christy Award for Excellence in Fiction in 2013. In 2014 Davis was granted the Lifetime Achievement award by the Christy board of judges. His recent title Trial Run has been named Best Book of The Year by Suspense Magazine. Lately he has appeared on the cover of Southern Writers Magazine and Publishers Weekly, and in the past three years his titles have earned him Best Book and Top Pick awards from Library Journal, Romantic Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus. His most recent series, Miramar Bay, have been acquired for world-wide condensation-books by Readers Digest. Currently Davis serves as Writer-In-Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University. Until Covid struck, he was speaking around the world on aspects of creative writing.

Watch an excerpt from his new book The Cottage on Lighthouse Lane here.

Learn about his new home at Blenheim Castle here.

Tags book overview, book synopsis, Building your creative space, marketing strategies, premise, synopsis

Guest Posts

9 Tips For Video Marketing Your First Book

Post author By Lisa E. Betz
Post date June 22, 2021
No Comments on 9 Tips For Video Marketing Your First Book

As a book author, you must be able to market your book. It may be hard for you if it’s your first book because you don’t have previous experience, but it is not impossible. Authors either go through the route of a traditional publisher to get their books out, or they self-publish.

Self-publishing is a viable option for many authors who don’t have the resources to work with traditional publishers. Thankfully, it’s easier to self-market your book now with the internet and social media, and one effective tool to use is videos. Video marketing works like magic to market your book, even if it’s the first one. You need to know what to do and how video marketing works which is what we’ll be discussing now.

In this article, we’ll be dishing out tips for video marketing your first book.

1. Run social media video campaign

One of the best ways to get people on your video is to offer them something for free. According to some essays help online, the best way to accomplish this is through social media. This is because you’ll get people willing to share your post and put the word out about you and your giveaway. This will invite more people to you, and you’ll have a lot of traffic on your video.

2. Add a smile to your video thumbnail.

You may not take this seriously, but your video thumbnail is essential too. It’s one thing that can make people either play your video or pass it by. So it’d be best if you used a thumbnail that is appropriate for your video. Use a compelling image that makes the video play-worthy, and the best way to do this is by using a smiling image, especially one that makes direct eye contact. This is because humans relate to other humans.

3. Make sure your video has a share button.

Knowing how powerful social media can be and how quickly information spreads, it’s a wise decision to enable the share button on your video. Making it possible for others to share the video means that it’ll get to more people quickly. The more people get to watch the video ad about your book, the more buyers you’re likely to get.

4. Prompt people to share the video

Adding a share button is sometimes not enough for people to share the video. They could watch the video, get the information that you’re passing and then move on from it. That’s why it’s important to prompt your video watchers. Also, don’t leave out your friends and families. Stick your video to their faces and ask them to share it with their network of friends.

5. Use email marketing

Email marketing remains one of the cheapest and most effective marketing strategies. It doesn’t matter that you’re trying to market a book and not some commerce items. Combining email marketing and video marketing makes both even more effective. Create an email list, and be sure to send your book marketing videos to them.

6. Put your money where your heart is

It’s okay not to want to spend a lot of money marketing your first book. You probably made a DIY video for marketing and have spent very little in your marketing. However, according to professional essay writers, if you want to reach many people and have a higher chance of making many sales, you need to spend some money. Your best bet would be to promote your video on social media. This ensures that it reaches multiple times more people, and you have a higher chance of selling your book and making your money back.

7. Pin the video on your Twitter feed

Twitter allows its users to pin a tweet to their feed. The reason for this is so that the tweet isn’t lost in the sea of several others on your feed. The fact that you’re constantly tweeting and sharing other tweets makes it easy to lose an unpinned tweet. Pinning means, it’ll always be at the top of your feed and will help you drive more engagement to the video.

8. Post the video to online communities platforms

There are many platforms with online communities composed of people of like minds. If you’re on these platforms, then it’s likely that these people are on the same frequency as you and are likely to resonate with your book. So you’ll be doing yourself a disservice not to post your video on such platforms. It doesn’t matter if it’s a LinkedIn group, Twitter Chat, Reddit, etc. They’ll be more open to your book than you think they are.

9. Play it at events

If you have your first book to market and you’re speaking at an event, then you have the perfect opportunity to get your work out to people and convince them first hand. At events like this, playing your video is beneficial to both you and the audience. They get a break from listening to you give a long (probably boring) speech, and you also get to market your book and get the word out. It’s a win-win situation.

Conclusion

Video marketing is an effective marketing technique, especially if you’re a first-time author and are marketing your book. However, it’d be best if you found your way around it. The tips in this article will help you do this effectively. Remember that the more people that see your video, the more sales you can make.

Eliza Sadler is a professional journalist with extensive experience for four years. She also works as a freelancer, writes a lot of articles, and provides the best dissertation help. She always focused on doing quality work to achieve her goals and objectives. Eliza is fascinated by the ability to create original works that meet high standards. Feel free to connect with her by email.

Tags marketing for writers, marketing strategies, social media, video marketing

Marketing Sense

A Vague Marketing Message Stunts Your Growth

Post author By Patricia Durgin
Post date June 12, 2021
No Comments on A Vague Marketing Message Stunts Your Growth

Consider the following answer to “What do you do?“:

“We’re a women empowerment company. We facilitate courses and events to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders through education.”

This marketing message is so vague that it’s useless.

Let’s Dissect This Answer Phrase-By-Phrase, Shall We, Not to Ridicule the Writer, But to Learn from Their Example

What is a “women empowerment company”? Could the writer mean, “We empower women?” That’s more direct, it’s result-oriented, and it tells us who they serve without requiring us to stop and decipher the unfamiliar phrase used in the original.

“We facilitate courses and events.” The definition for facilitate is to, “make [something] easier,” or, “to assist the process of (a person).” Making a blind leap from “assisting” to “teaching” here, do they create and present their own courses, invite teachers outside their company to present to their clients, or something else? And do they plan and host events, or present their own?

We don’t know because the mysterious description doesn’t tell us.

“…to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders…” Hmmm…most of the professionals I know don’t want to “expand” themselves. Do you?

Entrepreneurs and corporate leaders want to learn how to do XYZ so they can keep more profits, hire better qualified employees, create and grow a YouTube channel, improve their marketing message, or any of a billion possibilities, but they don’t want to expand the way the writer uses the word.

“…through education.” Aha! Now we’re getting somewhere! But we still don’t know what topics they teach (or, as mentioned above, whether they do the teaching, or an outside company does). Sigh.

Let’s Look at the Description Again and Give the Company a Fictitious Name: Women, Inc.

“Women, Inc., is a women empowerment company. We facilitate courses and events to expand entrepreneurs and corporate leaders through education.”

How Can We Untangle This Mess and Turn It into an Effective Marketing Message?

Since we’re not given many concrete concepts, we’ll have to fill in the blanks ourselves, by guessing. The one thing Women, Inc. clearly communicates: they serve female entrepreneurs and corporate leaders. Gotcha.

But wait. That could be misinterpreted. Some might not realize that ALL of Women, Inc.’s clients are female, so let’s change that phrase to, “female business leaders and owners,” since the word, “business” is commonly understood to apply to both “leaders” and “owners.”

What problem(s) does Women, Inc. help their audience solve? Since we’re not given a single hint, we must concoct one: stagnant profits due to a lack of company focus.

What’s their process? Education via courses and events.

What result does Women, Inc. promise? Development of mission, vision, and values statements. Ideally, these will become each company’s blueprint for future growth, investing, hiring, and marketing, all of which result in higher profits.

Turn that around to put the juiciest benefit at the beginning and we get…

Women, Inc. allows female business leaders and owners to enjoy higher profits by developing their company’s three most powerful guiding principles.

Notice that this doesn’t answer every potential question. It’s supposed to attract the audience Women, Inc. was created to serve—to start a two-way conversation—if it does that, it’s done its job.

There’s more than one way to communicate this same concept, and each may be perfect. The fun—and frustration—of marketing is that you get to choose what to say and how to say it.

Though this example focused on a fictional company, the process is the same for every marketer.

Do YOUR Readers Have to Guess How Your Writing or Speaking Will Improve Their Lives?

The burden is on you to succinctly explain what your book or presentation is about, and the practical benefits it offers those who apply it.

I’ve been a marketing coach for over 20 years, and no one, including me, gets it right the first time. Give yourself permission to develop an uber-clear marketing message that includes 1) who you serve (specifically!), 2) their problem (as it relates to your expertise). 3) your process (the method used to solve their problem), and 4) their practical result (if they apply your message).

Tinker with it, set it aside, and come back to it as often as necessary. It takes a bit of persistence and brain power, but it’s oh, so worth it. Ask Christ to help you, for He is the perfect marketer and after all, He knows exactly how He wants you to communicate with your audience.

Your target market will now know—at a glance—that you’re the one who can help them. Adjust anything in your content, on your website, or your social media that needs to match your new, focused marketing message, and your business or ministry will finally begin to grow!

Tags be specific, clarity, Marketing Sense, marketing strategies, target audience, vague marketing message