Will Your Book Be the Best Kept Secret Online?

Nondescript, the small store named *Joe’s Mattress! lay nestled in between two, more active businesses. Its blandness caught my eye, inspiring me to study it while waiting for its next-door neighbor, a popular restaurant, to open.

A tasteful Labor Day Sale notice written in the same white text as the store’s name was unviewable because of the Handicapped Parking sign. Nothing about the sign attracted attention, a guarantee that few noticed it. Their “marketing” is making them our area’s best kept secret.

Back in the Dark Ages when I was a child, my parents purchased new mattresses from the leading hometown department store. Yours probably did, too.

Then 20 or so years ago, direct from the factory mattress stores popped up across the country.

Local “Mom and Pop” retailers are tired but still in there pitching. Factory-direct stores have an advantage over local locations with regional or national marketing. Deeper pockets offer opportunities unavailable to the “wing and a prayer” marketing approach. But often, locals prefer to do business with home-town folks.

Do you have deep pockets to fund your book’s marketing efforts?

How far is your “wing and a prayer” approach taking you?

Which low-cost marketing efforts are you utilizing?

Do you present short “live” trainings on social media to attract new audience members?

Do you promote your book on a regular basis via email without wearying your subscribers?

Do you belong to one or more online groups where up-and-comers and professionals join together to create an event that can, collectively, promote each member’s book more than if each were to go it alone?

Do you request a guest spot on podcasts that fit both your audience’s needs and your message?

The beauty of online marketing is that most of it is free, or nearly so.

Social media videos are short and can gain a lot of traction–and an audience–quickly.

Ignore the myths suggesting you must have years of video hosting experience…your target market wants to see the real you, not the “perfect” you.

Goofs, slip-ups, and hitting the wrong button when closing out your video help your audience get to know the real you. Ask me how I know. 🙂

You can become a pro on video without paying a professional video company.

Do you vomit at the thought of being on camera? Ask Christ to give you opportunities so you can become comfortable. Video communication is here to stay. Don’t get left behind.

If you need to, ease into video. Open a free Zoom account. Want to be benefit from video but not ready to be interviewed yet? Interview others instead! Practice with friends using a free Zoom account. Share those videos or don’t, as you wish. The first goal is to become comfortable on camera and with the software.

Host a webinar or other live event offering content to benefit your audience. It can be a public event or in a private Facebook group…yours or someone else’s. Either way, promote it!

This has a double benefit. As you help others become comfortable sharing their message, other interviewers are more likely to invite you to be their guests. Now you’re talkin’ baby!

What are you doing to help your audience find you in the crowded marketplace?

Or will your book be the best kept secret online?

*(Names were changed to protect the innocent.) 🙂

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