In my previous blog post , I talked about how most people who write a book don’t really do it with a marketing strategy in mind. I also talked about several things to consider, including who is your ideal client, what do you want to do with the attention they are giving you, and what format your book should be distributed in.

In this post, I will discuss 5 marketing strategies you can implement to further your business goals:

Strategy 1: Get More Speaking Engagements

Michael Crossland, who wrote Kids Don't Get Cancer (one of our highest-selling books), doesn't have a back-end product. His strategy is to sell his book from the back of the room. Of course, that's a great income source, but his endgame is to get more speaking engagements. Why? Because his audience is likely to have prospects for other corporates who might approach him to speak at their events. Michael does have an audiobook as well, which helps increase his average sales, and it appeals to other buyers who prefer not to read.

Consider the way you will use your book, how people will discover you, and if your focus is on digital or physical copies of your book.

Strategy 2: Build A Sales Funnel Around Your Book

As I previously mentioned, we decided to build a funnel around Dr. Warrick Bishop’s ebook. The funnel then leads them to join his Healthy Heart Network Membership site. This means he has a complete customer journey from the book to an eventual recurring membership. The system is mostly automated, and we don't have to ship a product, which means instant delivery to the purchaser.

If it costs $5 to make a sale for the book, Dr. Bishop breaks even for his marketing and everything else is a bonus. His focus is then on how to drive traffic to his automated system, which delivers the rest.

Strategy 3: Offer A ”Free + Shipping” Option

Another way is a "free + shipping" option, where you offer them the book for free, and they pay for shipping. It's a low-cost way to get a physical book into their hands. It's certainly powerful, as digital books can easily be lost or forgotten, whereas a physical book rarely gets thrown out. 

However, you need to take into account the logistics and costs to make this happen, as well as the customer service to handle any lost books, etc. This is really good for volume sales or when you have an established following already.

Strategy 4: Distribute At A Bookstore

Perhaps bookstores are your target distributor. This involves a lot of leg work: contacting the bookstore buyers, organizing in-store promotions and book signings. Getting your book stocked in traditional bookstores can be a long and involved process, so you need to be prepared for that.

Strategy 5: Sell Your Book

Lastly, you could be selling your book for full RRP (recommended retail price). If your book is valuable, there is no reason why you can't command full price for it. But to do this, you need good marketing and sales pages, or a process like Michael Crossland has by selling them at the back of the room. 

So, for example, consider this: you decided to create a 300-page book and then found out after it was printed that it was a few grams overweight and cost 20% more for shipping. This would make the whole physical project unviable.

Conclusion

Spend some time thinking about how your book will be used, what formats you will push the most, and any potential issues that may arise along the way. On the front end, it's worth it for you to consider both the journey you want your ideal client to take in reading the book, as well as the journey you'll be taking to get the book and additional services and products to them.

If you want to find out more, visit EvolveGlobalPublishing.com.