Rob Eagar’s Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week’s focus:
Last week, I received a promotional postcard from a well-known author advertising a new novel. One side of the card featured a large picture of the book cover, while the back side listed typical marketing text about the plot and a couple of endorsements. Aside from the publication date and a website address, that was all that appeared.
After looking over this promotional piece, I thought to myself, “This postcard may have been adequate ten years ago, but we live in 2011. How could this author fail to take advantage of all the modern marketing options that are now available? That boring postcard could have been much more powerful.” For example, the author could have sent the postcard with these features on it:
· An enticing coupon with a 15 – 20% pre-order discount.
· A QR code that linked to a compelling video for the book.
· A link to a free resource that pertained to the book.
· An invitation to join her Facebook page or follow on Twitter.
I see this same problem with other direct mail promotions that fill my mailbox, such as store announcements, restaurant mailers, newsletters, magazines, etc. If you’re going to promote your book or business, you can’t just tell people that it exists. You have to give them an attractive to purchase or take the next step to building a relationship with you. Some people think direct mail is old-school, but there are plenty of new-school tools you can use to boost success.
Question:
What new ideas have you used to make your direct mail marketing efforts more powerful using today’s new technology? Leave a comment below.
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© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
