Marketing 101
« Previous Entries[Marketing 101] - Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning
Monday, July 28th, 2008Every now and then, someone asks me: “How do I create a market for my product?
The answer is simple. “You don’t.”
Many people who get into product development want to develop products on their own terms. They don’t want to consider the needs of the end user; they want to develop the product first and then [...]
[Marketing 101] - 3 Tips For Selling Books In the Face of a Recession
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008Today, I read two articles that offered distinctly different messages about consumers.
The first was a report that the film The Dark Knight set a box office record during its opening weekend, both in terms of its midnight release revenues and its overall revenues for its first day. This is great news for the people involved [...]
[Marketing 101] - Developing a Marketing Strategy
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008As I’ve researched the publishing industry over the last year, I’ve been struck by two things:
1) Manuscripts being developed into books are typically given a long lead time - often 12 to 18 months - for “marketing” purposes.
2) Most of the “marketing” being done in the publishing industry seems to be lacking when it comes [...]
[Marketing 101] - Beyond the Bookstores: Finding New Sales Channels
Sunday, May 11th, 2008Over the last year, I’ve spent a lot of time researching the publishing industry and trying to figure out how I can make my own products successful once they launch. There’s a steep learning curve in the world of publishing, and it’s clear that most of the people who get into this game don’t stick [...]
[Marketing 101] - 10 Tips For Distributing a Press Release
Thursday, May 8th, 2008So, you’ve written a press release, and you’re ready to get it out to the public. But you don’t have a lot of media contacts, and you’re not sure who’s going to pick up your news. What’s a small publisher to do?
First, you need to consider how you want to put your releases out. I’d [...]
[Marketing 101] - How to Write a Press Release
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008If you’re thinking about launching a product, chances are good you’ve considered putting out a press release - a simple little announcement intended for members of the press to pick up and use as the basis of a story. But unless you’ve got a background in marketing or journalism, chances are good that you [...]
Who Made Harry Potter Successful? (Think it was kids? Think again!)
Monday, May 5th, 2008An article in the Washington Post today reminded me about something I’d come to realize about a year ago when the seventh Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was about to be released. In the publishing world, the release of the last four Harry Potter books has been a major event, with [...]
[Marketing 101] - Why Selling Isn’t Enough
Thursday, January 24th, 2008I first got into marketing for the same reason that most people get into the field: I had a product that wasn’t selling as well as I wanted it to, and I wanted to find out what I could do to make it sell better. And for many people, that’s all that marketing really is.
But [...]
Marketing 101: On Advertising, Part 2
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007My previous post on the perils of advertising was lacking, it seems. After all, I only talked about expensive television and print advertising; I didn’t cover the area of advertising that is, presumably, working — web-based ads…
Marketing 101: The Art of Publicity, or How To Be a Shill In the National Media
Saturday, July 28th, 2007Do you have cable television? If so, check out C-SPAN2 some afternoon, and you’ll probably catch a glimpse of BookTV. This program, though about as exciting as anything else you’ll see on C-SPAN, features journalists interviewing authors about recent books, and it’s fascinating if you’re into the world of publishing because you get to see [...]
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