Pub355: The Marketing Playbook

Presented October 5, 2012

Last class ...

I just read this great book ...

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1. Audience: Who is it for?2. Hook: What makes it great? (elevator pitch)3. So What: Why should people care?4. Goals: Will they care enough to do X? 5. Strategy: How will I nudge them to do X?6. Tools: What tactics, technology or tools will I use? 7. Metrics: How will I know if it is working?

Do I have a Twitter volunteer?

Tweets that resonate

Useful (promised msg is valuable to reader)Ultra-specific (know what’s being promised)Urgent (need to take action now)

Notice the @, RT and #tagsNotice short codes, bit.ly140 characters

My inbox

My inbox

• Imagine that you work for Raincoast Books and are sending out the weekly newsletter to subscribers.

• Subscribers are trade bookstores.

• This week’s announcement is the launch of Louise Penny’s new title The Beautiful Mystery. You are offering a 20% discount on her previous titles.

• Write the subject line (5 min.)

• You’ll hand this in at the break: Name please!

Write a good subject line

• 125-130 characters to allow for Retweets

• Should include a link

• Uses @ and # where useful

• Same fundamentals as good subject line:

• useful

• ultra specific

• urgent

What makes a good tweet

What makes a good press release headline?

• Same fundamentals as good subject line or good tweet:

• useful

• ultra specific

• urgent

Newswire.ca > Book

What’s wrong with those examples?

• Nothing. We’ve written releases this way for years.

• But they could be better:

• useful

• ultra specific

• urgent

What makes a good pitch letter?• Dear Name (Name is spelled correctly, Name is the name of the blogger. It’s

personalized, never Dear Blogger)

• You’ve checked the About page and search for “Pitch Policy” or “Review Policy,” PR, publicist--confirmed the person is open to pitches. If not, be prepared to be embarrassed online with a rant. See Beauty in the Ruins blog.

• The title is spelled correctly, i.e., The Beautiful Mystery, not A Beautiful Mystery. The author name is spelled correctly. The author is a she, not a he.

• You’ve included a link for more details: publisher detail page, author website, press release link, etc.

• Call to action: You have included the “ask” or clearly articulated what you are offering and how you want them to respond.

• You have provided a closing and signature with your contact details.

Building the Hook

• Have they reviewed the previous title or this author before?

• Do they review mysteries or mainstream fiction at least?

• Does their About section provide contact details? Are they reachable?

• This is an award-winning author! She’s a big deal, you can play that up.

• Play up the Canadian angle. National Pride.

• Look for their social media presence in particular GoodReads and Amazon as they’ll likely post multiple places.

Ways to Find Bloggers for Louise Penny

• Tell me what you would searched for? What was the process?

What I do...

• I search for people who reviewed the previous title

• Go cross-platform: Search on Goodreads reviews of the previous title or Twitter

• Twitter Advance Search with location, hashtags, keywords

• Google Advanced Search Queries“keyword” site:twitter.comintext:bio* [keyword] location* [city] site:twitter.comintext:bio* books* vancouver site:twitter.comintitle:"[keyword]* on twitter" site:twitter.com

• Follow Blogrolls. TheNewCanLit.Blogspot.ca

Persona Worksheet + Outreach Letter

Each producer, editor, reporter or blogger who you pitch requires a mini-persona in order to help you find the hook that will resonate with that person.

1. Know your audience

2. Positive in tone

3. Authentically true (rings true, no false praise)

4. Minimalist

5. Contrast (What is, what could be--it’s the promise)

Break

Marketing Plan Example

7-Sentence Marketing Playbook

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1. Strategy: In general, what is it you need to do/accomplish? 2. Audience: Who is the audience? 3. Niche: How to position the book? So What? Hook?4. Goals: What business goals do I have to achieve? 5. Tactics: What exactly do I need to do? 6. Branding: What adjs will the audience associate with this? 7. KPIs: How will I track my progress?

Assignment: 2-4 Pages

Louise Penny, the author of The Beautiful Mystery, is attending VIWF.

You want to get 200 people to attend the event. You want to get coverage for the book online and offline; you want sales.

Use your persona assignment from last class to write a marketing plan for how you’ll do that.

You have $1,000 to spend. You do NOT need to include your time or salary in that budget.

Document Structure

• Title and Author

• Event Date, Location, etc.

• Your own summary of the description = (so what, hook, key details)

• Summary of audience (key bullet points based on your persona)

• 1 paragraph Overall Strategy (big picture what are you going to do and why does it make business sense to do that)

• Sketch out the plan in as much detail as possible: Prior to Event, During Event, Post Event

• Clearly identify the marketing channels or tools you’ll use (online/offline)

• Remember you want to get attendees, coverage of the event and sales

• Estimate cost for each tactic (stay w/in budget)

• DUE before Oct 15. There is a 5% penalty for late assignments.

Assignment & ReadingsDarren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, “Chapter 2: Get Social Media Ready” and “Chapter 13: The Power of Crowds: Understanding and Participating in Online Communities,” Friends With Benefits, 22–46, 239–260.

Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, “Chapter 10: Understanding Facebook,” Friends With Benefits, 171-194.

Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, “Chapter 11: Video Marketing with YouTube and Other Video Sharing Sites,” Friends With Benefits, 195-218.

Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo, “Chapter 12: The Twitter Revolution,” Friends With Benefits, 219-238.

Review the tools in the Conversation Prism http://www.theconversationprism.com/media/images/convoprism-poster-highres.jpg

* Note the Optional Readings listed on pub355.wordpress.com

Questions?

Contact InfoMonique Sherrettmonique@boxcarmarkting.com604-732-6467