Diversify Your Marketing Campaigns

Sometimes, I think “marketing” is a bad word. It’s one of those things that we as authors (and business owners) have to do, but it’s hard to do. I certainly don’t market myself and my works as much as I should. I’m pretty good about talking about marketing and marketing for other people, however.

I think the reason marketing is so hard is because we have to talk about ourselves, and most of us were taught that it’s not polite to talk about ourselves. When we market, we’re supposed to talk about how wonderful our product is and how great we are for developing it. It can be difficult to do that, especially if we don’t want to come off as bragging or being self-centered.

It’s also incredibly difficult to be heard and seen in a sea of others who are marketing their products. Consumers are so desensitized to calls of “Buy My Stuff!” or “Check This Out!” that they don’t notice the calls anymore. I’m exactly the same way. I get so irritated with ads, I tune them out. When I watch TV, I even go so far as to mute the commercials.

That’s why it’s so important to find a way to market your product but do it in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re selling something. That’s where branding comes into play. It’s a unique way of showing off you and your product without actually shouting “Buy My Stuff!” to the consumer.

There are a variety of different ways to brand yourself, and I’m not going to get into them in this post. What I want to focus on instead are the different venues you can use to market yourself and your product.

We’ve all been told that the best way to get your stuff out there is to be online. You have to have a blog. You have to be on social media. You have to send newsletters. You have to belong to discussion groups.

The list of “have tos” goes on and on. And while you’re being told you have to do all these things, millions of others just like you are being told the same thing. If all of us are going to be on the sites we have to be on, how do we stand out from the crowd? Of course, that’s the real challenge.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be on these sites, you should.  It still gives you a chance to be heard and seen, even if it’s by a small percentage of people. And who knows, maybe you enjoy being on social sites, so by all means, do something you enjoy.

What you need to keep in mind is that while social media has its benefits, it also has its downside, the most prominent being that it doesn’t reach a large percentage of your intended audience. There are so many people on Facebook and Twitter, they have to limit the amount of people who see your feed. If they didn’t, mass chaos would ensue. Either that or our heads would explode from the sheer amount of information in our feeds.

When marketing your product, it’s important to keep in mind that using different mediums targets different audiences. There may be some overlap from the different mediums, but for the most part, you are probably reaching new audiences. That’s why it’s important to diversify your marketing campaigns.

When I worked as an ad rep for my local paper, one of the biggest reasons people didn’t want to advertise in the paper was because it cost money. Why would you spend money when you could get free advertisement through social media? It’s a totally fair question.

It’s hard to justify spending money on something that may or may not get you a return on that investment. It’s much easier to take the low-risk alternative. But, as I mentioned earlier, you might not be reaching all the potential clients through social media posts. Technically, you might not reach them through a newspaper either, but you would at least be expanding your potential customer base.

What makes marketing successful is having a variety of people see your campaign. You can only reach so many people through social media or through a local paper or even on the radio. But when you develop a plan that incorporates all of these mediums, you increase your chances of being seen.

Marketing is tough. It’s hard to know what is going to work and what isn’t going to work. It’s challenging to invest money in something that may or may not see a return on that investment. However, if you run a business—even if that business is being an author—it’s worth it to develop a marketing budget and expand your reach to different mediums.
Pembroke Sinclair's books on Goodreads
Life After the Undead Life After the Undead
reviews: 55
ratings: 100 (avg rating 3.64)

The Appeal of Evil The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation, #1)
reviews: 38
ratings: 63 (avg rating 3.54)

Wucaii Wucaii
reviews: 32
ratings: 35 (avg rating 4.11)

Death to the Undead Death to the Undead (Sequel to Life After the Undead)
reviews: 20
ratings: 39 (avg rating 4.23)

Dealing with Devils Dealing with Devils (The Road to Salvation, #2)
reviews: 22
ratings: 32 (avg rating 4.00)