Wednesday, August 6, 2008

MARKETING BASICS -- PART 2

5 Tips For Marketing Your Book (on a Budget)
by Dana Pittman of Nia Promotions


Today we’ll continue where we left off.

Tip 4: Virtual Marketing

Virtual marketing is affordable and accessible to almost everyone. Virtual marketing can include:
Email marketing,
Newsletters,
Blogging,
Website,
Writing articles, and
Press releases.

Again, this list is not exhaustive. But you should actively participate in at least two of these activities daily. Virtual marketing is the affordable stepping stone towards reaching your intended audience.

Tip 5: Personal Needs and Skills Assessment

Take a stock of your book marketing needs. Complete a needs assessment and a personal skills assessment. The needs assessment means sitting and writing out all the tasks that you need to complete to appropriately market your book. Then complete your personal skills assessment. How many of those tasks can you complete within your allotted budget and time constraints?

Bonus Tip: Google Yourself

You should create a Google Alert for your name and book title. And I’d adventure further and recommend that you create a Google Alert for a competitor and an author that you admire. You’ll receive alerts as to their online whereabouts—including newspaper articles, press releases, blogs, etc.

How will this benefit me? you may asked. I know it sounds a bit crazy but you will see the value once you do it. Google Alerts do just that, alert you as to the selected content. You will see where your information is placed online and even tracking online conversations are all lumped into this nifty free Google tool.

In conclusion, these two posts are just the beginning. I could go on for days about each of the tips. I look forward to answering your questions. Please visit me online at www.niapromtions.com for details about our events and upcoming teleseminars focused on author development.


Dana Pittman is President of Nia Promotions. Nia Promotions is a marketing company that specializes in online, virtual marketing. Our niche is in the area of author promotions. To learn more visit us online at www.niapromotions.com.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dana there are many people choosing to promote their works on non-cost sites such as MySpace, Facebook, etc. only. Is that effective or should one consider having a website as well?

Anonymous said...

Nia, your marketing tips are great. I especially like the google yourself/google alert as well as the needs assessment. I am going to start on both of these 'write' away. I also visited your website and it also has valuable information that I can use for marketing my books.

Dana Pittman said...

Anonymous,

You should have your own site. Myspace is great but having your own site is essential. In my opinion, Myspace is way to busy. It's a wonderful way to meet people but with your own site you can control the content AND you can start building your brand.

Lastly, it's easier to remember and put on business cards, etc.

I think I could talk about that one all day.

Dana
www.niapromotions.com

www.niavirtualbooktours.com

Dana Pittman said...

Shelia,

Thanks! I hope that you all will join my list. We will have more tips coming soon. And I'm writing a special report to expand on these tips.

I wish you well in oroganizing your book marketing efforts.

Dana
www.niapromotions.com

www.niavirtualbooktours.com

Dana Pittman said...

Thank you Linda for extending the invitation to contribute to your blog this week. I look forward to doing it again.

You're all invited to join us online at any of our sites. You can begin by visiting Nia Newsletter.

Good luck to your all.

Dana
www.niapromotions.com
www.niavirtualbooktours.com