Jay LeonardEmail marketing is an easy, cheap way to get your message out. Once you have your mailing lists compiled you can use them to send out email blasts. You can also have a sign up box on your website where people can join your email list to be notified of new products, announcements or anything you want to tell them.
When I was coming out with the Second Edition of my first book I wrote a marketing plan and then had a breakdown of tasks to do for an email blast that would announce my new book. When I was writing this plan, I had to ask myself, who are my customers? I then made lists of who they were and came up with the people who had purchased the first edition, the members of my Credit & Collections Association, people who wanted to start a business, credit managers and collectors. I signed up with Constant Contact after using Word for years to manage my email lists. I made sure all the email addresses and names I had were valid and working, I then counted the number of press and media contacts that I wanted to notify so I would know how many press kits to create. I then wrote my press release announcing my new book. I sent the release to the contacts that I had decided would be interested and added my book to Amazon.com. When I sent out the press release by email to my media list I included the direct link to the page of my website that had my press kit available. This way they don’t have to request one, or wait for one in the mail, they can visit your website and look through your press kit immediately.
Tips for a successful email blast:
- Introduce your book (Promote your website / Make Sales / Inform & educate)
- Who is your audience (example: book buyers, past customers, networking partners)
- How will my audience benefit from my book? (What information does my audience value?)
- Schedule your email blast.
- Double check your campaign, spelling etc.
- Look at other campaigns for ideas.
- Remember when writing your text that less is more.
- Include an image of your book.
- Preview your campaign in “text only” and HTML format.
- What is my call to action?
- What are the benefits of buying my book?
- Make sure the most important information is above the fold or in the top half of your campaign.
- Use spell check!
- Send yourself a sample of the campaign to check spelling, how it looks, if your images are distorted etc.
Author: Michelle Dunn is the award winning author of 13 books a columnist and marketing expert. She has been featured on CNN, Forbes, Smart Money magazine and is often quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Learn more at http://www.michelledunn.com/
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
Learn how to publish your content on B2C
Join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage
Add B2C to your Google News Feed
LOVED this advice and as a writer and editor ready to put my first nonfiction out there…I recognize it takes some logical, rational advice like this to make the world of successful self-publishing go around. Thanks so much!