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Passageways to Profits
Map Your Course To Greater Profits
Many independent publishers use one plan to market all their titles. They assume that if it worked for one title, the same techniques should work for others. However, books and authors are different, as are the markets in which they could be sold. You will become more profitable more quickly if you seek new markets in which to sell your books, and then plan creative ways to market them.A process called Market Mapping will help you do this. It follows the principles of mind mapping to stimulate and organize strategic marketing planning. It is a two-step process that helps you discover different markets in which you can sell your titles. The second step points out innovative ways to price, distribute and promote the final product most successfully.
Conducting a Market-Mapping session can be as much fun as it is productive, and is best performed in a group of two or more people. Begin by asking questions among yourselves and recording your answers. Four rules will help your brainstorming sessions become more productive.
1) Ask questions properly. Do not say, "Where else can we sell this title?" The first response answers the question but it may not be the best answer. Instead, ask "In how many ways can we..." thereby generating additional possibilities.
2) Stimulate as many responses as possible. Think quantity, not quality at this point. Do not judge any idea at the time it is offered, as a negative reaction might discourage people from contributing. This approach also produces far-fetched responses, but sometimes an implausible idea may lead to a more realistic one.
3) Create a graphic marketing plan. Use a clearly visible flip chart, chalkboard or some other means of recording all the responses.
4) Discard unusable ideas at the end of the session. Once the idea-generating portion of the meeting is finished, reconsider all responses and decide which ones are not applicable at this time.
Step One
Begin your Market-Mapping session by thinking of all the possible markets in which a particular title could be sold. The key word is could. Do not limit your thinking to markets in which you traditionally sell books. Given no restrictions, how many different people could be interested in this title? You might come up with a chart that looks similar to the one below.
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Use words that give a wide definition to the category, i.e., instead of writing the word bookstores in one circle, write the word retail. This is a larger niche than bookstores alone. Given this broader definition, you might add new categories including gift stores, mass-merchandise clubs and specialty shops related to the title. For instance, a book about golfing might be sold through pro shops. A book on bicycling could be sold in country inns, an art book in craft stores and a book about dinosaurs in museums. Continue thinking of other retail venues. Could your title sell through book clubs or catalogs? What about home-shopping networks, public television or the Internet?
Do not overlook the business market. Many companies use books as premiums, gifts for clients and incentives for salespeople. Most technical firms also have their own libraries. In addition, network-marketing organizations use books as instructional and motivational tools for their members.
Make a category for special sales -- those that do not fit neatly in other categories. For example, foundations might consider your title as the premium for an educational fundraiser. Perhaps it could be sold to organizations or associations. How about sales to federal, state or local government agencies? Is it suitable for translation into other languages? Could the foreign rights be sold?
Always consider selling directly to consumers. This could be done in conjunction with personal presentations or media appearances. You may have your own web site or be able to link with others. Direct mail is always a possibility, particularly with nonfiction titles.
The academic category leads to many subsets. Could your title be sold to elementary schools, high schools, colleges, special education or vocational schools? If you think it might sell to colleges, draw a line from the circle and write the word Colleges on it. Then think of all the places in which you could sell this title at colleges. For instance, most have their own bookstores and libraries. Could it be sold as a text or reference book? If it is sold as a textbook, is a teacher's manual required? Do this for each market until its map looks like this:
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Have fun. Be creative and even outlandish. After you discover a market, dig deeper to find ways to develop it more fully. You will be surprised at the opportunities you uncover. Once you feel you have listed as many choices as possible, eliminate those in which you have neither the desire nor the means to pursue.
Step Two
Having decided where you are going to sell your books, it is time to map how you are going to market them. Using the same rules and techniques you employed in step one, investigate possible forms the product could take and how it will be priced, distributed and promoted.
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1. Product development.There are many forms in which the information in your book could be disseminated. Could you publish the same information in a booklet, an audio series or video program? Would a CD or software package meet the needs of this particular market more effectively and efficiently than a book? Or could you bundle one or more of these in a package including a book?
If you decide a book is the best way to reach this market, there are still many decisions to be made if it has not yet been published. For example, what about the binding? If you expect to sell directly to consumers while conducting seminars or workshops, a spiral-bound book might be appropriate. Perhaps a saddle-stitched booklet might suffice. Obviously these bindings would not go over well with bookstore buyers.
Will you use black and white or four-color illustrations? What size will it be? Do you need to add more pages to increase the spine width or break the book down into a series of booklets? Of course, you ask yourself all these questions every time you publish a book, but this time think of the answers in the context of the new markets you have evaluated.
2. Distribution. There are three general distribution channels available to you: indirect, direct and a combination of the two. Indirect distribution uses one or more companies to help you bring your books to the ultimate readers. These could be distributors, wholesalers, bookstores, sales representatives or book clubs, and they perform one or more functions that make it easier for you to distribute your books. However, they exact a service fee that could approach 70%.
Direct distribution is the process of marketing your books directly to the consumers. This is accomplished through direct mail, direct-response advertising, the Internet or during personal presentations. You may choose to fulfill the orders yourself or use a fulfillment service.
A combination of indirect and direct distribution may be necessary. For example, a fiction title may be sold via the traditional distributor-wholesaler-retailer channel. It could also be sold through wholesalers to libraries, or to the general public through your web site, media appearances, personal presentations and book signings. 3. Pricing. There are many theories on how to best price your products, some of which have been espoused in Independent Publisher recently. The major factor influencing your retail price is the distribution system you choose. If you utilize an indirect distribution network, your retail price must cover their discounts, your production and administrative costs, and a reasonable profit.
Pricing is affected by your promotion plans, too. As an example, direct distribution requires a greater investment in promotion. Furthermore, there are promotional-pricing techniques to consider, such as dollar-off coupons. These could be distributed via direct mail, at trade shows or even printed in your books to be applied to other, similar titles in your product line. You could also offer an advertising allowance, merchandising services, free goods or special promotional discounts to customers.
4. Promotion. There are virtually thousands of ways in which you could promote your titles, limited only by your budget and your imagination. A good way to structure your brainstorming session is to categorize promotion into four general areas: sales promotion, publicity, advertising and personal selling.
A) The category of sales promotion includes useful items that serve as a constant, favorable reminder of your company and title. Typical examples are bookmarks, giveaways (key chains, pens, etc.), brochures, games, point-of-purchase displays and coupons for generating awareness and stimulating demand through short-term price campaigns.
Sales promotion techniques can be adapted to a variety of marketing objectives and can easily be tied in with other promotional tools. However, they usually have short-term impact; overuse of price-related offers may hurt your profits; and competitors can easily copy effective promotions. Therefore, think strategically while creating sales-promotional items and plan ways in which they can augment other marketing strategies. For instance, if your objective is to introduce a new title you might consider sampling (a sample chapter on your web site) couponing, bundling with another proven item or offering a money-back guarantee to consumers. If your objective is to encourage repurchase you might consider bonus packs, contests, sweepstakes, coupons good on the next purchase or multiple-proof free premiums.
B) Publicity is perhaps the most economical element of the promotional mix. It increases awareness and credibility through a third-party testimonial. On the other had, you have no control over what is printed in a review or article about your book.
Most publishers define publicity in terms of press releases and reviews. While these are important pieces of publicity, there is much more to it. Good publicity positions your firm and titles appropriately. It creates positive awareness, informs, instructs, announces and corrects a mistaken perception. These can be accomplished through the use of endorsements, letters to the editor, backgrounders, case histories, newsletters, bill stuffers and all the elements of effective brandstanding.
C) Advertising can reach many consumers simultaneously with the same message, at a relatively low cost per exposure. It can increase awareness of your titles and educate people about the benefits of buying them. In general, the return on your advertising expenditure is not immediate. One ad will not pay for itself, since the benefits of advertising increase over time as readers are reminded repeatedly about your titles.
There are different types of advertising to consider. Awareness advertising alerts consumers that your title is available and directs them to bookstores to purchase it. Direct-response advertising provides a means to purchase your books directly. Cooperative advertising can reduce your costs, but it usually reduces your exposure, too. For example, you may participate with other publishers, advertising your titles in a special insert in Publishers Weekly. While this is less expensive than advertising on your own, your title may be lost among all the others.
Also included in this category are trade dress and direct mail. Your books' covers act much like billboards, attracting the attention of people passing by. Direct mail is a highly targeted form of advertising and is most efficient when you choose the right list, create compelling copy and mail your letters at the proper time.
Advertising can be a strategic, supportive part of your promotional mix if it is implemented properly. The headline must be provocative and the layout attractive. Each promotional piece must be written with the needs of potential customers in mind, informing and reminding them of the benefits your title offers. Remember to create copy that is applicable for each target market to which you are communicating. Librarians, bookstore buyers, distributors and ultimate readers all buy a book for different reasons.
D) Personal selling occurs during person-to-person interaction. It is a persuasive selling tool because it allows two-way communication, giving you the ability to answer questions, overcome objections and close the sale at the same meeting. The major disadvantage is its high cost per contact.
Personal selling does not necessarily mean that you go out and call individually on every retail outlets in the country. It means that you set yourself up to have some personal contact with prospective buyers. This could occur at trade shows and book signings, during media events, through personal presentations, networking at BEA or other association meetings and by participating in an online discussion group. Use your market-mapping sessions to think about how each of these may or may not become part of your strategic plan for each market segment.
Use these examples to stimulate your Market-Mapping sessions, and you will find them to be an enjoyable yet strategic way to kindle your creativity and plan your marketing efforts for each of your titles.
At the end of each meeting you will have flip chart pages full of circles and lines that define the markets in which you will participate and the ways you will distribute, price and promote your products in each. Use this information to write your formal marketing plan, but keep the visuals posted as a reminder of actions you can take every day to increase your sales and profitability.