In mid-May, I'll be presenting with Melissa Taylor of Pinterest Savvy to talk about some ways publishers are using social media.
Hope you'll join us! If so, please RSVP to Kent at executivedirector@pubwest.org.
Thu, May 16, 2013 at 6:00 PM
Denver Press Club
1330 Glenarm Place
Denver, CO 80204
My part will focus on content marketing, which is using book content to sell books.
I’m going to talk briefly about online promo effectiveness and then spend some time on how I used WordPress, Facebook, and Twitter to promote:
This will include some gimmickry, SEO, meta-tagging, keywording, post timing, cross-posting, and poaching celebrity Twitter handles.
I’ll then compare the effectiveness of content marketing with traditional online advertising by using online metrics and book sales data.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Glorious Bluster of Boulder, Colorado (and How to Use It to Your Advantage)
Boulder is one of America's fittest, most active, most outdoorsy cities, and we Boulderites love to brag about it. My wife and I moved here for its access to great hiking; it was a return to nature for us. We were totally out of shape, unless you include our expertise in judging local cuisine, which seemed to be our primary extracurricular connection to Washington, DC. We huffed and puffed our way on the trails that wend their way through Chautauqua, pausing frequently to express amazement at the altitude. First, Boulder humbles you. Then it transforms you.
We hiked nearly every day for months. One summer, we took friends backpacking on five weekends in Rocky Mountain National Park. We bought season passes to Abasin (because its season pass was cheapest - big mistake!).
So I surprised myself a year later when I started a new job in endurance sports and fitness industry instead of in the outdoors industry. I interviewed with Chris Dinneen at VeloGear in late March. I wore pleated khakis and a button-down longsleeve with collar, and I was worried that I was underdressed. Chris wore shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt. During my post-interview office tour, Nick Ramey told me I would need to dress down. There were dogs running amok through the office. I loved it! What could be more Boulder? I learned later that I got the job and learned much later that the company, Inside Communications, was one of the cooler places to land a job in Boulder because it owned VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, and Ski Racing magazines.
Over dozens of race expos, bike swaps, and tradeshows for VeloGear and VeloPress, I learned a few invaluable lessons.
So in this landscape of insecurity, how does one exploit brand? Here's what works for me.
 |
| Our dear Flatirons |
So I surprised myself a year later when I started a new job in endurance sports and fitness industry instead of in the outdoors industry. I interviewed with Chris Dinneen at VeloGear in late March. I wore pleated khakis and a button-down longsleeve with collar, and I was worried that I was underdressed. Chris wore shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt. During my post-interview office tour, Nick Ramey told me I would need to dress down. There were dogs running amok through the office. I loved it! What could be more Boulder? I learned later that I got the job and learned much later that the company, Inside Communications, was one of the cooler places to land a job in Boulder because it owned VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, and Ski Racing magazines.
Over dozens of race expos, bike swaps, and tradeshows for VeloGear and VeloPress, I learned a few invaluable lessons.
- Enthusiasts are everywhere, and they are often in the closet. I'm surprised to find triathletes in the most unlikely places. And once you recognize one, the defining characteristics and contrast with the surrounding non-triathletes become more stark. It's like a vertigo shot or the scenes from Highlander when the immortals sense each other's presence.
- Enthusiasts are always sizing themselves up. When you come from a well-known brand, people will associate you with that brand. When I introduce myself as an extension of VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, or Triathlete, people naturally assume I am a cyclist or triathlete. When I introduce myself as a part of VeloPress, people assume I'm an endurance sports training nerd or cycling history buff with intimate knowledge of the yearly performance variations of Campagnolo derailleurs.
- Endurance athletes are insecure! There is a persistent training myth in endurance sports that more is better. Endurance athletes are so driven that they constantly worry that they haven't done enough training. In fact, they are in a constant state of guilt that they are not working out right now. I blogged about a study that described the difference between outdoors and fitness enthusiasts like this: outdoorsy people will ask "What could I do today?" while fitness people will ask "What should I do today?" A brilliant and insightful distinction.
- Once you show an authentic association to a known enthusiast brand, enthusiasts will always overestimate your athletic abilities. People don't just assume I'm a cyclist or a triathlete, they assume I'm a total badass, a former racer. They assume I'm Neal Rogers or Lars Finanger or Fred Dreier or Lennard Zinn, with the ability to win any lunch ride, climb any hill, race Kona, or spend a full day on my bike in the mountains. This is not so. Outside of Boulder, I'm likely a half-respectable endurance athlete. When in Boulder, I'm much lower on the totem pole.
 |
| Photo: RunColo.com |
So in this landscape of insecurity, how does one exploit brand? Here's what works for me.
- Lead with the brand. It's obnoxious and unseemly to namedrop in casual conversation. (Heck, this was one of the things I hated about DC!) But if things turn to business or the business of sports, I'll drop brands like they're hot. The sooner people know your affiliation, the sooner they will start overestimating you. Until, that is, they start asking you to write a story in VeloNews about whatever it is they're selling.
- Speak softly and they'll think you carry the bigger stick. Understatement is better bluster than outrageous claims. People you've just met listen more carefully when you're harder to hear.
- Let them down slowly. Or, have a good backup plan. More optimistically, impress others with brand and then impress them with whatever it is you really are good at. The crazy assumption of the enthusiast marketplace is that enthusiasm equals quality. Being able to ride for 8 hours in the mountains, place in the top 10% at Boston, or fix a 1945 Campy derailleur doesn't mean you're good at your role in those sports. Sure, it might help.
- A brand is a promise. Always remember that the brand you represent is just a foot in the door for the brand that matters most. The brand is you, and you don't need bluster.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Anatomy of a Publicity Stunt
It was a friend in college who introduced me to the concept that luck comes with hard work. He'd just beaten me at some game, on what I felt was a lucky shot. I told him so and he replied, "You make your own luck."
I've found it's double-edged sword to work in publicity. Rarely can a publicist claim full responsibility for some good press, yet it's often that a publicist can claim at least some of it. This week, some hard work paid off in the form of a lucky break, but it was a fan boy blogger and the quick-thinking, fastest pro cyclist in the world who deserve most of the credit.
In the 24 hours after Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour of California last Sunday, a book I'm promoting got mentioned on ESPN.com (since updated), in the New York Times (since updated), the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle (since updated), the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and two cycling websites. This is a mother lode of publicity, more than many small publishers could hope for in a few years!
Last winter, we acquired Mark Cavendish's autobiography, Boy Racer, which from the original UK publisher as a late addition to our fall 2010 list. We planned to publish the book in June, a comfortable month before the start of the Tour de France. In February, we made some print-on-demand ARCs (advance reader copies) of the book. Book publishers make ARCs to send to taste makers to ask for their endorsement and to magazines to line up publicity during the months it takes most magazines to plan out, develop, and publish their editorial content.
In March, I shipped out 20 ARCs to the big cycling print magazines and in April, I shipped 10 more to cycling websites and bloggers. I didn't ask for an embargo (because I think publicity embargoes are cheesy, especially in a small market like cycling), but I asked the magazines to consider book reviews and excerpts for their pre-Tour guides and mentioned to the websites that I was hoping for publicity after the Tour of California start.
Cav won the stage, which meant he was expected to take questions from the cycling media during a press conference soon after the race. Velonation described the scene like this:
"Following the race, Cavendish was relaxed and confident, and answered the myriad of questions with aplomb, but in an almost whisper. When asked about the Tour de Romandie victory salute debacle and whether he was thinking about that as he crossed the line, Cavendish was blunt and didn't pass up on an opportunity to give a healthy nod to his recently released book.
"I honestly don't think about my celebrations too much. You should read my book, Boy Racer. It's out in America now. I'll be doing some book signings during and after the Tour of California. It's a good book. In the book, I talk about how I switch off my emotions during the race. As soon as I cross the line, it all comes out. Most things are pretty impromptu, it's just all that emotion built up inside. When I cross the line first, sometimes I'm a quick thinker and come up with something, but for the most part, it's pretty impromptu."
At this point, a journalist in the crowd pulled out a copy and handed it to Cavendish. He dutifully held the book up and flashed a big grin."
It looked like this.
That journalist was Richard Masoner, the blogger behind the Cyclelicious website, to whom I had sent a Boy Racer ARC just a few weeks before the race. He had taken his ARC with him to the Tour of California, hoping to get Cav to autograph it so that he could give the signed book away to a reader.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat described the events with more snark:
Yummy indeed! If I get the chance to meet Richard, I owe him a round of beers. Perhaps more than one round!
Of course, there are few less-than-perfect circumstances. First, the book isn't actually available yet nor is Cav actually scheduled to sign books during the remainder of the race. The book was bound and shipped to our distributor's warehouse a few days ago, which means it's sitting at a truck stop somewhere instead of selling like hotcakes; cycling fans who are now assuredly scrambling into bookstores are pawing through the shelves and walking away confused, frustrated, and disappointed. Publicity pushed demand, but the supply wasn't ready, and that means lost sales. I can only hope that Amazon and other online retailers just saw a bump in pre-orders.
Second, the cover on the ARC isn't the final one, and it's not as good as the final one. This is a pretty minor quibble considering only Cyclelicious posted the photo of Cav with his book.
Third, the book mentions have since been taken out of the ESPN and New York Times articles (which is why it's so important to print to pdf!). That afternoon, I emailed the book press release, cover image, and photo of Cav with book to all the reporters who mentioned the Cav-ARC incident to offer them a finished copy when they arrive next week. I hope this isn't what prompted ESPN and the Times to remove the mentions (both reporters were interested in receiving a copy). Should this happen again, maybe I'll wait a few days before thanking the reporter.
So if it's true that you make your own luck, then I'm happy to have placed an ARC in the right hands, even if it was those hands that put it in Cav's.
UPDATE: A coworker managed to catch Cav at the team bus today and got the final book into his hands!
It looked like this.
Photo of Cav with ARC used with written permission of Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious.
Photo of Dave with ARC and Cyclelicious website showing photo of Cav with ARC taken by Renee.
Photo of Cav with the final book used with permission of Ben Pryhoda.
I've found it's double-edged sword to work in publicity. Rarely can a publicist claim full responsibility for some good press, yet it's often that a publicist can claim at least some of it. This week, some hard work paid off in the form of a lucky break, but it was a fan boy blogger and the quick-thinking, fastest pro cyclist in the world who deserve most of the credit.
In the 24 hours after Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the first stage of the Tour of California last Sunday, a book I'm promoting got mentioned on ESPN.com (since updated), in the New York Times (since updated), the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle (since updated), the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and two cycling websites. This is a mother lode of publicity, more than many small publishers could hope for in a few years!
Last winter, we acquired Mark Cavendish's autobiography, Boy Racer, which from the original UK publisher as a late addition to our fall 2010 list. We planned to publish the book in June, a comfortable month before the start of the Tour de France. In February, we made some print-on-demand ARCs (advance reader copies) of the book. Book publishers make ARCs to send to taste makers to ask for their endorsement and to magazines to line up publicity during the months it takes most magazines to plan out, develop, and publish their editorial content.
In March, I shipped out 20 ARCs to the big cycling print magazines and in April, I shipped 10 more to cycling websites and bloggers. I didn't ask for an embargo (because I think publicity embargoes are cheesy, especially in a small market like cycling), but I asked the magazines to consider book reviews and excerpts for their pre-Tour guides and mentioned to the websites that I was hoping for publicity after the Tour of California start.
Cav won the stage, which meant he was expected to take questions from the cycling media during a press conference soon after the race. Velonation described the scene like this:
"Following the race, Cavendish was relaxed and confident, and answered the myriad of questions with aplomb, but in an almost whisper. When asked about the Tour de Romandie victory salute debacle and whether he was thinking about that as he crossed the line, Cavendish was blunt and didn't pass up on an opportunity to give a healthy nod to his recently released book.
"I honestly don't think about my celebrations too much. You should read my book, Boy Racer. It's out in America now. I'll be doing some book signings during and after the Tour of California. It's a good book. In the book, I talk about how I switch off my emotions during the race. As soon as I cross the line, it all comes out. Most things are pretty impromptu, it's just all that emotion built up inside. When I cross the line first, sometimes I'm a quick thinker and come up with something, but for the most part, it's pretty impromptu."
At this point, a journalist in the crowd pulled out a copy and handed it to Cavendish. He dutifully held the book up and flashed a big grin."
It looked like this.
That journalist was Richard Masoner, the blogger behind the Cyclelicious website, to whom I had sent a Boy Racer ARC just a few weeks before the race. He had taken his ARC with him to the Tour of California, hoping to get Cav to autograph it so that he could give the signed book away to a reader.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat described the events with more snark:
"Sprinters in cycling are like sprinters in track. They strut. They like to call attention to themselves. They are divas, showmen, who blossom like a peacock in front of a camera. When Cavendish stepped in front of the camera Sunday in the post-race press conference, he couldn't resist. From the podium he motioned to a man in the audience, presumably, and embarrassingly, a journalist. The journalist rose from his seat and brought to Cavendish a book.
It was Cavendish's recently published autobiography. That alone speaks volumes. Cavendish is only 24 years old. Some NFL wide receivers could get tips from this guy on self-promotion – which would soon become readily apparent.
The Brit then propped up the book, its cover facing the audience, pointed to it and said, “It's a good book.”
He smiled and he didn't stop smiling and he kept the book propped up for the couldn't-be-ignored photo op. Yes, maybe he had to squelch a defiant urge when he crossed the finish line but Cavendish couldn't be rung up for self-promotion."
He smiled and he didn't stop smiling and he kept the book propped up for the couldn't-be-ignored photo op. Yes, maybe he had to squelch a defiant urge when he crossed the finish line but Cavendish couldn't be rung up for self-promotion."
It was Cav pimping his book after his win that caught the attention of the New York Times, ESPN, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Sacramento Bee, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, and Velonation.
I learned about all this on Monday morning when I checked Google Reader and noticed the New York Times headline about Cav winning the stage. My jaw hit the floor when I saw how the book was mentioned, and then I raised my arms in victory!
It looked like this.
As any good publicist would, I printed the page to pdf and hit Google to search for more. I soon stumbled onto the ESPN and LA Times versions. (Quick aside: I noticed a lack of AdWords ads in the search results, so I took a few minutes to set up a campaign for Boy Racer.)
Another victory salute and then, having recovered my wits, I publicized the victory to some coworkers and our book trade distributor.
Finally, I noticed an email from Richard Masoner in my inbox. It said:
"Hi Dave,
I had Cavendish's book with me at his stage win in Sacramento Sunday afternoon. He saw it, grabbed it from me, and held it up at the press conference telling everybody they should read it.
The LA Times and NY Times both mentioned Boy Racer in Sunday's story on his win.
He also autographed the book for me. Is it okay if I give this pre-publication copy away in a contest?
Richard
http://www.cyclelicio.us/ is yummy!"
Yummy indeed! If I get the chance to meet Richard, I owe him a round of beers. Perhaps more than one round!
Of course, there are few less-than-perfect circumstances. First, the book isn't actually available yet nor is Cav actually scheduled to sign books during the remainder of the race. The book was bound and shipped to our distributor's warehouse a few days ago, which means it's sitting at a truck stop somewhere instead of selling like hotcakes; cycling fans who are now assuredly scrambling into bookstores are pawing through the shelves and walking away confused, frustrated, and disappointed. Publicity pushed demand, but the supply wasn't ready, and that means lost sales. I can only hope that Amazon and other online retailers just saw a bump in pre-orders.
Second, the cover on the ARC isn't the final one, and it's not as good as the final one. This is a pretty minor quibble considering only Cyclelicious posted the photo of Cav with his book.
Third, the book mentions have since been taken out of the ESPN and New York Times articles (which is why it's so important to print to pdf!). That afternoon, I emailed the book press release, cover image, and photo of Cav with book to all the reporters who mentioned the Cav-ARC incident to offer them a finished copy when they arrive next week. I hope this isn't what prompted ESPN and the Times to remove the mentions (both reporters were interested in receiving a copy). Should this happen again, maybe I'll wait a few days before thanking the reporter.
So if it's true that you make your own luck, then I'm happy to have placed an ARC in the right hands, even if it was those hands that put it in Cav's.
UPDATE: A coworker managed to catch Cav at the team bus today and got the final book into his hands!
It looked like this.
Photo of Cav with ARC used with written permission of Richard Masoner/Cyclelicious.
Photo of Dave with ARC and Cyclelicious website showing photo of Cav with ARC taken by Renee.
Photo of Cav with the final book used with permission of Ben Pryhoda.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
How to Book an Online Ad: A Primer to Online Advertising
Savvy marketers know an economic downturn is the best time to advertise. As your competitors scrimp on promotional budgets and ad-supported publications scratch and claw to make sales goals, you can take market share and reach your readers on the cheap.
Print is dead?
Some in publishing have been so bold as to suggest that print advertising (like print) is dead (heresy!), proselytizing that advertisers devote their entire budgets to online advertising. They say things like, “You can track everything online but not in print!” and “Online ads can move, print is static!” and “A newspaper ad is dead tomorrow. For the same price, an online ad can run all month!” They also say things like “No one reads print anymore!” They are dubious company for a book publisher. As a cog in a print and online media and events marketing company, I believe that both print and online advertising can work together. Here’s a primer on how to begin advertising online.
Reader safari
Go find your readers’ online digs. If you need some ideas, here are a few to consider:
While you’re perusing these websites, pay attention to the ads that are there. What ads get your attention? What positions on the page do those ads occupy? Do those ads run everywhere on the site (“run-of-site”) or in specific departments?
Websites will typically offer a suite of possible ad types and positions. Ads can be banners (something rectangular and horizontal), towers or skyscrapers (rectangular but vertical), boxes or buttons (roughly square), pop-ups (squarish and highly irritating), text ads, or something unique.
Now that you’ve built a list of websites that appeal to your potential reader, let’s get shopping. Look for an “Advertise with us” link or the “media kit.”
Media kits are not really for the media
A media kit is a brochure that contains information about a publication and its readers. A good media kit includes reader demographics, advertising prices (the “rate card”), specifications for its ads, an editorial calendar, and good photos of a mountain range or an athlete or a kitchen, or whatever best represents the audience the publication is trying to reach. Download it and read it.
Your website of choice may not have a media kit. “Contact us!” it will say, and it will include fields for your name, email address, phone number, and reason for writing. While your suspicion that no one will ever get back to you is justified, your reason for writing should be this: “I’m interested in advertising on yourwebsite.com. Please email me more information.” If you can, avoid giving your phone number; you want to be well informed before you speak to an ad rep.
The information you’re trying to get from the media kit or the ad rep is this:
Warning sign: Either you’re dealing with amateurs who don’t want to tip their hand, or you’re dealing with pros who don’t want to tip their hand too soon.
Here is where opportunity knocks…
Every self-respecting website on earth is running some kind of analytics code that tracks how many people are visiting, and it’s probably Google Analytics. Conveniently for you, Google Ad Planner taps into Google Analytics and Google Search data to compile an estimate of total web traffic for many websites. It only takes about 5,000 unique visitors per month to start showing up on Ad Planner’s radar, and let’s be honest—would you really advertise on a site with less traffic? So go snoop about Ad Planner and see how much traffic Google thinks your target website gets. Remember that this is an estimate and is likely to underreport.
Since you know every site has analytics code running, you can ask them for it. In most Web browsers, select “View” and “Source” to see the source code for any Web page you visit. Scroll to the bottom and look for “google-analytics.com” in the code. There are other analytics providers, too (Webtrends, StatCounter, ecommStats), so if you don’t see that code, don’t despair. Find an ad rep on the website. If no rep is listed, try the publisher. Email them something like this: “I’ve reviewed your media kit, and I don’t see much information on Web traffic. I see that you’re running Google Analytics. Would you please send me last month’s visitor report?” You’ll be surprised how many websites are willing to do this.
Haggle like a camel trader
In the best-case scenario, you’re now familiar with the website, its readers, ad positions and sizes, pricing, and traffic. It’s time to get down to nickels and dimes: what’s this ad gonna cost ya? After all, if all the great things the Web offers are free, advertisers must be paying out the nose, right? The Web, in all its customizable glory, has many pricing schemes. The most common are:
Don’t feel that because online advertising is trackable that the ad rates are nonnegotiable. It’s true that online advertising seems less negotiable than print advertising, which has a notorious reputation for infidelity to the rate card, but ad reps have two ways they can meet you halfway. First, they can “overdeliver.” If Web traffic is particularly strong in any given month, the website might have more impressions than paying advertisers. In that case, ad reps will decide which clients will receive the overflow—for free. You’ll usually learn about overdelivery at month’s end, but it doesn’t hurt to ask the ad reps during negotiation if they are expecting to overdeliver this month.
Another tactic is to play for sympathy. Erudite people love the idea of books. Explain that book publishing is a low-margin business and ask the reps if there are ways they can help. Offer them a copy of the book, especially if this is an enthusiast website. You can also gamble on pricing by showing them your hand early. Tell the reps you have X dollars available and ask what inventory they have available. Obviously, the dollar figure you quote should be well under the ad rep’s asking price and what you actually have budgeted.
Finally, you can try to book ad space at the last minute, just a day or two before the beginning of the next month. Much like car salespeople, ad reps have sales goals to meet.
Pricing will vary by ad format and position. Big, beautiful banners in prime real estate at the top of the home page, for example, will cost more than smaller buttons stashed several mouse scrolls down the page.
Let’s say you’re in the market for a nice, book-friendly 300 × 250 pixel square in the middle of the home page. The ad rep quotes you a price of $25 CPM. What the heck does that mean?
That means you’ll pay $25 per 1,000 impressions. If the site gets 10,000 impressions in a month, you will pay $250. If the site gets 100,000 impressions, you’ll pay $2,500.
Here are the formulas to calculate CPM, impressions, and your cost:
Part 1: You pay for what you get
You can tell the ad rep that you want to buy a block of 10,000 impressions. At $25 CPM, you have committed to an ad spend of $250. This would be a very reasonable thing to do. The only problem is...very few people pay attention to online ads.
We humans are great at ignoring things, and so you need many people to have the opportunity to pay attention to your ad. Naturally, publications are wary to release information on clickthrough rates. Some online advertising industry estimates are that clickthrough rates are considered strong in the range of .08 to .11%. That means roughly one-tenth of one person for every one hundred people will click on your ad.
(The human ability to ignore is why print advertising is still useful. Print publications seduce people into a reading mood during which they will tolerate [even enjoy!] reading well-designed ads. Most websites force people to scan for the information they want.)
So you’ll either need to buy a lot of impressions or make ad creative that is so eye-catching and compelling that it is irresistible (or both). It’s wise to take the book trailer approach: advertise the benefits or the experience of reading your book rather than a photo of the bound book itself. This is why online ads have gotten so distracting with mouseovers, flashing lights, talking heads, and video.
Why advertise in this environment?
Part 2: You can measure effectiveness
Marketing professionals take it on faith that marketing works. We’re delighted on those rare occasions we can prove how good a job we’re doing. Online advertising is one of those occasions.
Since the Web is an unending database, it’s unendingly trackable. It’s possible for highly engineered companies like Google to know 75% of the websites I’ve visited in any given day (in part because I use Google so heavily). Individual websites boast even more capability; they can follow your every mouse click through their entire website. When a user visits a website, they are assigned a small piece of uniquely identifiable code (a “cookie”) that the website reads on this and future visits. If that user is among the one-tenth of one person in 100 who clicks on an online ad, that click is recorded. The ad will direct the user to another website, which will detect what site sent the user. More sophisticated e-commerce websites will add their own cookie so that they are able to track how much a visitor spends. In other words, advertisers with the right software can directly attribute revenue (and individual transactions!) to specific ad campaigns. Now that is trackability!
Unfortunately, not all publishers have e-commerce websites and not all e-commerce websites have robust Web analytics that integrate with their shopping cart software. Fear not: there are ways to track your ad campaigns.
How to track ad campaigns
Any self-respecting website you advertise on should happily send you a monthly impression and clickthrough report and a campaign summary. In fact, you should make this a requirement just before you sign the contract with your ad rep. But who wants to wait until the end of the month to see how your campaign is performing?
Once you’ve successfully bought your ad campaign, you’ll submit your online ad to your ad rep along with a destination URL. The destination URL is where you want website visitors to go when they click on your ad. You can make this any URL you want: your home page, a product page on your website, your author’s blog, your page on Facebook, an Author Central page on Amazon, a landing page custom-made for this ad campaign, etc.
If you choose to send traffic to your website, you can get real-time statistics on your ad campaign’s performance in several ways. Most basically, you, your IT manager, or your Web host can check your server logs for spikes in traffic to your campaign’s destination page. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website (you should), you can easily check on performance without the IT department’s eye-rolling and can learn a lot more about where traffic is coming from and ending up.
You can even detect traffic from individual campaigns by customizing the destination URL you provide to your ad rep. Here’s how this works:
A non-customized URL looks like this:
http://www.velopress.com
I can customize it by adding a “?” to the end of the URL. The “?” allows me to then add anything—anything at all—after it. Like this:
http://www.velopress.com/?kentwatsonlikesbeer
The customized URL will work in the same manner as the non-customized URL except in one way: your server will see that someone visited “http://www.velopress.com/ ?kentwatsonlikesbeer” instead of “http://www.velopress.com.” Now I can check my server logs or Google Analytics traffic report and look for the custom URL. Any traffic the custom URL gets is directly attributable to the ad campaign for which I provided this custom URL.
Let’s say you decide to advertise with two different ad formats in two different ad positions on a website. With this hack, you can assign each unique URLs so that you can compare their performance.
There is one situation in which the “?” hack doesn’t work: when a website is already employing the same hack. In other words, if the destination URL already has a “?” like this: “http://www.velopress.com?id=232” then adding a “?” after “232,” will show an error message. In this case, add “&utmref=” instead like this:
http://www.velopress.com/triathlon.php?id=288&utmref=kentwatsonlikesbeer
These two hacks work almost everywhere. They are harmless, entirely legal, and extremely useful for marketers promoting books online.
Was it worth it?
Many marketers also take on faith that advertising is worth it. The trackability of online advertising helps justify itself, but it’s not without flaws. You can’t, for example, track sales from customers who clicked on your ad but then decided to buy the book in a bookstore or at Amazon.
So online advertising still requires some faith. Isn’t that true of all promotion and publishing?
This article appeared in the PubWest EndSheet No. Three (fall 2009)
Dave Trendler is Marketing and Publicity Manager for VeloPress, an endurance sports and fitness publisher. Dave has run over 2,000 online ads. His best long-term clickthrough rate is .99%. Please leave Dave’s server log a “&utmref=” message at davetrendler.com.
Print is dead?
Some in publishing have been so bold as to suggest that print advertising (like print) is dead (heresy!), proselytizing that advertisers devote their entire budgets to online advertising. They say things like, “You can track everything online but not in print!” and “Online ads can move, print is static!” and “A newspaper ad is dead tomorrow. For the same price, an online ad can run all month!” They also say things like “No one reads print anymore!” They are dubious company for a book publisher. As a cog in a print and online media and events marketing company, I believe that both print and online advertising can work together. Here’s a primer on how to begin advertising online.
Reader safari
Go find your readers’ online digs. If you need some ideas, here are a few to consider:
- There’s a website for everything. In fact, there are probably a few of them. Grab a beer, put on some tunes, and spend an hour or two letting Google guide you through the most promising results for keywords that match your book’s content. Websites offer you lots of individual visitors. They are good for finding new customers in new or existing markets.
- There’s a forum for every topic, too. If there’s one thing Chris Anderson’s long tail theory nailed, it is that the Web brings together the strangest little niches of people. Somewhere online there is a preexisting community interested in your book. “Bulletin boards” or “community forums” were one of the first applications of the Internet. A forum is a website devoted to conversations about a particular interest. Conversations are sorted by specific topics, and any member of the forum can reply to a message or start a new topic or “thread.” Devoted enthusiasts might spend all day browsing a forum (aka “multitasking”). Forums accept advertising, and it’s often cheap. Forums offer you smaller numbers of individual visitors, but lots and lots of opportunities for them to see your ad. They make for good branding.
- Google offers Ad Planner, a service that reveals Web traffic for specific websites or audiences. As part of this function, Ad Planner can suggest websites that specific types of customers visit. For example, if you’re about to publish a book on football, you can load a pre-defined audience called “football fan” and Google will reveal which websites they visit. Many of these will, of course, be mainstream sites like AOL or Yahoo!, but dig deeper and you’ll find niche sites that require less ad budget. You can also build a custom audience using various demographic criteria, or you can type in sites you know are on target for your market and Ad Planner will suggest similar sites.
- Most magazines have a companion website.
- Most events, like trade shows, have a website.
- There’s a trade association for everything under the sun.
While you’re perusing these websites, pay attention to the ads that are there. What ads get your attention? What positions on the page do those ads occupy? Do those ads run everywhere on the site (“run-of-site”) or in specific departments?
Websites will typically offer a suite of possible ad types and positions. Ads can be banners (something rectangular and horizontal), towers or skyscrapers (rectangular but vertical), boxes or buttons (roughly square), pop-ups (squarish and highly irritating), text ads, or something unique.
Now that you’ve built a list of websites that appeal to your potential reader, let’s get shopping. Look for an “Advertise with us” link or the “media kit.”
Media kits are not really for the media
A media kit is a brochure that contains information about a publication and its readers. A good media kit includes reader demographics, advertising prices (the “rate card”), specifications for its ads, an editorial calendar, and good photos of a mountain range or an athlete or a kitchen, or whatever best represents the audience the publication is trying to reach. Download it and read it.
Your website of choice may not have a media kit. “Contact us!” it will say, and it will include fields for your name, email address, phone number, and reason for writing. While your suspicion that no one will ever get back to you is justified, your reason for writing should be this: “I’m interested in advertising on yourwebsite.com. Please email me more information.” If you can, avoid giving your phone number; you want to be well informed before you speak to an ad rep.
The information you’re trying to get from the media kit or the ad rep is this:
- How many people visit the website? (unique visitors)
- How many times are those people likely to see your ad? (page views)
- What’s it gonna cost ya?
Warning sign: Either you’re dealing with amateurs who don’t want to tip their hand, or you’re dealing with pros who don’t want to tip their hand too soon.
Here is where opportunity knocks…
Every self-respecting website on earth is running some kind of analytics code that tracks how many people are visiting, and it’s probably Google Analytics. Conveniently for you, Google Ad Planner taps into Google Analytics and Google Search data to compile an estimate of total web traffic for many websites. It only takes about 5,000 unique visitors per month to start showing up on Ad Planner’s radar, and let’s be honest—would you really advertise on a site with less traffic? So go snoop about Ad Planner and see how much traffic Google thinks your target website gets. Remember that this is an estimate and is likely to underreport.
Since you know every site has analytics code running, you can ask them for it. In most Web browsers, select “View” and “Source” to see the source code for any Web page you visit. Scroll to the bottom and look for “google-analytics.com” in the code. There are other analytics providers, too (Webtrends, StatCounter, ecommStats), so if you don’t see that code, don’t despair. Find an ad rep on the website. If no rep is listed, try the publisher. Email them something like this: “I’ve reviewed your media kit, and I don’t see much information on Web traffic. I see that you’re running Google Analytics. Would you please send me last month’s visitor report?” You’ll be surprised how many websites are willing to do this.
Haggle like a camel trader
In the best-case scenario, you’re now familiar with the website, its readers, ad positions and sizes, pricing, and traffic. It’s time to get down to nickels and dimes: what’s this ad gonna cost ya? After all, if all the great things the Web offers are free, advertisers must be paying out the nose, right? The Web, in all its customizable glory, has many pricing schemes. The most common are:
- CPM (cost per mille or cost per impression): You pay X dollars per 1,000 impressions. Ad reps may spin CPM as “per 1,000 people that see your ad,” but that’s untrue. Just because your ad loads into a browser doesn’t mean the website visitor saw it. And just because your ad loaded 1,000 times doesn’t mean 1,000 unique visitors did the loading. CPM pricing is most common on highly visited websites.
- CPC (cost per click): You pay X amount per clickthrough. There is usually no limit on the number of impressions. Google’s AdWords program uses a version of CPC pricing.
- Flat rate: You pay X amount for your ad to run for X period of time. You get as many impressions and clickthroughs as you get. Flat-rate pricing is more common in forums and some lower-traffic websites and it’s typically first-come, first-served.
Don’t feel that because online advertising is trackable that the ad rates are nonnegotiable. It’s true that online advertising seems less negotiable than print advertising, which has a notorious reputation for infidelity to the rate card, but ad reps have two ways they can meet you halfway. First, they can “overdeliver.” If Web traffic is particularly strong in any given month, the website might have more impressions than paying advertisers. In that case, ad reps will decide which clients will receive the overflow—for free. You’ll usually learn about overdelivery at month’s end, but it doesn’t hurt to ask the ad reps during negotiation if they are expecting to overdeliver this month.
Another tactic is to play for sympathy. Erudite people love the idea of books. Explain that book publishing is a low-margin business and ask the reps if there are ways they can help. Offer them a copy of the book, especially if this is an enthusiast website. You can also gamble on pricing by showing them your hand early. Tell the reps you have X dollars available and ask what inventory they have available. Obviously, the dollar figure you quote should be well under the ad rep’s asking price and what you actually have budgeted.
Finally, you can try to book ad space at the last minute, just a day or two before the beginning of the next month. Much like car salespeople, ad reps have sales goals to meet.
Pricing will vary by ad format and position. Big, beautiful banners in prime real estate at the top of the home page, for example, will cost more than smaller buttons stashed several mouse scrolls down the page.
Let’s say you’re in the market for a nice, book-friendly 300 × 250 pixel square in the middle of the home page. The ad rep quotes you a price of $25 CPM. What the heck does that mean?
That means you’ll pay $25 per 1,000 impressions. If the site gets 10,000 impressions in a month, you will pay $250. If the site gets 100,000 impressions, you’ll pay $2,500.
Here are the formulas to calculate CPM, impressions, and your cost:
- Your cost in dollars = (# impressions / 1,000) × CPM
- # impressions = (your budget / CPM) × 1,000
Part 1: You pay for what you get
You can tell the ad rep that you want to buy a block of 10,000 impressions. At $25 CPM, you have committed to an ad spend of $250. This would be a very reasonable thing to do. The only problem is...very few people pay attention to online ads.
We humans are great at ignoring things, and so you need many people to have the opportunity to pay attention to your ad. Naturally, publications are wary to release information on clickthrough rates. Some online advertising industry estimates are that clickthrough rates are considered strong in the range of .08 to .11%. That means roughly one-tenth of one person for every one hundred people will click on your ad.
(The human ability to ignore is why print advertising is still useful. Print publications seduce people into a reading mood during which they will tolerate [even enjoy!] reading well-designed ads. Most websites force people to scan for the information they want.)
So you’ll either need to buy a lot of impressions or make ad creative that is so eye-catching and compelling that it is irresistible (or both). It’s wise to take the book trailer approach: advertise the benefits or the experience of reading your book rather than a photo of the bound book itself. This is why online ads have gotten so distracting with mouseovers, flashing lights, talking heads, and video.
Why advertise in this environment?
Part 2: You can measure effectiveness
Marketing professionals take it on faith that marketing works. We’re delighted on those rare occasions we can prove how good a job we’re doing. Online advertising is one of those occasions.
Since the Web is an unending database, it’s unendingly trackable. It’s possible for highly engineered companies like Google to know 75% of the websites I’ve visited in any given day (in part because I use Google so heavily). Individual websites boast even more capability; they can follow your every mouse click through their entire website. When a user visits a website, they are assigned a small piece of uniquely identifiable code (a “cookie”) that the website reads on this and future visits. If that user is among the one-tenth of one person in 100 who clicks on an online ad, that click is recorded. The ad will direct the user to another website, which will detect what site sent the user. More sophisticated e-commerce websites will add their own cookie so that they are able to track how much a visitor spends. In other words, advertisers with the right software can directly attribute revenue (and individual transactions!) to specific ad campaigns. Now that is trackability!
Unfortunately, not all publishers have e-commerce websites and not all e-commerce websites have robust Web analytics that integrate with their shopping cart software. Fear not: there are ways to track your ad campaigns.
How to track ad campaigns
Any self-respecting website you advertise on should happily send you a monthly impression and clickthrough report and a campaign summary. In fact, you should make this a requirement just before you sign the contract with your ad rep. But who wants to wait until the end of the month to see how your campaign is performing?
Once you’ve successfully bought your ad campaign, you’ll submit your online ad to your ad rep along with a destination URL. The destination URL is where you want website visitors to go when they click on your ad. You can make this any URL you want: your home page, a product page on your website, your author’s blog, your page on Facebook, an Author Central page on Amazon, a landing page custom-made for this ad campaign, etc.
If you choose to send traffic to your website, you can get real-time statistics on your ad campaign’s performance in several ways. Most basically, you, your IT manager, or your Web host can check your server logs for spikes in traffic to your campaign’s destination page. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website (you should), you can easily check on performance without the IT department’s eye-rolling and can learn a lot more about where traffic is coming from and ending up.
You can even detect traffic from individual campaigns by customizing the destination URL you provide to your ad rep. Here’s how this works:
A non-customized URL looks like this:
http://www.velopress.com
I can customize it by adding a “?” to the end of the URL. The “?” allows me to then add anything—anything at all—after it. Like this:
http://www.velopress.com/?kentwatsonlikesbeer
The customized URL will work in the same manner as the non-customized URL except in one way: your server will see that someone visited “http://www.velopress.com/ ?kentwatsonlikesbeer” instead of “http://www.velopress.com.” Now I can check my server logs or Google Analytics traffic report and look for the custom URL. Any traffic the custom URL gets is directly attributable to the ad campaign for which I provided this custom URL.
Let’s say you decide to advertise with two different ad formats in two different ad positions on a website. With this hack, you can assign each unique URLs so that you can compare their performance.
There is one situation in which the “?” hack doesn’t work: when a website is already employing the same hack. In other words, if the destination URL already has a “?” like this: “http://www.velopress.com?id=232” then adding a “?” after “232,” will show an error message. In this case, add “&utmref=” instead like this:
http://www.velopress.com/triathlon.php?id=288&utmref=kentwatsonlikesbeer
These two hacks work almost everywhere. They are harmless, entirely legal, and extremely useful for marketers promoting books online.
Was it worth it?
Many marketers also take on faith that advertising is worth it. The trackability of online advertising helps justify itself, but it’s not without flaws. You can’t, for example, track sales from customers who clicked on your ad but then decided to buy the book in a bookstore or at Amazon.
So online advertising still requires some faith. Isn’t that true of all promotion and publishing?
This article appeared in the PubWest EndSheet No. Three (fall 2009)
Dave Trendler is Marketing and Publicity Manager for VeloPress, an endurance sports and fitness publisher. Dave has run over 2,000 online ads. His best long-term clickthrough rate is .99%. Please leave Dave’s server log a “&utmref=” message at davetrendler.com.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
REI Runs Its First TV Ads
REI, which enjoyed a 6.9% increase in sales from 2007 to 2008 because of increased interest in the low-cost, outdoor vacations, is running its first two TV spots during the holiday buying season this year.
The first ad features a group of hikers huddled under a rock during a rainstorm. "For instant friends, just add water." The second ad features a mother and daughter on a summit sharing a slice of bread with peanut butter at dusk. "They discover a 4-star restaurant has nothing on 4 million stars."
See the ads on REI's "Find Out" campaign on YouTube. REI's press release announcing the two-ad campaign is here on its website.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Federal Trade Commission to Regulate Blogs, Twitter
Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure
New York Times
"The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical — for instance, from a weight loss supplement."
"“If a product is provided to bloggers, the F.T.C. will consider that, in most cases, to be a material connection even if the advertiser has no control over the content of the blogs," said a lobbyist."
What this means for marketers:
Many bloggers will lose big, especially the ones accepting payments. This regulation will put some blogs out of business, but given the seemingly endless supply of them, this seems like a small loss to society.
For the idea of blogging, this regulation is a big win. While many bloggers will lose income, this regulation represents a return--at least idealistically--to the spiritual roots of the blog.
Update March 25, 2010: the FTC's announcement and the FTC's actual guidelines (pdf).
New York Times
"The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical — for instance, from a weight loss supplement."
"“If a product is provided to bloggers, the F.T.C. will consider that, in most cases, to be a material connection even if the advertiser has no control over the content of the blogs," said a lobbyist."
What this means for marketers:
- Nothing at all! The burden seems to be entirely on bloggers.
- Bloggers may clam up initially. Though the regulation will apply to all bloggers, as with any other federal regulation, enforcement will be isolated to highly trafficked blogs and to those instances in which a blog reader reports an infringement or sues. Like all social networks, blogging caters to niches. Few blogs are so big that they will come into the FTC's radar. I think we can expect business as usual for the majority of blogs that cater to niche readerships.
- The burden is on bloggers, not publicists, to disclose that they received a product for free. But how? Will bloggers be required to disclose on every post? Can a blog post a disclosure disclaimer on its About page and consider itself compliant?
- This article does not refer to a value minimum for disclosure. All free products require disclosure.
- What about products reviewed and then returned to the manufacturer?
- This new regulation says that bloggers must disclose to readers when they receive a free product or payment to review a product. What about when a marketer provides both free samples to a blogger and also advertises on that blog? Is it possible to separate editorial from advertising when just one person manages both efforts?
- What will happen to spamblogs, blogs which republish product descriptions in order to capture search engine results and earn money through retail affiliate programs? Spamblogs have no "person" running them, but they use the blog platform to earn a buck.
Many bloggers will lose big, especially the ones accepting payments. This regulation will put some blogs out of business, but given the seemingly endless supply of them, this seems like a small loss to society.
For the idea of blogging, this regulation is a big win. While many bloggers will lose income, this regulation represents a return--at least idealistically--to the spiritual roots of the blog.
Update March 25, 2010: the FTC's announcement and the FTC's actual guidelines (pdf).
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Why Fight the Internet Turf War?
One of my favorite news sources, nytimes.com, just ran a story about online identity: Keeping True Identity Becomes a Battle Online.
The article suggests that both individuals and companies are struggling to defend their intellectual property and branding on fast-growing, trendy internet sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Celebrity interviewees and corporations complain that site users are registering their personal or trademarked names as usernames. It seems that we're back to the cyber-squatting of the 1990s. Cyber-squatting got media attention back then, but the battles were largely resolved in intellectual property lawsuits. Courts decided that just because you registered "McDonalds.com" first didn't mean that you were its rightful owner. It turns out that 1 billion served trumps first-served.
So what's different today? Back then, domain names were treated like a public good and became de facto regulated by courts. Today, web services like Facebook and Twitter do not regard their services as a public good. Nor should they: these are privately-owned, for-profit companies. This is why Facebook allows any individual to register their username as a URL (i.e. facebook.com/davetrendler) but requires brands to have at least 1,000 friends before allowing a custom URL (i.e. facebook.com/cocacola).
According to the Times article, "To some, the rules of this new game are frustratingly hazy. Facebook has invited trademark holders and celebrities who find their names are taken to fill out a complaint form on the site. It says it will resolve disputes on a case-by-case basis.".
Riiight. A complaint form: that sounds promising. If you're familiar with Facebook's track record, you know that the company is scarily self-centered and fanatically ambitious.
So unless you've got the resources to devote a staff member to staking your claim in every new web service (Ning.com, Tumblr.com, Friendfeed.com), what's a person, brand, or person/brand to do?
The article suggests that both individuals and companies are struggling to defend their intellectual property and branding on fast-growing, trendy internet sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Celebrity interviewees and corporations complain that site users are registering their personal or trademarked names as usernames. It seems that we're back to the cyber-squatting of the 1990s. Cyber-squatting got media attention back then, but the battles were largely resolved in intellectual property lawsuits. Courts decided that just because you registered "McDonalds.com" first didn't mean that you were its rightful owner. It turns out that 1 billion served trumps first-served.
So what's different today? Back then, domain names were treated like a public good and became de facto regulated by courts. Today, web services like Facebook and Twitter do not regard their services as a public good. Nor should they: these are privately-owned, for-profit companies. This is why Facebook allows any individual to register their username as a URL (i.e. facebook.com/davetrendler) but requires brands to have at least 1,000 friends before allowing a custom URL (i.e. facebook.com/cocacola).
According to the Times article, "To some, the rules of this new game are frustratingly hazy. Facebook has invited trademark holders and celebrities who find their names are taken to fill out a complaint form on the site. It says it will resolve disputes on a case-by-case basis.".
Riiight. A complaint form: that sounds promising. If you're familiar with Facebook's track record, you know that the company is scarily self-centered and fanatically ambitious.
So unless you've got the resources to devote a staff member to staking your claim in every new web service (Ning.com, Tumblr.com, Friendfeed.com), what's a person, brand, or person/brand to do?
- Be your own cyber-squatter: suck it up and register your username on all the trendy new sites. Registration for most web services these days takes about 60 seconds.
- Hire a marketing firm to manage your online brand. If you're big enough to fear a cyber-squatter, you're big enough to hire someone to register usernames for you.
- Create a good website you control. Sure, Facebook, Wordpress, and Twitter can compensate for a sucky website, but a decent website is fairly inexpensive these days. If you aren't willing to mash up enough free web services to cobble together a functional, interactive website, drop a few hours or a few grand on a website that runs itself and doesn't suck.
- Some brands lose relevance on web services. The web is becoming increasingly personal and niche. Some consumers are happy to poke their Facebook friends with Starbucks Frappucinos, but most people sign up for web services for more personal reasons. Brands should parse content into pieces appropriate to the media. For example, instead of tweeting as "@espn", tweet as "@espnhockey". Niche-ify your brand, especially if you're a niche brand!
- Usernames are disposable. So you were late to the party and didn't snag "@pepsi". Who wants to follow Pepsi on Twitter? How is "@pepsi" useful on a micro-blogging site? Use web services to meet a specific goal, like "@trypepsifree" or "@pepsiandmentos". Build a campaign around the quirks of a web service, like Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice.
- Don't sweat over a flash in the pan. Web services are notoriously short-lived. Who spends time on MySpace anymore? Or Second Life? Private equity investors love to talk about "hockey stick growth", when user registrations suddenly skyrocket, but how many web services take a nosedive six months later? Brands are better served focusing on longer-term branding, like a decent website and a solid online advertising plan.
Monday, May 11, 2009
#FollowFriday and Hashtags Explained
A few seconds after some of us concluded that we'd got Twitter figured out, this crazy "#FollowFriday" thing shows up. First, let's explain what the heck the pound sign ("#") is doing on Twitter.
A pound symbol or number sign ("#") that is part of a Twitter update (or "tweet") is called a "hashtag". The reason it's called "hash" is because the number symbol, "#", is also known as a "hash mark". Learn more about it here on wikipedia.
The reason it's called a "tag" is because the "hashtag" is a label. A hashtag is used to label something.
Why label something on Twitter? Isn't Twitter a bunch of announcements about what we're having for lunch or when we're running out for more coffee? Well, yes, mostly.
But soon after Twitter launched (like, six months ago), someone realized that Twitter was sort of like Google News on speed. On Google News, the top news stories that people are searching for on Google float to the top. Google News reflects the most popular news.
There is no Twitter News yet, though "Twitter Trends" is a start. Twitter Trends appears off to the right of a Twitter user's home page, like this:
Instead, Twitter's search function, http://search.twitter.com, shows the most recent tweets about whatever topic you search for. So Google News reveals what's on the Jungian hive mind while Twitter reveals information on a topic that is just a few seconds or minutes old.
Okay, still we want to know: why label something on Twitter, especially if you can already search for a topic using search.twitter.com?
Two reasons:
1. Hashtags consistently identify specific news or ideas. Say your plane just crashed into the Hudson River and you want to become a celebrity survivor. You whip out your cellphone and tweet "holy moley! my plane just crashed into the hudson!". Once you're safely above water and standing on the wing, you might tweet "i'm standing on the wing of my airplane which is now floating down the hudson!". But no one who is not following you on Twitter would know how to follow your fascinating adventure.
Enter the hashtag! Let's say you're a hashtag-savvy tweeter. When your plane first splashes down, you would instead tweet "#hudsonplanecrash holy moley! my plane just crashed into the hudson!". Once on the wing, "#hudsonplanecrash i'm standing on the wing of my airplane which is now floating downriver!".
Now your tweets on this topic have a consistent way to identify them.*** Instead of forcing Search.Twitter.com users to search for a bunch of keywords to learn about your story, you've given them one very precise keyword, "#hudsonplanecrash".
Now things get interesting. Say a friend who is following your tweets sees your tweet about the crash. He tells CNN's breaking news Twitter feed about it like this: "@cnnbrk a plane just crashed into the hudson! #hudsonplanecrash". Alternatively, that friend could direct CNN to your Twitter home page or your @ address.
So this is one use of hashtags. But can't anyone create a specific keyword? Why does it need the # symbol in front of it?
2. Hashtags are subscribable. If you want to follow tweets about one specific topic, you can subscribe to them using hashtags.org. You simply enter the one-word topic or an existing hashtag and the hashtags.org search engine shows you the most recent tweets containing that hashtag. Click the "tag results" button on the left and the "subscribe" button on the right, and you are now subcribed via RSS to all tweets that use the hashtag you searched for. Super sweet! Now, instead of being subscribed to a billion Twitterers, which is like trying to watch 10 tv shows on 10 tvs all at once, you can subscribe to topics instead of people. Using hashtags and a feedreader, you can stay on top of the most bleeding edge news about any pre-hashtagged topic.
***But creating hashtags that show up on hashtags.org is not quite this easy. In other words, you can't just begin hashtagging about your plane in the Hudson. You think this is wikipedia or blogger or something?
Not just anyone can create a hashtag and not all hashtags show up on Hashtags.org. First you have to "register" with hashtags.org. To do this, you simply follow "@hashtags" on Twitter. @hashtags will then automatically follow you and begin tracking all the hashtags you create. And now those hashtags will become searchable and subscribable on hashtags.org. If you don't follow @hashtags, your hashtags are mere mortal keywords and findable only via the plain vanilla search.twitter.com. (Borrrring!)
I have a sneaking suspicion that most people using hashtags on Twitter have no idea what they're for. I suspect that most hashtaggers are simply doing what they see other Twitter users doing. I mean, @hashtags only has 83,500 followers, and I'd be surprised if all those 83,500 Twitterers were responsible for all the hashtags I've been seeing lately. There's an easy way to check. Next time you see a hashtag on Twitter, check to see if that Twitter user is following @hashtags. If not, you know that person is a big time poser.
Don't be a poser. Follow @hashtags here:
http://twitter.com/hashtags
Alright, so what's up with #FollowFriday?
#FollowFriday is a hashtag that I guess is maybe a little like a chainletter or an icebreaker game. Let's break one down:
"#FollowFriday @davetrendler @lancearmstrong @velopress"
Translation from Tweetese to English: "Hey, my loyal followers, it's Friday and I think you should begin following these interesting Twitter users: dave trendler, lance armstrong, and velopress!".
#FollowFriday is nothing more than a suggestion to your followers that they should consider following the people listed in the tweet.
So marketers like me instantly look for a way to turn this into more followers. Fortunately, Rafe at CNET has experimented with #FollowFriday and found the key to getting more followers. (Economics majors will recognize Rafe's tactic as rooted in game theory.)
If you like, you can follow me on Twitter in two places:
www.twitter.com/davetrendler (mostly personal stuff)
www.twitter.com/velopress (mostly work stuff)
But don't be dismayed if I don't follow you back using my davetrendler account. It's nothing personal, it's just because I think I understand how to use Twitter. More on this later.
Useful links:
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Long Tale: Should Publishers Buy into the Long Tail Theory?
In a mere 10 years, the Internet has shaken media industries to the core. Chris Anderson's long tail theory-that the rise of the searchable Web would unleash an enormous pent-up demand for obscure products-was so compelling that our industry sent his book onto the best-seller lists (wikipedia primer on the long tail theory). But a Harvard Business Review article, "Should You Invest in the Long Tail?" by Anita Elberse, began partially debunking Chris Anderson's theory of the long tail last year, replacing it instead with a less optimistic worldview: The Internet is actually entrenching pop culture more deeply, and Anderson's uprising of niche-loving nerds is a myth.Anderson's theory has inspired smaller publishers that lack blockbuster promotion budgets. The implications of his theory justified the existence of small-to-midsize publishers. If you publish niche content and make it easy to find, readers will come.
To test Anderson's theory, Elberse (an associate professor of business administration) investigated the music and movie markets, two industries that book publishing has watched closely in the post-Napster, BitTorrent era. Analyzing vast amounts of data made available by Rhapsody, Quickflix, and Nielsen VideoScan, she found the following:
- The long tail is composed of a rapidly growing number of products that rarely or never sell. The tail is longer and thinner, not longer and fatter.
- Best-sellers and blockbusters are more important than ever.
- Most consumers choose the most popular products and only occasionally choose obscure products.
- Those consumers who choose obscure products are the heaviest consumers of the category.
Pulling it all together, Elberse's findings appeal to our common sense: Casual readers read best-sellers; serious readers read best-sellers and less popular books. What's more, she reports that both casual and heavy consumers of a category rate obscure content as less enjoyable and popular content as more enjoyable.
The bottom line is that for each book lover who delights in the discovery of obscure, or classic, books, there are millions who have enjoyed best-sellers. It appears that we are social animals and there is no escaping the tyranny of the masses, even on the Internet. In fact, the Internet, contrary to Anderson's theory, is enabling the masses to reign with an ever heavier hand.
Yet some publishers have found ways to exploit both the best-seller and long tail models. At Nolo, located in Berkeley, California, the long tail begins with the printed book. Jackie Thompson, vice president of trade sales, explains that the book is then reformatted for a variety of uses, many of which fit nicely into the long tail.
"Once we have the information for, say, a business book," she says, "we take that same information and post some of it on Nolo.com for our free Nolopedia, which drives search engine optimization and web traffic. Then we submit the book to Amazon Search Inside and Google Print to drive more traffic to Nolo.com. We format the book as an e-book and an audio book and submit those versions for sale and for licensing. Sometimes we create software or online applications to sell online. We've even put a book together knowing it won't break even in the book trade, but that it will generate significantly more revenue in its various parsed formats on Nolo.com."
When asked the difference between investing in the long tail and in a great website, Thompson says, "For Nolo, investing in the long tail is investing in a great consumer website."
Mike Campbell, director of sales and marketing at Graphic Arts Center in Portland, Oregon, is receptive to Elberse's findings. "Books in the long tail are there for a reason," he says. "Instead of trying to sell books that consumers don't like, publishers need to sell more of what's selling well." His advice? "Build on the success of your hot sellers, and don't try to give equal treatment to long tail books or you'll just confuse your customers."
There has been some great irony to Elberse's findings. Chris Anderson has since posed another theory (Wired, July 2008). Mining massive amounts of data for correlations will replace the testing of hypotheses. Elberse did just that, disproving his long tail theory. Now that Anderson's book is safely off the best-seller lists, perhaps his own book sales will also prove him wrong.
Elberse's findings show us a world in which the best-seller is an increasingly important marketing tool. What does this mean for smaller publishers in 2009 and going forward?
For your general list:
- If you don't have one, invest in a low-cost website. There is no tail at all for publishers without web sales or sales through Amazon.
- Lead your niche. Indie publishers often can't compete at the blockbuster game. If you can't win at mass appeal, then be the best at what you do.
- Divert resources from books with limited appeal and focus on creating best-sellers.
For best-sellers:
- Promote best-selling books to the broadest possible market.
- Match the promotion to appeal: Books with mass appeal should get as much promotional support as possible (and vice versa).
- Lead with your best-sellers. Elberse cites the heavily discounted seventh Harry Potter book as an example.
For long-tail books:
- Spend as little as possible on products with little appeal or low sales. (POD, anyone?)
- Promote books with the narrowest appeal to only the heaviest users of that content.
- Make your long tail books more easily found by the heaviest consumer at the lowest cost possible. or example, line-list less popular books in your catalog, but keep them online.
- Leverage the popularity of your best-sellers by cross-promotion. Think like Amazon and use website cross-sells ("You might also be interested in . . .").
- Bundling best-sellers with less popular books ("Buy X, Get Y") can stimulate long tail sales. Revive old best-sellers in this way.
"Should You Invest in the Long Tail?" by Anita Elberse is available for free online viewing at the Harvard Business Review website. Chris Anderson responds to the article on his blog at longtail.com.
Dave Trendler is Marketing and Publicity Manager at VeloPress, an endurance sports and fitness publisher. To see Dave's previous EndSheet contributions, click here.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Why Amazon Is Beating Up Bookstores
The Seattle-based blog "Journey from Yuppie to Triathlete" offers a perfect example of how Amazon is beating bookstores:
"I was hoping to find Going Long by Joe Friel at Barnes and Noble but was disappointed...twice. I ended up purchasing it on Amazon along with The Triathlete's Training Bible also by Joe Friel."
"I was hoping to find Going Long by Joe Friel at Barnes and Noble but was disappointed...twice. I ended up purchasing it on Amazon along with The Triathlete's Training Bible also by Joe Friel."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
VeloGear Warehouse Sale This Weekend
VeloGear is having its warehouse sale this weekend, and it's running a little differently than usual.
VeloGear was bought a few months ago and the new owners are pretty desperate to get rid of old merchandise so they can reduce their inventory cost. Since the new owners bought VeloGear at a pretty steep discount, they are planning to pass that discount on to warehouse sale shoppers.
They've set up a "progressive sale":
- Friday 9am-4pm 50% off retail
- Saturday 9am-4pm 70% off retail
- Saturday 2-4pm everything you can stuff in a VeloGear shopping bag is just $20 (and those bags are bigger than a paper grocery bag)
VeloGear has my old office stuffed about 3 feet deep with cycling jerseys, shorts, tri shirts and shorts, t-shirts, posters, and all sorts of random household stuff.
Depending on what you put in there, that $20 bag of stuff could easily be worth $1000 at full retail. Imagine stuffing a bag full of $80-$120 jerseys for just $20!
Stop by. Tell your friends.
VeloGear Progressive-Discount Warehouse Sale
1830 55th St.
Boulder, CO 80301
From Denver:
Go to Boulder on 36
Take Foothills north
Turn right on Arapahoe
Turn left on 55th
Take the 3rd or 4th right (look for signs)
Wanted: Marketing Manager/Martial Artist
Paladin Press is hiring for a "hands-on Marketing Manager for fast-paced sales/marketing department." This merits a closer inspection... A quick review of Paladin's product line reveals:
What do you think this interview would be like? I'm picturing Dwight Shrute but perhaps more competent.
Naturally, Paladin Press is based just up the street in Gunbarrel.
What do you think this interview would be like? I'm picturing Dwight Shrute but perhaps more competent.
Naturally, Paladin Press is based just up the street in Gunbarrel.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Outdoor Retailer Will Not Use the Energy Solutions Arena Again in 2009
Kenji Haroutunian, the Show Director for the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow, commented on a prior and incorrect version of this blog post. Kenji says that OR will not use the Energy Solutions Arena for the 2009 Outdoor Retailer show or any future show. I misread an email from an OR account rep.
2009 exhibitors should be pleased that Kenji and the OR staff have been responsive to feedback about Outdoor Retailer. Placing all exhibitors in the same building is an improvement over last year's show, both for exhibitors and retailers, and shows that OR runs its show in good faith and with respect for all attendees.
2009 exhibitors should be pleased that Kenji and the OR staff have been responsive to feedback about Outdoor Retailer. Placing all exhibitors in the same building is an improvement over last year's show, both for exhibitors and retailers, and shows that OR runs its show in good faith and with respect for all attendees.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Publishing's "Last-Man-Standing" Strategy
The New York Times reported on itself earlier this month. The publicly-owned company's CEO laid out plans to weather the recession during a conference call:
"As other newspapers cut back on international and national coverage, or cease operations, we believe there will be opportunities for The Times to fill that void,” she said, for both readers and advertisers."
Janet Robinson couldn't be more right. The same scenario is playing out over several two-paper regional metro areas. In Denver, for example, The Denver Post just outlasted The Rocky Mountain News, which today announced that it will publish its last edition tomorrow.
When times are tough, it pays to be bigger, responsibly financed, and better branded. In fact, tough times offer the opportunity to improve all three conditions.
Reality check: Are your expenses in line with your revenues? Are there business functions or products that are not justifying their level of resources? A down economy offers companies a great excuse to bring expenses back into line. Or, as TechCrunch puts it, to preemptively cut costs or eliminate deadweight. Creative destruction destroys many companies, but a little internal destruction can bring your company back down to fighting weight. When the economy comes back, you're already in great shape.
Advertise now! During a recession is the best time to advertise. Ad-supported media like magazines and newspapers are economic bellwethers; ad sales drop soon after retail sales drop. Well financed companies must take advantage of desperate publishers and ad reps to get better placement, better rates, and more runs. Particularly useful is the long-term ad buy. If you signal that you are looking to make a six-month or yearlong advertising commitment, an ad rep will be much more willing to offer a below-rate-card discount. Assuming your competition doesn't undertake the same strategy, your product will be the only one advertising. You can take market share during the recession and invest in your brand while waiting for the economy to rebound. If you are fortunate enough that the economy rebounds before the end of your ad contract, so much the better.
Smell blood? Price like a predator. Is your competition burdened with debt? Do you see any competitors who are relatively weak? A down economy is the best time to put the hurt on your competition. Offer promotional pricing or bundle products in creative ways. Do anything you can to deny revenue to your competitors. Burn cash reserves, knowing that your competitors don't have them.
Any responsibly financed company can undertake the New York Times last-man-standing strategy. Depending on your market, you might be the only one left to serve customers in 2010.
"As other newspapers cut back on international and national coverage, or cease operations, we believe there will be opportunities for The Times to fill that void,” she said, for both readers and advertisers."
Janet Robinson couldn't be more right. The same scenario is playing out over several two-paper regional metro areas. In Denver, for example, The Denver Post just outlasted The Rocky Mountain News, which today announced that it will publish its last edition tomorrow.
When times are tough, it pays to be bigger, responsibly financed, and better branded. In fact, tough times offer the opportunity to improve all three conditions.
Reality check: Are your expenses in line with your revenues? Are there business functions or products that are not justifying their level of resources? A down economy offers companies a great excuse to bring expenses back into line. Or, as TechCrunch puts it, to preemptively cut costs or eliminate deadweight. Creative destruction destroys many companies, but a little internal destruction can bring your company back down to fighting weight. When the economy comes back, you're already in great shape.
Advertise now! During a recession is the best time to advertise. Ad-supported media like magazines and newspapers are economic bellwethers; ad sales drop soon after retail sales drop. Well financed companies must take advantage of desperate publishers and ad reps to get better placement, better rates, and more runs. Particularly useful is the long-term ad buy. If you signal that you are looking to make a six-month or yearlong advertising commitment, an ad rep will be much more willing to offer a below-rate-card discount. Assuming your competition doesn't undertake the same strategy, your product will be the only one advertising. You can take market share during the recession and invest in your brand while waiting for the economy to rebound. If you are fortunate enough that the economy rebounds before the end of your ad contract, so much the better.
Smell blood? Price like a predator. Is your competition burdened with debt? Do you see any competitors who are relatively weak? A down economy is the best time to put the hurt on your competition. Offer promotional pricing or bundle products in creative ways. Do anything you can to deny revenue to your competitors. Burn cash reserves, knowing that your competitors don't have them.
Any responsibly financed company can undertake the New York Times last-man-standing strategy. Depending on your market, you might be the only one left to serve customers in 2010.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ForeWord Magazine Begs for Your Advertising Dollars
I got an unconventional email pitch from an ad rep yesterday: a "shame on you". It was a form letter which, in some ways, makes it even more offensive. Taken alone, the email is galling. Here's an excerpt from the 600-word email (the boldface is my addition):
"I pay the (below industry standard) salaries to editors, art/design, reviewers, salespersons and web tech personnel out of advertising revenue. I pay the printer, for paper, for postage and shipping to chain bookstores out of advertising revenues. I pay our rent, office supply, computer, internet and utility bills out of advertising revenues. I pay for trade show participation at BEA, ALA and some regionals out of our advertising revenues. I pay for ten years worth of your reviews archived at our website out of advertising revenues. As you work hard at putting out beautiful books for the marketplace, we try just as hard putting out a beautiful magazine..."
"Quite frankly, ForeWord Magazine has never really been supported fully by the independent press community we most prominently feature in our review pages. As I look through issues over the last ten years, I feel frustrated by the continued coverage of so many presses with nary a dollar of ad support in our ten year history. You can quickly check to see the amount of coverage your press has received by doing a search at our website. In the past, I could overlook this unfairness because we had ample advertising from small presses who were so thrilled to have an affordable means to reach such a valuable audience. Those days seem to have gone. And as entrepreneurs, (perhaps like you are/once were) we don't have a corporate parent to make sure we stay flush."
"I am actively engaged in exploring other options for our efforts. As a business person, I'm sure you would agree that it does not make sense to support a community of great book publishers when they appear to have no interest in supporting us. However, the possibility remains that I am overlooking some significant reason that is preventing you from supporting us. If we can improve our offering and it would mean your help in keeping us in print, I hope you will feel free to share. You grow thick skin in this business."
I guess the takeaway messages here are:
1. ForeWord is a business that has expenses.
2. ForeWord is sick of you moochers.
3. ForeWord deserves your money.
4. ForeWord is really kind of pissed at you for not giving it your money.
5. ForeWord is probably going to stop supporting small publishers.
6. Hey, maybe you have a good reason for not giving us your money?
Like, say, the worst recession in decades? Or Borders's near bankruptcy and stock adjustments? Or perhaps the loss of three months of revenue from the AMS/PGW bankrupcty two years ago?
Considering that I have given a few thousand dollars to ForeWord over the past few years, I thought the tone of this email was inconsiderate. I prefer the approach of my old ad rep, Pete Chamliss, who often sent chummy reminders to support our books with advertising in one of the most affordable of the widely-read publishing magazines.
This ad rep's approach is a little more entitled. Maybe that's why I've barely advertised with ForeWord since Pete got canned?
"I pay the (below industry standard) salaries to editors, art/design, reviewers, salespersons and web tech personnel out of advertising revenue. I pay the printer, for paper, for postage and shipping to chain bookstores out of advertising revenues. I pay our rent, office supply, computer, internet and utility bills out of advertising revenues. I pay for trade show participation at BEA, ALA and some regionals out of our advertising revenues. I pay for ten years worth of your reviews archived at our website out of advertising revenues. As you work hard at putting out beautiful books for the marketplace, we try just as hard putting out a beautiful magazine..."
"Quite frankly, ForeWord Magazine has never really been supported fully by the independent press community we most prominently feature in our review pages. As I look through issues over the last ten years, I feel frustrated by the continued coverage of so many presses with nary a dollar of ad support in our ten year history. You can quickly check to see the amount of coverage your press has received by doing a search at our website. In the past, I could overlook this unfairness because we had ample advertising from small presses who were so thrilled to have an affordable means to reach such a valuable audience. Those days seem to have gone. And as entrepreneurs, (perhaps like you are/once were) we don't have a corporate parent to make sure we stay flush."
"I am actively engaged in exploring other options for our efforts. As a business person, I'm sure you would agree that it does not make sense to support a community of great book publishers when they appear to have no interest in supporting us. However, the possibility remains that I am overlooking some significant reason that is preventing you from supporting us. If we can improve our offering and it would mean your help in keeping us in print, I hope you will feel free to share. You grow thick skin in this business."
I guess the takeaway messages here are:
1. ForeWord is a business that has expenses.
2. ForeWord is sick of you moochers.
3. ForeWord deserves your money.
4. ForeWord is really kind of pissed at you for not giving it your money.
5. ForeWord is probably going to stop supporting small publishers.
6. Hey, maybe you have a good reason for not giving us your money?
Like, say, the worst recession in decades? Or Borders's near bankruptcy and stock adjustments? Or perhaps the loss of three months of revenue from the AMS/PGW bankrupcty two years ago?
Considering that I have given a few thousand dollars to ForeWord over the past few years, I thought the tone of this email was inconsiderate. I prefer the approach of my old ad rep, Pete Chamliss, who often sent chummy reminders to support our books with advertising in one of the most affordable of the widely-read publishing magazines.
This ad rep's approach is a little more entitled. Maybe that's why I've barely advertised with ForeWord since Pete got canned?
Friday, January 9, 2009
How to Schwag
An author of mine emailed me recently to ask if there was time and budget available to prepare some schwag to promote his book at an upcoming event. His question was a perfectly reasonable one to ask, and I certainly appreciate his sensitivity to both lead time and budget. Some of his schwag suggestions, however, were a little off target:
The idea behind schwag is simple: you give something to potential customers in exchange for a moment of their attention. During that moment, good schwag will explain the benefit of your product and this will hopefully compel the customer to buy it (a product focus). Alternatively, you can simply try to buy their love and loyalty (a company focus, aka "branding").
Marketers must match the schwag to both to their product and their customer. If the product is low volume and low margin (as it is for a small book publisher), the marketer must keep schwag for end consumers as cheap as possible. In this market, the marketer is likely better suited to buy the cheapest schwag there is: advertising. It's cheap schwag because it offers nothing to the end consumer, yet it reaches vast numbers of them. The marketer can consider more costly schwag for the B2B channel because those buyers (like a bookstore chain buyer) or influencers (like a triathlon coach) represent underlying sales.
Here's a table showing how marketers for various margin and volume markets should schwag:
It's true that schwag often makes a stronger impression than advertising. Customers of any kind are more likely to remember the personal connection made when someone gives them something for free, especially if that schwag is personally meaningful to them. E.g. A t-shirt commemorating an experience (like "goodminton") will reinforce the positive memory. A keychain is just a keychain, a pen merely a pen.
Because schwag can make such a strong impression, marketers should reserve their best schwag for branding a high margin, low volume product. The high margin makes the schwag affordable, while the low sales volume makes it a more potent tool to capture market share.
Companies with low promo budgets should spend on cheap schwag or advertising and take a pass on creating a few hundred t-shirts. While advertising makes less of an impression on potential customers, it reaches thousands instead of hundreds. And an ad with the right message in the right place at the right time goes a long way.
Ultimately, I was able to sell my author on a new idea that will integrate inexpensive schwag and advertising on a social network. My thought is that the schwag and the advertising will reinforce each other and the social network will spread the message that's contained in both. More on this later!
- "I'd LOVE black t-shirts with the cover art."
- "Or cycling caps with text from the cover."
- "Or headbands."
The idea behind schwag is simple: you give something to potential customers in exchange for a moment of their attention. During that moment, good schwag will explain the benefit of your product and this will hopefully compel the customer to buy it (a product focus). Alternatively, you can simply try to buy their love and loyalty (a company focus, aka "branding").
Marketers must match the schwag to both to their product and their customer. If the product is low volume and low margin (as it is for a small book publisher), the marketer must keep schwag for end consumers as cheap as possible. In this market, the marketer is likely better suited to buy the cheapest schwag there is: advertising. It's cheap schwag because it offers nothing to the end consumer, yet it reaches vast numbers of them. The marketer can consider more costly schwag for the B2B channel because those buyers (like a bookstore chain buyer) or influencers (like a triathlon coach) represent underlying sales.
Here's a table showing how marketers for various margin and volume markets should schwag:
It's true that schwag often makes a stronger impression than advertising. Customers of any kind are more likely to remember the personal connection made when someone gives them something for free, especially if that schwag is personally meaningful to them. E.g. A t-shirt commemorating an experience (like "goodminton") will reinforce the positive memory. A keychain is just a keychain, a pen merely a pen.
Because schwag can make such a strong impression, marketers should reserve their best schwag for branding a high margin, low volume product. The high margin makes the schwag affordable, while the low sales volume makes it a more potent tool to capture market share.
Companies with low promo budgets should spend on cheap schwag or advertising and take a pass on creating a few hundred t-shirts. While advertising makes less of an impression on potential customers, it reaches thousands instead of hundreds. And an ad with the right message in the right place at the right time goes a long way.
Ultimately, I was able to sell my author on a new idea that will integrate inexpensive schwag and advertising on a social network. My thought is that the schwag and the advertising will reinforce each other and the social network will spread the message that's contained in both. More on this later!
Monday, December 22, 2008
How to Build a PR/Media List (with Common Courtesy and Lots of Reading)
There are enough rude, annoying publicists in the marketing field to inspire the creation of the Bad Pitch Blog, which chronicles the field's ugly stories and worst practices. I'm not a formally trained publicist, but I've managed to use common courtesy to build my company's media list from 20 contacts to over 2,000 in about three years. Maybe not being formally trained isn't such a bad thing.
I was asked to provide a list of tips on building a media list through a contact at Peter Shankman's HARO and in the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share.
1. Learn who is interested in what. There are publications serving every interest. Spend a few months getting to know the space, the publications, and the writers. Read the masthead. Read the bylines.
2. Build trust by seeming harmless and offering value. First, seem harmless. It's best if you can get a trusted person to introduce you to your contact. Do nothing to cause a person to believe that, if they even so much as twitch at your bait, you will bombard them with sales-pitchy phone calls or emails. Do this by sending a brief email, 3-5 sentences max. Give a brief intro, and then add value: a brief summary of the benefits of your product to the publication's readers and an offer to send a sample or explain more if the contact is interested. If they don't reply, they probably aren't interested in that product; don't send it. Read their publication so you know what will interest them later.
3. Make a list and track what interests your contacts. Segregate your list into interests and make sure to only send communications appropriate to the publication. Don't stretch it: sending a product that's a little off target almost never works and it risks alienating your current or future relationship with your contact. Put yourself in their shoes, and if the pitch is a reach, shelve it. Track what they respond to, what you send them, and how they react. In their eyes, you'll become more on-target and therefore more trustworthy.
4. Become a journalist. Do as much of the work for the publication as you can. Pitch briefly, but be prepared to send materials that are ready to print within 24-48 hours after the contact replies. If you can consistently offer good, effortless content quickly, the publication will begin to think of you as a resource, as a regular contributor and not a PR person.
5. Respond quickly. Many journalists are under tight deadlines and quick, comprehensive responses will often get the mention. Being prepared makes this responsiveness easier.
6. Control the message by controlling the outlet. Not all publicity is good, but most of it can be. Carefully pick and choose which media outlets to pitch. Vet each media outlet, especially websites and blogs. Figure out how many readers you need to see a review of your product in order for it to be worth your time developing a relationship with that media outlet. Use services like Google Trends for Websites to check on traffic claims for websites and Technorati for blogs.
7. Pitch lightly. Once you have built trust with a journalist, you don't need to hammer them over the head with a salesy pitch. Give them the hook of the story and ask if they'd like to hear more. If they trust you, they will ask for more detail.
8. Prepare your sources. Journalists need sources they can quote. Make sure your sources are familiar with the publication and the context of a story before they are interviewed. Without rehearsing them, let them know the direction the story is going so they can help the journalist get the soundbites they need.
9. Don't call. Most of the wordsmiths I know would prefer to read and write than talk. Talking is for once-a-year tradeshows. In nearly four years of building a publicity program, maybe half our publicity hits came from just two or three emails: a brief pitch or press release and a brief follow up. Email lets journalists read, archive, delete, or respond on their own schedule, without having to tolerate an awkward phone pitch. Do you appreciate sales calls? Return the favor and keep the pressure off people whose trust you want to earn and keep (or else they'll just let you go to voicemail, like this dreadful publicist).
I was asked to provide a list of tips on building a media list through a contact at Peter Shankman's HARO and in the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share.
1. Learn who is interested in what. There are publications serving every interest. Spend a few months getting to know the space, the publications, and the writers. Read the masthead. Read the bylines.
2. Build trust by seeming harmless and offering value. First, seem harmless. It's best if you can get a trusted person to introduce you to your contact. Do nothing to cause a person to believe that, if they even so much as twitch at your bait, you will bombard them with sales-pitchy phone calls or emails. Do this by sending a brief email, 3-5 sentences max. Give a brief intro, and then add value: a brief summary of the benefits of your product to the publication's readers and an offer to send a sample or explain more if the contact is interested. If they don't reply, they probably aren't interested in that product; don't send it. Read their publication so you know what will interest them later.
3. Make a list and track what interests your contacts. Segregate your list into interests and make sure to only send communications appropriate to the publication. Don't stretch it: sending a product that's a little off target almost never works and it risks alienating your current or future relationship with your contact. Put yourself in their shoes, and if the pitch is a reach, shelve it. Track what they respond to, what you send them, and how they react. In their eyes, you'll become more on-target and therefore more trustworthy.
4. Become a journalist. Do as much of the work for the publication as you can. Pitch briefly, but be prepared to send materials that are ready to print within 24-48 hours after the contact replies. If you can consistently offer good, effortless content quickly, the publication will begin to think of you as a resource, as a regular contributor and not a PR person.
5. Respond quickly. Many journalists are under tight deadlines and quick, comprehensive responses will often get the mention. Being prepared makes this responsiveness easier.
6. Control the message by controlling the outlet. Not all publicity is good, but most of it can be. Carefully pick and choose which media outlets to pitch. Vet each media outlet, especially websites and blogs. Figure out how many readers you need to see a review of your product in order for it to be worth your time developing a relationship with that media outlet. Use services like Google Trends for Websites to check on traffic claims for websites and Technorati for blogs.
7. Pitch lightly. Once you have built trust with a journalist, you don't need to hammer them over the head with a salesy pitch. Give them the hook of the story and ask if they'd like to hear more. If they trust you, they will ask for more detail.
8. Prepare your sources. Journalists need sources they can quote. Make sure your sources are familiar with the publication and the context of a story before they are interviewed. Without rehearsing them, let them know the direction the story is going so they can help the journalist get the soundbites they need.
9. Don't call. Most of the wordsmiths I know would prefer to read and write than talk. Talking is for once-a-year tradeshows. In nearly four years of building a publicity program, maybe half our publicity hits came from just two or three emails: a brief pitch or press release and a brief follow up. Email lets journalists read, archive, delete, or respond on their own schedule, without having to tolerate an awkward phone pitch. Do you appreciate sales calls? Return the favor and keep the pressure off people whose trust you want to earn and keep (or else they'll just let you go to voicemail, like this dreadful publicist).
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Be a Renaissance Person, Not an Expert
Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike
By JANET RAE-DUPREE
Published: December 30, 2007
"It's a pickle of a paradox: As our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off. Why? Because the walls of the proverbial box in which we think are thickening along with our experience."
The "curse of knowledge: In other words, it becomes nearly impossible to look beyond what you know and think outside the box you’ve built around yourself."
"Look for people with renaissance-thinker tendencies, who’ve done work in a related area but not in your specific field."
By JANET RAE-DUPREE
Published: December 30, 2007
"It's a pickle of a paradox: As our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off. Why? Because the walls of the proverbial box in which we think are thickening along with our experience."
The "curse of knowledge: In other words, it becomes nearly impossible to look beyond what you know and think outside the box you’ve built around yourself."
"Look for people with renaissance-thinker tendencies, who’ve done work in a related area but not in your specific field."
Give Readers What They Want
The New York Times' guest columnist Tim Egan provides weekend readers with a little proselytizing: people who routinely massacre the spoken word shouldn't write books.
I've got a few problems with opining that Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin shouldn't write a book because they speak poorly. First, speaking and writing are different. Maybe they can write. They certainly are not writing books because they think themselves capable of writing good books. They don't think they can write. Don't be ridiculous. They think they can get a big advance. (They won't write a page of those books anyway.)
Who is Egan to take someone to task for writing a book? Writing should be encouraged, at least morally. Writers are more valuable than readers. Writers read more, read better, and create better reading material than readers do.
What Egan is actually saying is that Joe's and Sarah's stories aren't worth reading. As his column is a guest op-ed, he's entitled to his soapbox.
Also too Egan should instead criticize publishers who agree to bring a Joe the Plumber book to market. Unless, of course, the publisher is correct in believing that people actually want to read that book. And these are my main points: the publishing industry should only judge a book by its sales and should focus on giving readers what they want. The publishing industry pumps out between 170K-205K books each year and most of those are never reprinted because readers don't want to read that many books...
...and because many of those books are not interesting to readers. The industry thinks about the product instead of the customer. Rather than producing what the customer wants, the industry produces the best possible version of the idea that book represents. In other words, the industry is focused on the romantic idea of "the book" rather than on the wants and needs of the customer. In a way, performance arts are similar. Orchestras and operas desire to achieve the highest quality of their art, yet very few people truly enjoy classical music.
And in fiction, no one can predict what will sell. Unless they are fortunate enough to have proven authors, fiction publishers are almost literally guessing at new books. The book's quality is not necessarily relevant (e.g. the Twilight series). To compensate, fiction publishers must toss a lot of product at the market to see what sells. Once something sells, they scramble back to press.
So who cares if Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin write books? The real story is that someone might actually want to read them. Let's focus our attention on those people, the readers, because they are the ones who decide what books to read, not Joe, not Sarah, and not publishers.
I've got a few problems with opining that Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin shouldn't write a book because they speak poorly. First, speaking and writing are different. Maybe they can write. They certainly are not writing books because they think themselves capable of writing good books. They don't think they can write. Don't be ridiculous. They think they can get a big advance. (They won't write a page of those books anyway.)
Who is Egan to take someone to task for writing a book? Writing should be encouraged, at least morally. Writers are more valuable than readers. Writers read more, read better, and create better reading material than readers do.
What Egan is actually saying is that Joe's and Sarah's stories aren't worth reading. As his column is a guest op-ed, he's entitled to his soapbox.
Also too Egan should instead criticize publishers who agree to bring a Joe the Plumber book to market. Unless, of course, the publisher is correct in believing that people actually want to read that book. And these are my main points: the publishing industry should only judge a book by its sales and should focus on giving readers what they want. The publishing industry pumps out between 170K-205K books each year and most of those are never reprinted because readers don't want to read that many books...
...and because many of those books are not interesting to readers. The industry thinks about the product instead of the customer. Rather than producing what the customer wants, the industry produces the best possible version of the idea that book represents. In other words, the industry is focused on the romantic idea of "the book" rather than on the wants and needs of the customer. In a way, performance arts are similar. Orchestras and operas desire to achieve the highest quality of their art, yet very few people truly enjoy classical music.
And in fiction, no one can predict what will sell. Unless they are fortunate enough to have proven authors, fiction publishers are almost literally guessing at new books. The book's quality is not necessarily relevant (e.g. the Twilight series). To compensate, fiction publishers must toss a lot of product at the market to see what sells. Once something sells, they scramble back to press.
So who cares if Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin write books? The real story is that someone might actually want to read them. Let's focus our attention on those people, the readers, because they are the ones who decide what books to read, not Joe, not Sarah, and not publishers.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Atlantic Records Portends the Future of the Ebook?
From the old gray lady:
"Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones."
Also noted in the article is that, overall, less music is being sold. Chris Anderson is right, everything that becomes digital becomes free, legitimately or not.
"As a result, the hope that digital revenue will eventually compensate for declining sales of CDs — and usher in overall growth — have largely been dashed." This means that Chris Anderson is also wrong: the web is not spurring sales by making obscure content more findable.
I like Jeff Zucker's quote, the media industry is "trading analog dollars for digital pennies".
To counteract the effect of low pricing on digital products, the music industry is focusing on the "experience" of music: concerts, etc. Where mp3s distance the consumer as far as possible from the musician, concerts bring them as close as the stagehands allow.
Perhaps publishing can learn from this concept of proximity as added-value. If consumers embrace the digital book, maybe the author tour will become more critical.
There's another lesson, too. Atlantic Records is replacing CD sales with "small bits of revenue from many sources: Atlantic Records’ digital sales include ring tones, ringbacks, satellite radio, iTunes sales and subscription services.". Maybe Nolo is ahead of the curve with its repurposing of non-fiction books into ebooks, books on tape/podcasts, and software.
"Atlantic, a unit of Warner Music Group, says it has reached a milestone that no other major record label has hit: more than half of its music sales in the United States are now from digital products, like downloads on iTunes and ring tones for cellphones."
Also noted in the article is that, overall, less music is being sold. Chris Anderson is right, everything that becomes digital becomes free, legitimately or not.
"As a result, the hope that digital revenue will eventually compensate for declining sales of CDs — and usher in overall growth — have largely been dashed." This means that Chris Anderson is also wrong: the web is not spurring sales by making obscure content more findable.
I like Jeff Zucker's quote, the media industry is "trading analog dollars for digital pennies".
To counteract the effect of low pricing on digital products, the music industry is focusing on the "experience" of music: concerts, etc. Where mp3s distance the consumer as far as possible from the musician, concerts bring them as close as the stagehands allow.
Perhaps publishing can learn from this concept of proximity as added-value. If consumers embrace the digital book, maybe the author tour will become more critical.
There's another lesson, too. Atlantic Records is replacing CD sales with "small bits of revenue from many sources: Atlantic Records’ digital sales include ring tones, ringbacks, satellite radio, iTunes sales and subscription services.". Maybe Nolo is ahead of the curve with its repurposing of non-fiction books into ebooks, books on tape/podcasts, and software.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)