Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Important Things to Remember When Marketing

Surfing the wild FB waves as I am wont to do first thing in the morning, I run across so many things that make me cringe... and I'm not just talking the news :ba dump bump:.  So I decided to make a little checklist of things that are important to remember when marketing...

1)  Proofread everything.  You do not want to post a misspelling or a typo in your marketing materials.  Seriously.  It just makes you look bad.  Because you write stuff FOR A LIVING.  Duh.  (A typo or whatever might be more forgivable in a blog post or a status update, but not that much more.)

2)  Check that your book, which sells for 99c, is not shown as selling for $99.  Decimals are important.  No one is going to click your link to see if you missed one.  They'll just laugh at your hubris and move on.

3)  Make sure that when you post a link to your book, it's a link to YOUR BOOK.  Not a link to the search you did to find your book.  Not a link to a page where, if someone scrolls down, they'll find your book.  A direct link. 

3a)  For godsakes, don't use a tiny URL thingie.  Just post the damn link.  Personally, I don't click links unless I can see where they go to.  I've been burned before.  (That which has been seen cannot be unseen.  Argh.)  And make the link clickable, if at all possible.

4)  If English is not your first language, get someone who is an English speaker to proofread your marketing materials.  If you make it hard for English speakers to read your marketing materials, it doesn't bode well for us to be able to enjoy your book.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that smacked me in the face this morning.  Got any to add?

2 comments:

  1. Uhm...well...yeah. Though I admit I use shortlinks, bitly mostly but I do try to "personalize" the links. And if not, bitly shortens Amazon links with the letters amzn in the link. I use shortlinks so I can see where the clicks are coming from. Helps me figure out where and when to target, when and if I target. LOL

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  2. I second 3a. I NEVER click on tiny URLs.

    My addition: Triple check your back blurb for typos. I saw 'chosse' on a Trad Pub novel recently. Soooo dumb.

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