Is this you? “I don't have time for book marketing.” Or is this you? “I don't have time to figure out who my target reader is.” If finding time for book marketing is a struggle or if it eats into your precious writing time, then, I hear you.
In this post, I'm going to tell you the ONE thing you can do to make your book marketing more time-efficient and cost-effective. Because you already know that marketing isn't optional, right?
So, what is this magical one thing you need to do to make your book marketing more time-efficient and cost-effective? Well, it's actually pretty simple and it's also free. This isn't one of those, “Give me 100 bucks and I will tell you my secret,” kind of gimmicks.
Of course, it's also something that I've talked about many times before, and it is know your target reader. But why?
Why and how will knowing your target reader make your book marketing more time-efficient and cost-effective?
I am so glad you asked because I have five examples for you. Let's get going.
#1 You don't have to be everywhere
One of the biggest mistakes I see authors make is trying to do too much. It's also what makes them feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and fed up with marketing. There are so many things you could be doing to market a book, there are lots and lots of different tactics. But you only need one strategy and then you can select the tactics that will work best for you.
The strategy that you need is to know who your target reader is. Then you only need to find one effective way of getting in front of that ideal person. From there you can work to move them to your mailing list and convert them into a book buyer.
You don't have to be on every single social media platform. You don't have to be blogging, and podcasting, and active on YouTube.
Nor do you have to be guest posting, and doing podcast interviews, and hiring a PR firm. You don't have to be using paid ads and promos.
And you don't have to jump on every shiny new thing that comes up, whether that's TikTok or Clubhouse.
All the above, everything that you could be doing to market your book, is valid and may work for different authors. But you don't have to do ALL the things.
#2 Your target reader will help you
When you know who your target readers are and start to build a loyal fanbase, they will support your book marketing efforts. Your readers will leave reviews of your books. They will share about your books on social media.
Social media is not brilliant for selling books, but there's something powerful about other people sharing about your book. This is word-of-mouth marketing, which is the most effective form of marketing there is. When someone else talks about your book on social media, to their friends and family, that's huge social proof. It is far more effective than you posting about your book on your own social channels.
So, when you know who your target readers are, you can engage them, you can nurture them to become loyal fans of your work and everything that you do. They are going to support you and help do marketing for you.
#3 You know what content to create
When you know who your target readership is, you know what they want from you and what kind of content is going to appeal to them. That can make creating content much quicker and easier.
There's not much worse than sitting down, thinking, “I need to write my weekly blog,” and having no idea what to write. It's something that becomes very time-consuming, very exhausting, and it is very quick for you to give up on it because there's no enjoyment in it.
It can be a painful experience wondering what to write about every week or every month, whether that's for your blog, your emails or social media.
But when you know who your readers are, and you're in conversation with those readers, then it becomes much easier to know what to write about. You will know what they will enjoy hearing about from you, and they may even give you ideas. They may reply to your emails and tell you what they want. They may share with you on social media about what they want. And so, being able to create content is a more pleasurable experience and it's a quicker, easier experience as well.
#4 Your paid advertising will work better for you
This is about making things more cost-effective, as well as time-efficient.
When you know what kind of ads will appeal to your target reader, then it will be quicker to create them. And they're also going to be better optimized and better targeted. So the return on investment is going to be much higher.
Your ads will be more likely to reach the right people and appeal to those people when they see them. That means they'll be more likely to click and either join your mailing list or buy your book, whatever it is that you're advertising.
Your advertising will become more cost-effective when you know your target readers. And it will free you up to spend time and money on other things.
When you can optimize your advertising, when you know who your ideal reader is, you can target the audience that sees your ads. That will lead to more book sales and when you scale up your ad spend, you can start selling more books much faster.
It will be well worth your time investment figuring out your target reader so you can improve your paid advertising.
#5 Your book listings will convert better
Finally, when you know who your target reader is, you can improve your Amazon listing to make sure it appeals to that reader. And that means that when they land on your book page, they are more likely to click the ‘buy' button.
This is time-efficient because it means you can spend less time on all the other marketing stuff. If your listing is well-optimized, then you will need to do less marketing in general, because more people are going to be landing on your listing. This could be a result of your targeted categories and keywords. They when your description speaks to them, the price point is right, your cover image is right, they're more likely to hit the ‘buy' button. Then when they read your book, love your book, review your book, it will lead to more sales in the long run.
Knowing your target reader means you can improve your Amazon listing. This will make your marketing, on the whole, more time-efficient and cost-effective.
Join the Target Readers Academy waitlist
So, those are my five examples of how knowing your target reader can make your book marketing more time-efficient and cost-effective.
Need some help identifying your target reader? Join the waitlist for Target Readers Academy now!
