Do You Make These Online Marketing Mistakes?

POSTED ON Jun 4, 2014

Jason Kong

Written by Jason Kong

Home > Blog > Marketing, Social Media > Do You Make These Online Marketing Mistakes?


By Jason Kong

Imagine you’re making an appearance at a bookstore to promote your latest novel.

Someone approaches you to chat. This person gushes that she’s read all your books and is excited to read the latest one. She holds the newly purchased book in her hands, hoping that you’ll sign it.

Immediately you launch into an elevator pitch, explaining the genre you write in and a quick summary of your storytelling style. You conclude with the various places your books can be purchased, and that you hope she’ll give your books a try.

Clearly, a longtime fan doesn’t need an introduction to how you write and the stories you’ve written. Having the right person pay attention does little good if the wrong message is shared.

Maybe you don’t make this kind of mistake when you’re face-to-face. Can you say that’s also true when you communicate over the internet?

The downside of using online media

We all know about the promise.

A platform in cyberspace meant you had a stage to project your voice. Your digital words could travel far and wide, attracting and corralling those who care about what you do. With one click, you could reach just about everyone.

The challenge is that “everyone” is made up of a bunch of someones, each with a different worldview and background. If you broadcast the same message across the board, you’re treating everyone the same even though they’re not. Flawed communication can potentially alienate the very people you’re trying to attract.

Fortunately, the same online tools perpetuating the problem can be also used to alleviate it. Here are some ideas how:

  1. Establish one audience per communication channel

  2. Let’s say you were intrigued by the book I wrote, and wanted to hear more about it.

    And let’s say I obliged, but in-between I also chatted about my dog, writing tips, and the publishing industry. Basically, the kind of snippets you see in a typical Twitter stream.

    If you’re interested in me as a person and the various facets of my life, this is an winning arrangement. If you just wanted my work-related stuff? Not so much.

    This is the dilemma faced by many self-publishers using online media. You have a lot to say, but you own very few communication outlets to say it. By mixing unrelated interests into a single channel, you risk diluting the attention of those multiple audiences.

    On the other hand, there are numerous benefits to addressing a single tribe united by a single cause. You’re rewarded with higher focus and tighter engagement. Conversations that stay within the domain will go wider and deeper. You’ll even find that marketing to a unified group is easier, because you’re dealing with people with similar experiences.

    Know the audience you intend to interact with. Then ensure that they have a dedicated communication channel.

    Additional suggestions:

    • Keep separate social media accounts and/or blogs for personal vs. professional interests.
    • Keep separate social media accounts and/or blogs for an audience of peers vs. a readership of your work.
    • Segmenting email lists is easily accomplished if you use an email marketing service such as AWeber or MailChimp.

  3. Increase your influence with landing pages

  4. If you have your own website or blog, then you have the means to greatly improve your chances of getting a prospect to take a specific action.

    A landing page is a web page for targeted visitors. You craft a customized message by recognizing the desires of those you want to influence, and concluding with a simple and compelling offer.

    Sometimes your desired result is a purchase, such as buying one of your books. But you can also use landing pages to get new subscribers for your newsletter or newcomers to download your free eBook. The possibilities are endless.

    Understand that you’re creating a personalized experience for someone specific, and your success depends on how well you match that person’s needs with the content within the page. There’s no need to hard sell at the end if the rest of your copy resonates.

    Additional suggestions:

  5. Direct traffic to the right places

  6. Your well-intended communication channels and landing pages do little good if the right people aren’t finding them.

    Many of these issues are solved with better design. Guide your interested visitors by providing guideposts telling them where to go. For your website, that may mean reviewing your main navigation bar and sidebar. For your social media accounts, examine the bio or profile pages.

    In each case, ensure the path to different destinations are clear. Be up-front with expectations, stating who should be following a particular social media channel and who should subscribe to your blog. Point newcomers to your About page and customers to links of your books.

    If all this seems elementary, you’re right. But you’ll be surprised how easy it is to overlook proper navigation when you’re so closely involved — everything will seem obvious to you. Have a trusted supporter or peer double-check your setup to ensure the guidance makes sense.

    Additional suggestions:

    • Don’t send visitors to your home page if a landing page is available and appropriate.
    • Consider setting up an FAQ page within your website or blog to help anyone that is lost.

Treat different people differently
Our attention is fleeting. That’s true now more than ever.

That means most folks aren’t likely to stick around for a relevant message if it’s buried among irrelevant ones. They’re also not going to settle for listening to marketing broadcasts that lumps everyone together as an undifferentiated mass. People deserve more empathy and respect than that.

No, you can’t interact with each visitor individually. But a stranger is different from a friend, and someone who uses a digital reader is different from someone who doesn’t. The self-publishers cognizant of who they’re talking to are the ones more likely to be heard.

How do you use online tools to communicate with your various audiences? Let us know in the comments.

Jason KongJason Kong is a Contributing Writer for The Book Designer. He also runs Storyrally, an email-based subscription that helps fiction writers with their online marketing.

You can learn more about Jason here.

 
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Jason Kong

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