The Not-So-Basics Of Marketing eBooks

By David Vallieres

Does the marketing of digital goods present the entrepreneur, web site owner or self-publisher with problems not inherent in the marketing of physical goods?

The professional methods of marketing never change. It's the mechanics of marketing, the medium of the message that change: Instead of billboards, it's banner ads; letters sent through the post are now emailed; web sites replace brochures and full-color catalogues; live chat with customer service representatives replace 800 numbers, etc.

Eugene (Gene) M. Schwartz, the copywriter that helped Marty Edelson, launch Boardroom Reports, said marketing is like playing the stock market or being an atomic scientist. Marketing, speculation and science are all alike- they all deal with immense natural forces, thousands of times more powerful than the men who use them. In science, the forces are the fundamental energies of the universe. In speculation, the forces are the billion-dollar tides and currents of the market place.

In marketing, the forces are the hopes, fears and desires of millions upon millions of men and women, all over the world. The men who use these forces did not create them; they can't turn them or shut them down; neither can they diminish them or add to them in any way. All they can do is harness them!

So what works? What can you and I harness this immense power? Gene's answer: Innovation. Continuous, repeated innovation. A steady stream of new ideas- fresh new solutions to new problems. Created above all not by the impossible route of memory- but by analysis. And what is analysis? It's a series of measuring rods, checkpoints, benchmarks and signposts that show you where a particular force is going, and enable you to get there first.

So how do we innovate or be creative in the process of selling ebooks?

Books, just like other types of products, do not sell themselves. It takes people with skill and knowledge to sell them. That's why most professional marketers are more prosperous than writers. The US Department of Labor reports that writers (as an occupation) earn an average of $7,500 per year. Most writers are not able to earn a living from writing alone. Even 'published' authors will find it difficult to make a living with a single book.

The first question an author is asked upon signing a contract for a first book is, "What else do you have?" The publisher knows that 'one book' authors will never be able to sell enough copies of their first book to make any real money for them or the author. It takes several books, within the same genre, to build the author's presence in the marketplace.

Speaking to yourself, "What else do you have?" should be your mantra as a publisher or content developer/entrepreneur online.

There are some writers who hit it big with a single book, but that's very unusual.

My own experience writing, publishing and marketing books on the Internet proves this. One book made me some money. Five books made me even more money. The more books I offered to my web site visitors the more profits I made. Many other publishers and content entrepreneurs will confirm this phenomenon.

From a marketers point of view, the only job of that first book you wrote is to get your readers to buy your second book, and the only job of the second book is to keep the reader hooked enough on your writing to buy your third book, and on and on… because that's where the money is.

The question then is, "How do I, as an e-content marketer, stand apart from the rest or innovate?"

By asking yourself which category your ebook fits into:

CUSTOMERS FIRST REACTION / INITIAL RESPONSE TO YOUR BOOK

1) "Don't need to know- no time - not interested enough to care"; (customer response: "I'll pass")
2) "Nice to know - looks interesting, but…"; (customer response: "ho hum", *insert yawn here*)
3) "This looks great - just what I've been looking for!" (customer response: "Where do I pay?")

When I'm looking for info (especially on-line) I ask myself these questions.

For example, one morning while surfing the net I went to a web site that had a service I wanted. The service looked interesting (in the "nice to know" category) so I took the time to sign up for a free demo of their service.

I was ready to leave the site when I noticed a link to a free report they were offering too. The link said "download now", and since I was at their demo sign-up 'success' page I thought the link would take me directly to the report. Instead, when I clicked on the link, I got a page with a "registration form"...asking me all the stuff I just answered when I signed up for the free demo.

Suddenly I'm in the "Don't need to know-no time -not interested enough to care", category. I simply didn't have the time to enter all my information again - so I passed on their free offer. Too bad they didn't link the report with the free demo offer. That would have made a lot of sense and it would have been a nice 'bonus' for signing up for the free demo.

If you want people to buy or download your e-book you have to answer the critical question your target audience is asking, "Why do I need this info?" - their response will fall into category 1, 2 or 3 mentioned above.

If it's in category 1 or 2, chances are you need to re-think your e- book's title or the headline and/or ad for your e-book. You need to determine the e-book's "appeal", its' primary benefit to the reader and make that clear to your reader.

This is where Gene Schwartz's idea of marketing as 'innovation and analysis' is so important. You may need to test several titles in subtle ways to your target audience before you find one that works well. One way to do that is by writing an article about your upcoming book (what it's about, etc.) and put the proposed titles as a link to your article. Put the title on your home page. Rotate and change the title once a week and try several different titles. See which one gets the most click-throughs to your article by using a counter on your page with the article or by 'coding' the link. For example:

One title might be:
The Sleep Walking Murders

Your link to your article would look like this:
http://www.yoursite.com/article.html

Your 'coded' link would be:
http://www.yoursite.com/article.html?sleep_walking

When someone clicks on the 'coded' link it registers a 'hit' in your server logs. The REAL URL for the article is everything before the "?"- your 'code' is "sleep_walking". Everything after the "?" will not affect the visitor clicking on the link to get to your article. Count the number of hits you get for each title. Just be sure to change the code to correspond with your titles every time you make a change!

If one performs better than all the others, then you have a successful title. And as we all know, a good title sells books.