Publicity is a funny business. On one hand you have as many
variables as you do opportunities to promote and yet, on the
other hand, beneath it all, there are a few cardinal rules that
regulate any successful publicity effort. Each rule may take on
a different color depending on the specifics that apply to
individual industries, but once you strip it all down, you'll
always find the following system at work in any working system.
It all begins with quality. Unless you have something worth
selling, something the general public will be interested in
buying, it's just a matter of time before you're going to run out
of "first time buyers" willing to try you out.
Our goal in promoting is going to be to attract free publicity,
which, by definition means we're going to have to do something
that's newsworthy. It isn't going to do for us to simply buy all
the press we need in the form of advertising. That means we're
going to have to re aim our marketing strategies. We want to
offer a product that stands out as being an incredible value.
One option business has in promoting their benefits is to make a
smaller per sale profit margin to a larger portion of the general
public. Instead of making, say, $100 profit per product sold to
10 people, they aim at making just $50 profit per product sold to
30. We'll use that in our example.
Once the quality and price are established, then it's important
that we chart out a long term marketing plan. It's all about
creating a steady growth over the long haul.
We're going to imagine we own a bookstore.
We'll begin by being sure we have a good selection and the
location looks good. We're going to guarantee that every book in
the store will sell for under retail. But we're not going to
limit ourselves to selling books. Everybody does that, we're
going to try and create an angle that'll make the media take
notice. To do that, we're going to create "Theme Clubs". Groups
of people that read similar books will obviously have a lot in
common. We're going to aim at establishing mini communities of
individuals interested in similar themes.
To get away from the "bookstore" feeling, we're going to set our
bookstore up inside a two-story house. Each room will represent a
theme.
Our history room will be filled with historical charts and
timelines. Galileo thermometers and antiques will make this the
kind of room explorers of the past would like visiting.
The children's book section will be a wonderful place of fantasy.
Bright colors and images designed to spark the imagination.
Something between Disney and Harry Potter. Sci-Fi buffs will love
the Trekkie style room. And so forth.
We're planning on eventually hosting lecturers from local
colleges in the various rooms speaking about specific topics and
book signings will mean something when held in rooms that cater
specifically to readers that appreciate the authors style of
writing. Monthly membership dues will cover free coffee and
discounts to various lectures and parties.
The hallways between rooms will reflect an almost MC Esher-style
morphing from one theme to the next.
We're going to try to get away from the "bookstore" feeling and
try, instead, to create a feeling of a series of communities
that all get their books at our location. We're going to call
ourselves something that reflects the fact that we're a
combination of several "themes". How about "The Eclectic
Bookery"?
Once we've established our quality, price, longer term goals and
name, we then need to come up with a way to raise community
interest in our kick off. How about an almost theatrical kickoff.
We'll announce that we're auditioning individuals to host each
room. A "Host" must dress in character, understand the individual
styles and be responsible for shelving, scheduling events, etc.
for each room. To find these people, we'll offer "sign up
bonuses" as we hire them. These $200 sign up bonuses will
actually be a gimmick to make the local press take notice of a
hiring frenzy.
You'll notice we've created something individuals will be
interested in being a part of. We've made it into something that
can grow and yet focus directly on the needs of each group.
We're then going to promote it all. We'll send out press
releases. We'll schedule not only ourselves, but our various
"characters" to appear on radio and television programs. These
characters will also be organized into traveling educational
tours where they'll do school assemblies around town.
And we're going to fight technology. Not in an aggressive,
obvious sort of way, but we're going to taunt a motto that
reads, "Back to basics".
That wraps up the "Can't miss system". It begins by checking the
quality of what you have to offer. You then price to sell. You
follow by making your long-term goals and structured today's
activities accordingly. You created several reasons for people to
come to visit. And finally, you keep growing, evolving, changing.
In a nutshell, that's what a successful marketing package should
look like.
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