Erratic marketing is just like once-in-a-while exercise. Results? Not so much.
(Please click on image to enlarge.)
Lately we’ve been emphasizing the importance of consistency in your marketing efforts. Compare it to other things you need to do regularly in order to sustain any gains or progress: brush your teeth, clean the house, exercise. Exercise? As a matter of fact, there are many natural comparisons between a strategic book marketing campaign and an exercise plan.
#1. Be Accountable – A profound yet almost universal self-sabotaging aspect of human nature (even for aspiring SBM’s*) is that we’re more likely to be accountable to someone else than to ourselves. If this is you, don’t beat yourself up; recognize the problem, and set up an accountability system. At the gym, you can hire a trainer or find a workout partner to make sure you exercise, even when you don’t feel like it. Consider finding someone to help you with strategy and accountability for your book marketing campaign.
#2. Follow a Regular Schedule – Exercise only works if you do it. Exactly the same thing is true when it comes to marketing your book. Send your e-mail/newsletters at regular intervals, post to your blog X times per week, calendar your social marketing time, etc.
#3. Exercise ALL Your Muscle Groups – A good workout regimen works all of the muscle groups on a a regular rotation. While you want to start with one book marketing strategy, eventually you want to integrate several techniques simultaneously. With the explosion of social media, lots of people seem to be forgetting all about offline tactics. The best plan is the one that integrates both on- and offline strategies.
#4. Don’t Overdo It – An essential rule of the gym is knowing when enough is enough. The same is true of your book marketing plan. First, you must HAVE a plan. Then you must be sure you can realistically stick to it. Don’t shoot for the moon only to have your rocket fuel run dry because you overextended yourself.
#5. Maintenance Is Essential – What would happen if you began an exercise plan and then quit as soon as you started seeing results? You’d blink, and the results would evaporate. The same will happen with your book marketing campaign if you begin to neglect it as soon as it starts proving effective. The best time to market a business is when one is B-U-S-Y. Once you get going, keep going! Maintain your marketing progress for best results.
There are no two ways around it – marketing, like an exercise plan, requires time and effort. Lots of dedicated effort. But you don’t have to go it alone, and once you get going, it will get easier. Focus on just one step at a time, and add subsequent ones as you are ready.
Let’s keep each other accountable – share your success with us so we can cheer you on!
See you Thursday!
MARCIE
*Savvy Book Marketer
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Originally published by Marcie Brock author, Laura Orsini, at the Write|Market|Design blog as An Exercise Plan/A Marketing Plan: Lots of Similarities on August 3, 2010.
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Marcie Brock, Book Marketing Maven 
Excellent insights. The great thing about social media marketing is that it doesn’t have to feel like self promotion. Being able to connect to communities of book lovers and talk about your passion is a valid form of social media marketing.
You can use your profile space to indicate that you are a writer and maybe even a link to the book you’ve published. Engage your followers and community with stories about your writing process, frustrations with writers block, and whatever interesting anecdotes you have. People who join a community or follow you are not looking to be pitched at, they are interested in you. Neil Gaiman is the big heavyweight of Twitter authors but his style of tweeting is the single best example of social media marketing for authors.
Michael Girard
Community Engagement, Radian6
Thanks for the feedback, Michael. You hit the nail on t he head – social media is about SOCIAL interactions. I haven’t been able to follow anyone new for months, but I’ll add Neil Gaiman as soon as I am able!
Best –
Laura/Marcie