If you pay attention, you can get marketing ideas for your book and your book-centered business pretty much from anywhere.
Case in point: Not that long ago I ordered some protein powder. And inside that jar of protein powder, I found this plastic card. And on the plastic card, it said: “Claim your free prize at this URL.”
Who doesn’t want a free prize? So, I went to that URL and found a Google Doc form that claimed if I completed the form, they’d send me my prize. So, of course, I fill out the form.
Several weeks later, my prize was delivered to my door in the mail. It was a keychain in the shape of their logo!
Now, what does this have to do with book marketing? I’ll tell you!
I propose that you could use this same system or idea to help you leverage your books to market your business. Let me explain.
From Your Prospects Point of View
Touch point 1: At a live event or when they receive a book from you (in person or shipped), they receive a plastic car in the shape of a credit card that offers them a downloadable prize or gift if they go to a specific URL.
Touch point 2: When they go to that URL, they find a form that asks them for their name, email address, and shipping address, in exchange for their downloadable prize or gift.
Touch point 3: When they provide the information, they receive (as immediately as possible) the promised downloadable prize or gift.
Touch point 4: A few weeks later they receive a surprise physical gift from you in the mail.
How to Implement This System
Here’s how you can create this experience for your potential clients:
Step 1: Identify an enticing downloadable prize or gift that is related to your book. It should be something that takes them one step further or deeper into the content of the book.
Step 2: Create and order a fun, low-cost, physical gift that you can send in the mail. Good options include pins, pens, keychains, booklets, and stickers. If you’re really ambitious, T-shirts or ball caps are good, as well. Vendors I recommend include VistaPrint.com and StickerMule.com.
Step 3: Set up the system. This is what you’ll need:
- A landing page with the form prospects will hand out. This can be easily created with Aweber or on your website. You can also, as the protein company did, use a Google form.
- A downloadable prize or gift delivery mechanism. This can be a download page or an email that provides the download link.
- A process for shipping out the gifts. You can do this yourself, hire a Virtual Assistant to do this, or find a vendor that will automate it for you.
Step 4: Create and order plastic cards that offer the bearer a downloadable prize or gift when they go to the URL of the landing page set up in Step 3.
Step 5: Start distributing those cards! You can hand them out at live events. Insert them in books you sell personally. Offer them in exchange for a shipping address (doubling the mailing to their home touch points) on social media.
Additional Ideas
In this video, I provide an overview of this system and include some additional ideas not included in this post.
Caveats
WARNING: Don’t use this system if all you’re selling are books, and other low-priced products and services. It will get too expensive.
This system works best if you’ve got a pipeline of higher-end products. This system is a way for you to encourage and nurture the relationship with your book buyers so that they will buy your coaching, enroll in your courses, and so forth. It is a great way to build up goodwill and nurture that relationship.
