This is where everything begins to get interesting! This is where you start doing! This is where the fun starts! This is where YOU get to shine!
Welcome back to the How To Build An Author House Series. So far we’ve set the foundations, and most recently looked at your audience and how to segment them into groups. We now move onto the area of Tactics and how you actually communicate with your readers.
Those of you following this series will hopefully remember the difference between Aims, Objectives, and Tactics. For those of you who don’t however, here’s a reminder:
Aims = What you hope to achieve
Objectives = The plan in how you’re going to achieve it
Tactics = The elements you’ll use to make this happen
Seen as you’ve all been very patient we can now move onto the Tactics and begin to decipher what author marketing tools to use, how exactly to use them, and which ones simply don’t make the cut. I told you things were going to get exciting, didn’t I? I mean come on! This is where we get to discuss Twitter and Facebook and Advertising and what not.
The big question, though, is…Where the Hell to begin?
Fear not young author padawan for I, Turndog Millionaire, am here to guide you through this maze of communication. I won’t lie, it’s a minefield and there are so many things you could do, but so many things you simply don’t have time for. As always I’ll be discussing the things I’m using for my own author platform, the reasons I’m using said author marketing tools, and the theory behind not using the ones I’m not.
First things first however, so let’s get organised and come up with some plan of action. Thus let me guide you through the crazed ocean of Tactics and split them up into the following:
BLOGGING
– Design
– Content
– Guest Blogging
– SEO
SOCIAL MEDIA
– Google+
– Tumblr
– Youtube
– Podcasting
PERSONAL RELATIONS
– Stumbleupon
– Online Networking
– Traditional Press
– Guest Blogging
– Offline Networking
ADVERTISING
– Online
– Offline
– Sponsorship
DIRECT MARKETING
– Emails
PROMOTIONS
– Competitions/Contests
– Promotional Materials
EXPERIENTIAL
– Viral Media
– Events
WOW, right? That’s a whole lot stuff I hear you cry. Well it is a lot and I estimate it will take me up to May, which for those of you unaware, is about three months away. Some of these items will take a simple post whereas others will take a couple. I myself will be the guiding voice for certain areas, whereas I’ll be inviting Guest Bloggers for others, and even some interviews with industry experts.
All in all there will be a whole load of links and tips, and if you can’t find some useful content in it all then I’ll be amazed. Writing everything down like this does create an issue though, and that’s that one of my Objectives is already void. My original plan was to have this author platform of mine done and dusted for March. Well let’s face it, that’s no longer happening so I’m adjusting this time frame until July.
This creates a valid lesson for you all in marketing strategy. Never be afraid to adjust and alter things as you go along. It isn’t ideal but sometimes necessary. As long as you have a really good reason then all will end well. What’s my reason? I hope to make The Millionaire Plan into a Free E-Book for those looking to build an author platform, and as such I need to cover a little bit more then I originally planned. This, in my opinion, is very exciting 🙂
So there you go ladies and gentleman. We enter the exciting part of author marketing. The actual DOING and getting one’s hands dirty.
By now your author platform is beginning to take shape and in just a few weeks time you’ll begin to see which author marketing tools work for you, and which ones don’t. We can’t do everything so don’t even try. What works for me may not for you. Think hard and stay true to YOUR Brand!
Next time around I’ll be looking at Blogs and how you should go about designing and setting up your soon to be Online Home. It might not be that Author House I discussed in the last post, but an author platform is definitely beginning to take shape.
Turndog Millionaire – @turndog_million
