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Updated February 7, 2023
Subtitle
Combining online and offline marketing channels is vital to selling books long term
Synopsis
Understanding how online and offline marketing channels can work together is essential for your book’s financial success. If consistently used together, these channels can help you achieve a sustainable competitive advantage as an author. It will also help your book build a continuous stream of income. Here is a short discussion about book marketing channels and how they can help you become a more successful author.
What You Will Learn
1. You will learn the differences between marketing channels and sales channels.
2. You will learn about marketing channels you control and do not control.
3. You will learn how and why utilizing online and offline marketing channels simultaneously is essential to build a robust and profitable marketing plan.
Introduction
Understanding how online and offline marketing channels can work together is essential for your book’s financial success. If consistently used together, these channels can help you achieve a sustainable competitive advantage as an author. It will also help your book build a continuous stream of income.
Here is a short discussion and explanation about book marketing channels and how they can help you become a more successful author:
What Is a Marketing Channel?
Here is a quick explanation: You can interact with your audience through a marketing channel. Each of these places, or channels, allows you to show your audience your expertise in your particular niche.
These channels also give you and your audience a direct way to listen to each other and share information. This listening and sharing process builds meaningful, long-lasting, and profitable relationships between you and your audience.
How Is a Marketing Channel Different From a Sales Channel?
Here is a quick explanation: A sales channel refers to how your books are brought to and sold to the buyers or end consumers. These channels include online bookstores, brick-and-mortar bookstores, book distributors, wholesalers, etc.
These are typically called indirect sales channels. But if you sell your book directly from your home or office, you would be a direct sales channel.
There are two significant ways to look at the different categories of marketing channels available to book marketers.
These are:
1. Online marketing channels
2. Offline marketing channels
1. Online Marketing Channels
1. a. The Online Marketing Channels You Control
What online methods or outlets will you use to talk to your audience? And show them you have something to say? These online methods should involve your blog, article marketing, guest posting, podcasting, making videos, and using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. You directly control each of these channels. These channels would become part of your social media marketing efforts, also known as your author platform.
1. b. The Online Marketing Channels You Don’t Control
Other online marketing channels include those you do not have direct control over. Such as blogs and websites that repost your blog posts. This channel also includes reviews of your book written and posted on other blogs. Or other bloggers that quote you in their blog posts. Or they share your infographics, PowerPoint decks, videos, etc.
2. Offline Marketing Channels
Offline channels can also directly affect your online marketing and sales. Some prominent examples are using direct mail postcards and newsletters to inform your customers about new information you believe they would benefit from.
Another is sending your clients and customers reminder notices or birthday cards, calling them on the telephone, or texting them. This channel includes all of your marketing efforts not done online.
For example, if you are an accountant, you can ask your clients to share one of your online articles with their audience. Or send your past clients a reminder notice about the upcoming tax season deadlines. If you are a chef at a gourmet food market, for example, you can chat with your customers face-to-face about food; give cooking lessons in your kitchen; give out free recipes, etc.
There are an endless number of offline ways to market to your audience. It does not matter what your profession is. It just takes creative thinking and a desire to share information to find new and fun ways to build and connect with your audience.
Conclusion
You must realize that utilizing online and offline channels can create a compelling and profitable way to market your books. By combining each, you will create a marketing program to build strength and momentum that will continue to help you consistently sell books over the long term.
Questions to Think About
1. Did your online marketing results improve after implementing more offline marketing?
2. Which online and offline marketing efforts are working best for you?
