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Planning Your Marketing and Marketing Your Plan

By Michael Drew - Oct 29 , 2008

Developing a comprehensive marketing plan, and sticking to that plan, is crucial to making your book release a successful and joyful experience. It helps you account for unwanted surprises and ensures your ideas and preferences are being addressed. Kind of like a birth plan for your book, it provides a roadmap for managing your labor.

(insert bad joke symbol-crash)

Anyway, I did a little online research and came across an organization called Mplans.com. On their site you’ll find sample marketing plans for 76 different business categories. They don’t include one specific to books, but the ones they do show are all-encompassing in their detail and will give you a structure and framework for creating your plan.

Below is an outline I pulled from their site. I’ve added some questions of my own to tailor it for authors and further assist in organizing your thoughts.

1.0 Executive Summary – What is your book about? What are the main topics covered? How will you market and distribute it? What will people gain by reading it?

2.0 Situation Analysis

2.1 Market Summary

2.1.1 Market Demographics – What is the demographic, geographic, and psychographic profile of your target audience?

2.1.2 Market Needs – What felt needs does your book meet?

2.1.3 Market Trends – In which direction is the book industry heading? What are the major factors influencing this direction? How do you plan to get in step with these trends?

Here are the latest trends and topics in books as reported by Publisher’s Weekly.

2.1.4 Market Growth – As a whole, are book sales increasing, stagnant or decreasing? How do you intend to take advantage or overcome this fact, depending on the case?

Read this article to find out more about recent book sales in the North American market.

2.2 SWOT Analysis

2.2.1 Strengths – What competitive advantages do you have going for you?

2.2.2 Weaknesses – What are the major obstacles you must overcome?

2.2.3 Opportunities – What combination of circumstances are encouraging?

2.2.4 Threats – What are the lurking sources of danger?

More detail on performing a S.W.O.T. analysis can be found here.

2.3 Competition – Who are your competitors, both direct and indirect? How does your reputation and platform compare to theirs?

2.4 Services – What service will your book provide, if any?

2.5 Keys to Success – How will you gauge success for your book? Best-seller lists? Increased business opportunities? Speaking gigs? What are the major factors in achieving your definition of success?

2.6 Critical Issues – What concerns must you keep your eye on?

2.7 Macro-environment – What are the economic, natural, technological, political and cultural forces facing the book industry?

3.0 Marketing Strategies

3.1 Mission – What is your book’s duty? Why does it exist?

3.2 Marketing Objectives – What specific goals have you set for promotional efforts?

3.3 Financial Objectives – What specific financial goals do you have?

3.4 Target Marketing – Who is your target audience? Does this audience represent a puddle, a bayou, a pond, or an ocean?

3.5 Positioning – How will you position your book against competing books? What mountain will you be king of?

3.6 Strategy Pyramids – What are the various strategies and supporting tactics and programs involved in your overall marketing plan?

Learn more about strategy pyramids.

3.7 Marketing Mix

3.7.1 Pricing – How is your pricing structured?

3.7.2 Promotion – How will you get the word out on the street?

3.7.3 Channels of Distribution – Where will your book be sold? Bookstores? Seminars? Your website?

3.8 Marketing Research – Have you done your homework regarding the interest and need for your book?

4.0 Financials, Budgets, and Forecasts

4.1 Break-even Analysis – How many books do you need to sell to recoup your writing, editing, printing and promotional costs?

How to do a break-even analysis.

4.2 Sales Forecast

4.2.1 Sales Breakdown 1 – What is your conservative sales projection?

4.2.2 Sales Breakdown 2 – What is your median sales projection?

4.2.3 Sales Breakdown 3 – What is your aggressive sales projection?

4.3 Expense Forecast
4.3.1 Expense Breakdown 1 – What is your conservative expense projection?

4.3.3 Expense Breakdown 2 – What is your median expense projection?

4.3.3 Expense Breakdown 3 – What is your aggressive expense projection?

4.4 Contribution Margin – What is your marginal profit per book sold?

5.0 Controls

5.1 Implementation Milestones – What are your key marketing programs and associated timelines and budgets?

5.2 Marketing Organization – Outside of yourself, is anyone else responsible for marketing your book?

5.3 Contingency Planning – What will you do if things don’t go as planned? Have back-up plans been made?

As you can see, creating your book marketing plan, and taking that plan to market, is a huge responsibility. Nevertheless, it is part of your duty as the author and marketing manager of your book. The good news is, it gives you the opportunity to deliver your book to the world using your own methods, ideas, and preferences. Yes, it is labor-intensive, but from what my wife tells me, it’s nowhere near as rough as real labor.

Questions about creating a marketing plan specific to your book may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.