Photo Credit: UC Davis College of Engineering via Compfight cc
Not too long ago, I invested in a marketing course that cost $10,000.
Given that price, it’s probably not a surprise that there was quite a lot of information, tools, techniques, and tips to be learned from this experience. But one thing that was integral to the work being taught by the course’s instructor was the value of what he called “strategy calls.”
These phone calls were essentially a way to connect with prospective clients before deciding to work with them. For higher end offers, it is a worthwhile process to go through to determine if the client is a good fit, and vice versa.
Of course, it cost advertising money to get them to this call.
A lot of advertising money.
Based on the model he taught, the instructor advised that, initially, it may cost $90 or $100 in ads to get to one strategy call. Ideally, we could eventually dial in our marketing communication to get it down to $50 or $60. And the instructor, who had developed the model himself and spent $10,000 each month on advertising, had gotten it all the way down to $40 per call.
And yet, I recently tried something that got the cost down to $30.
A very simple something.
And this very simple something can be an integral part of getting followers and potential customers for our books.
When we write non-fiction books, and spread a non-fictional message as a whole, we’re of course presented with the task of attracting followers. These are the people who hopefully consume our stuff and then take meaningful action in response. They are the people whose lives we impact.
But given all of the not-so-helpful advice on the Internet, it can be difficult to tip people over into the mindset that what we’re saying isn’t like all of the other stuff. It can be damn near impossible to get people to follow us, or to even purchase things like books and other products.
In the marketing model I was taught, the task is to use platforms like Facebook and Twitter to send people to a landing page, wherein they can opt in and watch the next scheduled webinar. And based on how many people watch the webinar and choose to book a strategy call, we can calculate the cost per call. My instructor booked these calls at $40 each because he had worked very hard to get his landing page just right.
But I spent only $30 per call because I didn’t send them to a landing page.
At first.
The truth is that, instead of sending them right to the landing page, I sent them to an article like this one. The article spoke to the reason why 99% of non-fiction book proposals are rejected, which is what the webinar is about as well. And because my visitor was presented with immediately valuable content instead of the delayed gratification of a webinar at a later time, they were more likely to trust the value of what I had to say.
It was this far more immediate trust that earned me a higher rate of opt-ins – a rate that beat out one of the most expert marketers out there.
How does this relate to developing your book following? It’s really quite simple. If you’re putting together a campaign that is meant to build your list of followers to whom you can market your book, instead of just sending them to a landing page send them to an article that addresses a problem inexorably linked to your message. This extra step will qualify potential followers, and make them far more immediately keen on all of your quality work.
The likelihood of someone becoming a follower is entirely based on the trust they have on your value to them. And that trust can be instantly built with a quality article that shows you at your best.
