At last! You have your book published, and you’re considering running a paid ad campaign. Or maybe you published your book a while ago, but you’re considering paid ads because you’re not seeing the sales numbers you were hoping for.
At the same time, you’re nervous. What if you sink money into advertising and it doesn’t pay off?
I know firsthand that running ads when your business isn’t ready for them is like flushing money down the toilet. When my salon was brand new, I sunk over $1300 into advertising. The advertising rep promised me that the investment would pay for itself.
How many new clients did those ads bring me?
Zero. None. Not one.
It wasn’t until a few months later that I started working with a business coach, and I learned almost immediately why those ads hadn’t worked: My business didn’t have a brand, and I didn’t have any proof (aka reviews) that I was worth taking a chance on.
I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did.
“But publishing is unique.”
Of course it is – so is the salon industry. The truth is, every industry thinks it’s a special snowflake. But the basic principles of business are the same. Everything else is market research.
Here are five questions I’d like you to ask yourself before investing in paid advertising:
Is your branding clear and consistent? Can you recognize the genre and mood of your book at a glance?
Do you have at least 50 net positive reviews?
Do you know the demographic you’re targeting? e.g. age, gender(s), what other authors they enjoy?
Do you know your goal for the ad? e.g. more book sales, more social media followers?
Are you comfortable with the possibility that the ad may not perform well? Are you prepared to adjust the targeting or ad copy and try again?
ACTION STEPS:
Take yourself through the five questions. Answer honestly – running ads is a financial decision.
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it’s not the time to run paid ads. But there is something else you can do: put your books on sale instead, and broadcast the sale across all of your social media and to your email list. If you write series, putting the first installment on sale can incentivize new readers to bite.