As a writer, you know all too well how much work is required to complete an entire book. Once you have finished your book, you may be tempted to think that the hardest part is behind you. As many authors discover, however, the book marketing process is arduous and requires a skill set very different from the creative energy that produced your book in the first place. In particular, online book marketing demands targeted and thorough research if you want your book to have a fighting chance against the countless other titles flooding the market. Here is your guide to researching and executing your online marketing strategy.
Know Your Audience
The single most important aspect of your marketing research involves getting to know your target audience. You probably already have some idea of who your audience is; the next step is determining where your audience is on the web. As a starting point, you can check sales data from big online vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The key here is to look for similar titles and determine general interest level in a book like yours. You can also do much more targeted research based on the topic of your book. Are your target readers part of an online community like Reddit, YouTube, or Yahoo? Are there any major blogs that your readers are most likely to follow? If you understand how your audience interacts on the web, you will begin to assemble a plan for how and where to market your book.
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5 Reasons Why Research is Crucial for Start-ups & Customer Development
There are many businessmen and women who become alarmed when hearing that 80% of small businesses fail within the first five years of being started.
If your business is a start-up, then you know that a successful plan for business marketing has little to do with gut feeling. It is however based on sound market research. If you have already come to terms with this, then you will have a competitive advantage. Despite the fact that market research is crucial for understanding the competition, many startup ideas are focused on the business opportunities and creating successful products. If startup businesses spend more time on understanding competition on all levels: segment competition, product competition, technology competition, future competition – they will be better equipped at devising highly effective competitive action plans.
Below we will outline reasons as to why research is crucial for startups and customer development:
- Poor planning: One of the major reasons as to why research is crucial for startups is poor planning. This can compromise the unplanned financial management, unplanned business administration, and unplanned marketing efforts.
- Marketing yourself well: Instead of marketing your general profession, you should stay focused on your niche. For example, if you market yourself as a “Research Startup”, you are too general and not specific enough. Try marketing your idea as “On-demand Media Research for Publishers” or “DIY Market Research Platform for Small Businesses”.
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