I am not in anyone’s mind a business person. I have
struggled with learning the business end of this writing profession of mine,
and sometimes I didn’t do that gladly. I have been known to whine, complain,
belly ache and be a general PITA** about business issues.
I am so naïve I used to dump anything that was remotely
connected to promotion and marketing into the same unsorted-items folder. Other
people’s ideas that I would figure out at some unspecified future date.
Well, the future is here, and I am only marginally better
informed than I was. So feel free, all you promotion pros and marketing mavens,
to join into the discussion in the comments section below. I am here to learn
at your collective knee.
I realized pretty early on that dumping everything into one
computer file didn’t make sense. Especially, since the items were unsorted,
there was no way to find and use anything even if I knew I needed to. First
job: I sorted into two separate computer files: book marketing and book
promotion.
Ta Da!
Except … I had to make double copies of some articles
because I wasn’t sure which was which! Sigh.
And I’m not alone. Some stuff labeled by business
professional as “promotions” are sometimes “marketing”. But while I have an
excuse Mad Men do not. I’m not
expected to know. And that’s scary in itself.
Here’s what I now understand to be the difference between
promotion and marketing--1) the amount of information provided and 2) the
intent seem to be the major delineating factors.
Okay. Here’s my understanding:
Promotions announce information about availability,
access, and news. “The print version of Mission
Impastable was released for sale by Oak Tree Press January 23, 2014.” “Streetwalker
came out from Sizzler Editions as an e-book on Amazon on August 1, 2013.” “Mission
Impastable got a 4.5 rating from Manic Readers.” “I posted about how I wrote Mission Impastable at Sarah’s Reading Blog today.”
There is no pitch. No direct appeal for sales. Promotion
merely tells or reminds the reader that a product is available.
Marketing has a
different intent and provides much more information. I want you to buy my book,
and sooner is better than later. I am offering you value-added to convince you
to buy. “With Mission Impastable you
get a two-fer: mystery + cookbook.” “Buy Mission
Impastable today at ” “This weekend only, get Mission Impastable for 99¢”
What confuses me is when promotion are marketing are
conflated. I don’t know the term for that. Am I promoting or am I marketing?
Announcing reviews with a buy link seems to be both. Things like book trailers with
buy information are marketing because they’re trying to hook you into buying.
Announcing a great review seems to be marketing.
I will do another post on some of my promotional and
marketing ploys next time. This topic is rich with options.
I’m sure a business person could straighten me out, but for
now . . . I’ll just keep on truckin’, and whether it is promotion or marketing,
in the end, doesn’t really matter. Labeling my activity as promotion or
marketing doesn’t sell books. But I hope whatever I’m doing, does!
**PITA: Pain in the Arse
