In The Demon's Head: Promo Techniques- Advertising

In The Demon's Head #43: Promotional Techniques- Advertising

July 26, 2012

Hello everyone and welcome back to our Promotional Techniques blogging series. Yesterday I gave an Introduction to the Series and then talked about Blogging, today we're going to talk about promotional technique number 2, Advertising.

Now in the introduction I talked about how Advertising was seen by some as a technique that was a waste of money that would never repay itself. I'm here to say that anyone who thinks like that likely has never had a successful advertising campaign. I'd like to explain to you first why I believe advertising is effective.

Currently I've only ever used Facebook to advertise and I advertised my own Facebook Page. I paid 50 bucks for a month of the advertising and it netted me almost another 30 likes on the page. It averages out to 1.67 a person. Now this is 30 new people that have never heard of me and now like my page, Now lets say those same 30 people buy my next book at 3 dollars a piece that turns into 90 dollars and I just made a 40 dollar profit, and those same 30 people could tell another 30 which would now double my profits and fan base and so on. These are some just estimate statistics but you see adverting can pay some massive dividends for your writing career.

The different types of Advertising that you can do include Radio, TV, Internet, Billboard and Direct Mail. While this may not be all of them I'd like to focus on these because these would be the most common types that you may encounter.

TV Ads

These Ads run on different programs on Cable and Satellite TV and are hands down the most expensive. In all honesty, unless you've got some good money stored away or get on with a major publisher that's willing to shell out the money it's likely you'll never use TV spots but if you do like all Ads you need to to the point because you have a lot of ground to cover with no time.

Radio Ads

Radio ads are considerably cheaper however, they are usually given to a much more limited audience. These are also easier to work with because there's less work involved with the actual recording of the Ad so one could be changed within an hour that's a positive to Radio Advertising.

Direct Mail

Direct Mail or “Junk” Mail as so many have called it is to me the second least effective form of advertisement while also being the second most costly depending on campaign size. I've studied how to write direct mail and I've learned that if you can't do it well then your better off not to do it, or hire someone who can. Granted should your campaign take off it could certainly pay off but the odds of that aren't on your side with Direct Mail. Unless you aim to write a non-fiction masterpiece I would suggest to completely stray away from Direct Mail.

Billboard

This to me is the most pointless of the advertising campaigns, granted this is just my thoughts but Billboards are only effective if your already an established person. Otherwise your message is limited to a small area and a small group of people and unless everyone of those tells someone else and buys some product then it's an investment that won't turn out in your favor.

Internet

This is my preferred style of advertisement. The cost versus the number of people you can reach is much closer together and in your favor then any other style of advertisement but to me the best thing about internet is that you can target your type of reader and the type of people who will benefit the most from your book. It's easier to funnel down to the right people on the internet then any other medium. You also have a verity of places to post the ad on the internet which offers up a good chance to shop around. I used Facebook but there are thousands of Internet Outlets for you to check out.

In Conclusion...

Advertising is something that if done correctly and the right medium depending on your goals then you could easily crack a brand new fan base that had otherwise alluded you. Like anything else it's a piece to the promotional puzzle that you need to decide that if you want to use or not. I think that advertising can pay good dividends as my math above has shown but if only done correctly.

Have you experimented with some kind of advertising in the past? Got another tip that you would like to share with Advertising then please post and share them in the comments section below.

Join us again tomorrow as we talk about Social Media Promotional Techniques, Saturday we will discuss Websites and then finally we will Wrap it all together on Sunday so be sure to check back with me daily.

As always you can find the latest up to date information and social media hangouts for yours truly at my website. Until the next time you want to take a trip through the gates of hell and into the demon's head, I'm Kyle Robinson wishing you a safe trip back to the surface.