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Welcome to our September E-Marketer of the Month featuring Carol Fitzgerald, e-marketing veteran and an expert in 'all things books' on the Web.
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Featured E-Marketer: Carol Fitzgerald
E-Marketing Veteran & Online Book Expert
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Carol Fitzgerald
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This month, we're bringing back a long-time PatronMail client as our E-marketer of the Month to help her celebrate a major milestone. Carol Fitzgerald has been a pioneer in e-marketing for the book industry since she started her business exactly a decade ago.
Not only has her business survived, but through her smarts and determination she's built an impressive enterprise that is the talk of the book industry. The Book Report Network now comprises over 1.3 million readers and a portfolio of more than 100 author Web sites.
I think when you read below, you'll see why and how we can all learn from her wisdom. I know, I do! Here at Patron Technology we are all beaming with pride and wish her much more success.
Gene Carr, President
Patron Technology
(If you'd like to send her your own well wishes you can reach her at Carol@bookreporter.com)
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Q & A with Carol Fitzgerald
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Carol, what have you been up to over the last year? Give us a sense of the scope of your company and your recent activities.
We are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year and these past few months we have been working on both programming ideas and events to commemorate this. I have been doing a lot of reflecting these past months and once again I am in awe of the lightening speed growth of the Internet and our dependence on it over this past decade. We are renting a house at the beach this week that only has a very slow connection and I feel trapped in some dark age. I remember when this was the standard!
At The Book Report Network we now have 1.3 million readers and have built more than 130 author websites and conducted more than 100 Internet marketing campaigns for authors or publishers.
We have seen huge growth this year in the number of e-marketing campaigns that we are being hired to do. In 2006 we have been contracted for 47 projects to date whereas in 2005 we did 25 all year. For these campaigns we pitch Web sites to review or feature a book or author, with a plan to get awareness of a title going both deep and wide. Our growth in this area bodes well for the continued growth of e-marketing and targeted customer mailings.
In your unique position, you have a great overall picture of how authors are using e-marketing to promote themselves. Can you give us your perspective on how they are using the medium?
Authors are more aware than ever that e-marketing works for building readership. In late August the nominees in the Quill Awards, a consumer-voted book award, were announced. Immediately the nominated authors were planning e-mail blasts to their readers urging them to vote.
Authors use e-marketing campaigns to talk about new hardcover and paperback releases, background on their books, tour dates and the projects that they are working on. Readers love to hear behind-the-scenes stories about the writing and research that an author is doing.
It is very important to recognize that younger consumers first look for information on the Internet - more than any other medium. As this consumer base ages e-marketing will become more and more important.
Are most of the authors you work with getting the most out of their campaigns, or do you see areas where they can push their efforts even further?
Authors like Nelson DeMille, Marcia Muller and Joseph Finder who write to their readers with regularity are building strong relationships with their readers. They usually close their notes saying when they will write again. We do have some authors who do not mail as often as they should. They seem to get a writers' block about doing a newsletter or they seem to overthink it! Worse than a badly done campaign is NO campaign.
What makes an e-mail campaign stand out? Tell us your rules for creating a great (and successful) campaign?
Seduction. I always talk about the art of seduction instead of the art of the sale. In newsletters I like to give people reasons why they want something and tell them as much about it as possible to encourage them to purchase it. Thus newsletters need lots of great background info instead of just, "buy this book."
Personalization. We stress that our authors should write the newsletter opener. We can handle the rest with "about the book" copy or information that is less personal in nature, but the opener needs to belong to the author and sound/feel/look like him or her. For those authors who struggle with this we suggest that they write their copy as an e-mail instead of a Word document, which will give it the feel of a more one-to-one communication. Readers love hearing personal stories from authors written in their own voice.
News. Something special that readers will not see anywhere else should appear in the newsletter first.
Give us an example of a campaign you know has clicked with readers?
Whenever Nelson DeMille sends a newsletter his readers respond instantly. He has a relationship with his readers where they immediately send notes of encouragement and praise when he writes them. Last year I hit send on his newsletter the day after Labor Day and then drove home from the Outer Banks. The entire drive home my Blackberry was beeping with readers responding to Nelson.
This spring, Daniel Silva sent his readers a newsletter. His books are typically published in February and this year his new book came out in July. Within moments of his newsletter being sent we started getting replies at a more rapid pace than usual. I alerted his publisher that it looked like Silva was hitting a new high with his readers. With each subsequent newsletter the same thing happened. When the book was published in July he hit the New York Times list at #3 (his highest ranking with the Times). He also hit #1 at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online. Clearly the newsletters helped him move the needle.
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Carol Fitzgerald: Tips for a successful e-marketing strategy
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1) Connect with your readers
With any e-marketing you have a special opportunity to connect with your reader, arts patron, client or customer - and that should not be abused. Think if it as being invited to talk to them one on one so make sure you are sending a message that is important and is not being sent for its own sake. Recipients should feel they are getting something newsy or meaningful, or a special offer - something that gives them a reason to want to open it.
2) Thank your readers
Remember to thank your readers for their support. In these days of e-correspondence those words are often forgotten. We encourage authors to write after a book tour and tell people how things went and to thank them for buying the book. We suggest that they write when their book does well on a bestseller list or is nominated for a prize as another way to thank readers for their support.
3) Post-event check-in
Here is an idea that I have not seen done. The other night I attended a concert and thought the next day how great it would have been to hear from the performer with his take on the event. Often you leave a performance and are thinking that was lovely. At the end, you have clapped, they have bowed, but in this age of rapid communication, you'd love some more feedback on the performance. Think about it. If you have a list of who bought tickets online, why not send a note from the performer, the theatre company or the venue thanking them for attending? Include a special quote from the performer or something included as "inside information" that would be special for the reader.
4) Don't tease
Give your readers as much news as you can right in a newsletter instead of sending them to a Web site to read more. This is their reward for getting the newsletter. As an example, we included Daniel Silva and Joseph Finder's tour dates right in their newsletter instead of sending readers to a Web site to find them.
5) Respond to your readers
Read --- and reply ---- to e-mail you receive from readers. So many times I hear from people: "I was so pleased that you answered my question." It's too easy NOT to respond, but when you do, you are reinforcing your relationship and making it stronger.
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October 18-26 - Washington DC, New York, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh & Los Angeles -
E-marketing Seminars with Gene Carr
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Come to these live seminars and confidently take your E-marketing to the next level!
For Beginners -
E-Mail Marketing: The Very Basics
Top ten tips for effective e-marketing. Learn what works and why--with the facts and statistics to back it up!
For Experienced E-Marketers -
Advanced Techniques
Case studies and advanced techniques for improving your e-mail marketing and your Web site.
Click on your city for more details or to register!
(Please note that seminars may differ slightly by city.)
Presented in conjunction with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
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If you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to have featured or know of an arts marketer that you would like to recommend for one of our upcoming editions, please contact info@patrontechnology.com.
Watch for the next edition of our E-Marketer of the Month, coming October 10, 2006.
Patron Technology
850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 801
New York, NY 10019
212-271-4328
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