Cathy says: I hear this from authors all of the time. “There are X million scrapbookers/bass fishermen/ballroom dancers/small businesses/bloggers/whatever in the world. If I can get Y percent of them to buy my book…”
But as Dan says in this excerpt from his upcoming book, Internet Marketing Confidential, getting that Y percent is the tricky part. There are more questions to ask yourself than how many people are in your target market. You have to know how to reach them and if they have a need for your book in the first place.
If it were easy or automatic to claim market share, no business would ever fail.
Here’s the most common lie I heard people tell themselves when I was doing day-to-day publicity for high tech companies.
I call it the “spreadsheet marketing lie.”
It goes like this:
“The widget market is huge. It’s a one-bazillion dollar industry. If we get 1/10 of 1 percent of that market, we’ll make one gazillion dollars.”
The trouble is that it doesn’t matter how big that market is if they don’t need your product.
Do you need another spreadsheet?
Or word processor?
Or a book about your topic?
If the answer is “no,” then all the time, money and energy isn’t going to convince someone to buy it.
Get real.
Get real goals.
Do real tests.
Get real education.
Then hit the marketplace.
Bottom Line: Internet Marketing can’t work if you have blinders on your eyes.
Dan Janal, author of Reporters Are Looking for YOU!
