If you studied the art of marketing 15 or 20 years ago you would have learned that it takes seven “touches” for a prospective client to really remember your product. The suggested touches included billboard and newspaper ads and a spot on your local television station. Ten years later the number of touches was increased to 21. The increasing number of cable television stations and the advent of the internet meant the number of times you needed to grab someone’s attention before they remembered you had tripled and everyone needed a website, “your online brochure” it was called.
Today the noise has increased again – 24-hour news, Facebook and Twitter mean that we are constantly bombarded with messages from friends and acquaintances. We know personal details about the lives of people we’ve never even met.
So how do you stand out in the crowd? If you are a coach or consultant sharing your expertise is one of the best ways to let your voice be heard above the noise. And one of the best ways to share that expertise is with a book. A book gives the reader an opportunity to get to know you on a much deeper level than can ever be experienced in a 140-character tweet.
But here’s the catch. How do get people to buy your book? How do you make sure that your book stands out above the noise? We’re back to those touches again, aren’t we? It becomes that old chicken and egg question: which comes first? The answer is your book and your seminar work together. They are both part of a marketing package that sells you: your expertise and your services.