Booklets - Connecting the Dots

A long-time colleague asked me how the various parts of my business are connected when I shared with her a new, narrow offer I put together. (I'll share it with you soon, I promise -- just not today.) There was a lot in her question.

Brand consistency in the marketplace - My company has been about tips booklets for almost 20 years. What happens when there is any deviation from that?

Marketing efforts - As basically a one-person business, how do the marketing efforts get handled time-wise and energy-wise?

Something I hadn't considered until just now came to mind while writing that. My maternal grandfather was in the wholesale grocery business for the 25 years we were on the planet together. My two uncles were also in the business with him. At one point, one uncle suggested introducing frozen foods into the canned and dry goods they sold to restaurants and institutions. My grandfather was against it. The uncle ultimately won out when he took over the business after my grandfather was no longer around. In that case it worked as a good product line extension, without splintering any of the marketing activities. The same customers wanted the additional products. Had they gone away from food into flowers or some other product, it may not have worked.

It's sometimes useful to think about how things work outside of the market you're in, as a litmus test, to see how it flies.

In my business, I've expanded the tips booklets and learning tools and services to include collaborative booklets as well as single-author booklets. This works. I also attempted to bring a broader look at publishing to my booklet authors through a membership site for 14 months. While the marketing efforts were to the same people, it wasn't what they wanted, or at least not from my company, so it didn't work. The new offer I mentioned at the beginning of this post is about licensing booklets and ebooks to a specific and narrow market, which I think will work. We'll soon find out!

When people ask about a good topic for their booklet, I always advise that it be related to the main topic of their business. This maintains brand consistency and centralizing the marketing efforts.

Revisit your approach to see if both those components are there. If not, what can you do about it?

Until next time,

Paulette - who does tips booklets not books, and sells one to many rather than one to one

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionofExperts.com