Early last month I talked about a selling mindset. I encourage you to read that post again (or for the first time, if you missed it) since today’s post discusses preparing for holiday shopping.
We are approaching a big buying season, and now is the time to prepare. But if you dread marketing and selling, then this season is going to pass you by and your sales will continue to be dismal. Instead, learn what’s behind your dread and learn to overcome it.
Let’s take a brief look at some definitions.
Hubspot says that “Marketing refers to any actions a company takes to attract an audience to the company’s product or services through high-quality messaging.”
Selling, in a nutshell, means actually offering and asking people to buy your product.
Both these activities have things in common, but the primary one is that you are helping people clarify whether your book (or product) is the right one for them.
Selling isn’t “I’ve got to get this person to buy my book.” (This is desperation.)
It’s “I’m offering you an opportunity to make a positive change in your life.”
You might be thinking, That’s all well and good when you write nonfiction, but I write fiction. What positive change can my fiction offer?
That’s a smart question to ask yourself. Aside from the sheer entertainment side, what else might you offer? Is your reader learning about another time period? Another place in the world? What healthy relationships look like? How to handle conflict in a healthy way? Is there an overarching theme of forgiveness, redemption, restoration?
There’s more to your story than entertainment. Spend some time and think about it.
6 Steps to Prepare for Holiday Shopping
1. Deal with Your Own Resistance First
It’s critical you deal with your own reluctance and resistance to buying things for yourself. Because if you’re not willing to spend dollars on a product that will bring positive change to your life, but you’re asking others to, then you’re sending a double-binding message. People will pick up on your resistance despite your words and will not buy.
2. Decide what events you’ll target.
In the coming months in the US, we have Halloween, All Saints Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s. Here’s a list of holidays and observances in the US for 2024. Peruse it and see if you can find some unique way to connect to some of them.
3. Determine what books you want to promote.
If you’ve written a Christmas story, this is your season! What makes your story different from all the others?
4. Make a list of the selling points of each book.
What result does your book bring to someone’s life? This approaches a reader’s pain point from the end result they desire. For example: Imagine starting each day with a steadfast trust that God is right beside you. The 7-week Bible study Unshakable Faith will lead the way.
Help the reader envision the end result they desire, and then you can list the pain points your book resolves. So, brainstorm a list of 5–10 results and use the top 3–5 in your social media posts and emails.
5. Create your memes and emails.
Are you struggling to be creative? Then consider feeding your top ideas into AI and asking it to create meme taglines and emails. However, tweak the language to fit your voice.
6. Schedule your memes and emails.
You can schedule your memes directly within your social media platforms or through any number of scheduling tools like Hootsuite. For those with a Canva Pro account you can schedule to several platforms directly in Canva.
Schedule your emails within your email list provider service.
Be sure to mark the dates on your calendar so you can monitor your sales and track the effectiveness of your posts and emails.
Conclusion
Remember, just because it’s a special event it doesn’t mean you have to discount your prices (unless it’s a Black Friday special). Know before you start what you hope to accomplish with your offer. For instance, if you want people to read your whole series, then a discount to the first book makes sense.
Lastly, it’s your choice to participate in the holiday shopping season or not. If you decide to participate, don’t do it halfheartedly, put your energy behind it.
Leave a comment below and let me know what you plan to do.