Monday, August 15, 2016

Hello Again

Hello again, blogosphere!
I feel like I am the worst at continuous blogging, so I apologize for my delayed post but I would like to inform you of the strides we are making and help you make your own marketing strides!

Sign up for the Newsletter!
We revamped our newsletter! It is now called Fearless Ambition and is chock-full of fun stuff and useful tips and tricks for self empowerment. I have also been doing some social media research to figure out what the most valuable content on each platform is and how to limit ourselves to 1-3 platforms so that we can focus on producing quality posts, I will post about that at a later date!


We have also decided to focus on our website so that we can have the best representation of the Mary Shores brand as possible. We are meeting website designers next week. I can give you a run down of our website wishlist in a different post.

But the most exciting news is that we have created our full timeline for marketing the book, so I have decided that the best use of this blog post is to give you an example of our detailed Marketing Timeline. I have been doing research and have finally created our specific book timeline. I think that it can be helpful to you if you are looking to market a book but have no idea where to start or what steps to take.

Some helpful online resources I found where allindiewriters.com, howtowriteabookthatsells.com, and yourwriterplatform.com.

Here are the first three months of our Marketing Timeline (as written by me, the Marketing and Development Director, ©Summer Slevin 2016):

12 Months Out: August 2016
  • Finalize Marketing Timeline
  • Determine website wish list
  • Contact/meet with website companies
  • Begin building reputation
  • Begin attending local networking events
  • Conduct marketing/audience research
  • Research public speaking coaches
  • Create book marketing plan
  • Decide which 1-3 online platforms to focus on
  • Research most popular posts on platforms
  • Build-up 1-3 online platforms (build audience relationships)
  • Create posting schedule
  • Create blog schedule and topics
  • Research branding companies
  • Create weekly progress reports

Continuous:
  • Set weekly goals
  • Send weekly progress reports to team
  • Check/adhere to budget­­
  • Attend local networking events
  • Follow up with contacts
  • Create monthly scheduled posts for online platforms
  • Post to online platforms
  • Practice public speaking (test groups)
  • Mary-Start creating weekly blog posts and Mary Monday Videos (not for release yet)
  • Communicate with audience
  • Post/send monthly blog
  • Send monthly newsletter
  • Build newsletter subscribers
  • Create valuable material (not for release yet)

Milestones:
  • Finalize marketing timeline
  • Meet with website companies




11 Months Out: September 2016
  • Contact photographer for headshots
  • Enhance public speaking-contact coach
  • Finalize marketing/audience research
  • Contact branding companies
  • Finalize marketing plan and summary
  • Finalize blog and newsletter schedule
  • Finalize social media schedule
  • Finalize elevator pitch/book hook
  • Research relevant sites, blogs and forums
  • Start practicing public speaking

Continuous:
  • Take/post behind-the-scenes videos and pictures
  • Set weekly goals
  • Send weekly progress reports to team
  • Check/adhere to budget
  • Attend local networking events
  • Follow up with contacts
  • Create monthly scheduled posts for online platforms
  • Post to online platforms
  • Practice public speaking (test groups)
  • Mary-Start creating weekly blog posts and Mary Monday Videos (not for release yet)
  • Communicate with audience
  • Check post popularity/revise as necessary
  • Post/send monthly blog
  • Send monthly newsletter
  • Build newsletter subscribers
  • Create valuable material (not for release yet)

Milestones:
  • Mary-start making weekly videos and blogs
  • Finalize elevator pitch




10 Months Out: October 2016
  • Become active in relevant sites, blogs and forums
  • Continue to practice public speaking
  • Take headshots
  • Start researching clubs, events, and stores to contact
  • Contact publisher for marketing plans
  • Adapt marketing plan to publishers’
  • Set up google alerts on author/book name
  • Continue book edits
  • Hire branding company (if going to hire)

Continuous:
  • Take/post behind-the-scenes videos and pictures
  • Set weekly goals
  • Send weekly progress reports to team
  • Check/adhere to budget
  • Attend local networking events
  • Follow up with contacts
  • Create monthly scheduled posts for online platforms
  • Post to online platforms
  • Practice public speaking (test groups)
  • Mary-Create weekly blog posts and Mary Monday Videos(not for release yet)
  • Communicate with audience
  • Check post popularity/revise as necessary
  • Post/send monthly blog
  • Send monthly newsletter
  • Build newsletter subscribers
  • Create valuable material (not for release yet)

Milestones:
  • Become expert in public speaking
  • Take headshots
  • Hire branding company (if going to hire)


I hope that helps your own marketing campaign! 

If you would like to get our full 12 month marketing timeline, email me at: summer@maryshores.com. :) 

If you're interested in more marketing tips, or would like more information about my marketing journey, email me at summer@maryshores.com or leave a comment!


Disclaimer: The information in this post is to be used for reference only. Partial or whole replication of any part of this post without the explicit consent of the writer or her representative parties is forbidden and will infringe copyright policies.