Wisdom Wednesdays: Maximizing Book Sales: Unveiling Post-Launch Marketing Strategies with Chris Benetti

Breakfast Leadership Show

Book Marketing Agency's Expertise and Focus Chris Benetti, the owner of Smart Author Media, a book marketing agency, discussed his expertise and the agency's focus on helping business owners sell books. Chris has been in the marketing field for about eight years, and his agency's main objective is to assist clients in generating leads and clients through book sales. The discussion also touched on Chris's journey in marketing, his initial years of learning and experimentation, and the last four years of more refined direction. The conversation concluded with Michael D. Levitt expressing interest in why Chris's agency chose to specialize in working with authors. Post-Launch Book Marketing Opportunity Discussed Chris Benetti discussed the opportunity he identified in the marketplace, where there was a lack of services to help published authors market their books effectively post-launch. He shared his approach of taking a holistic view of the entire process, from building book funnels to running ads, with the goal of maximizing sales for authors. He also emphasized their team's readiness to take full responsibility for the campaigns and the unique approach of not relying on clients for creatives and inputs. Michael D. Levitt agreed with Chris's approach, highlighting the importance of marketing strategies that respond to the specific needs of each book and author. Advertising Validation Process Discussed Chris Benetti discussed the process of running ads for clients, which involves a validation period of 30 days to determine what works best. He explained that they go through a checklist of changes to ad elements based on metrics, such as ad headline, copy, creative, or offer. He emphasized the importance of patience, as ads often don't work right away and require testing and validation. Michael D. Levitt highlighted the need for patience in the process, citing Jeff Bezos' approach to Amazon's early days as an example. Marketing Campaigns: Test, Target, Invest, Maintain Momentum Michael D. Levitt emphasized the importance of patience and experimentation in marketing campaigns, using the analogy of fishing. He suggested starting with a reasonable investment to run tests and identify the target market. Once the target is identified, additional resources can be brought in to maximize results. Chris Benetti agreed with the idea of investing in good creatives in the advertising space, mentioning that a well-crafted creative can maintain momentum for a long time, even without any changes. Testing and Experimentation in Client Work Chris Benetti discussed the importance of testing and experimentation in their work with clients, emphasizing the value of learning from past successes across different clients. He suggested that they have a bank of proven and tested creatives that can be used with new clients. He also stressed the need for a testing cadence and budgeting for each ad. Michael D. Levitt agreed, drawing parallels with cooking and experimentation. He highlighted the importance of learning from past campaigns and not expecting immediate success with new ones. Both agreed on the importance of the long game in their approach. Investing in Business and Authorship Michael and Chris discussed the importance of investing time and resources into a business or authorship for long-term returns. They highlighted the concept of Return on Investment (ROI) and the need to spend money wisely to make money. Chris shared the example of a friend making money from his book through add-ons and additional offers. They emphasized that the book is often just the beginning, with the real profits coming from the add-ons. Chris also pointed out the potential of nurturing book buyers and offering them higher priced products in the future. Book Marketing and Advertising Resources Chris Benetti discussed the resources available on smartauthor.com and their Youtube channel for book marketing and advertising