Friday, October 5, 2012

The simple power of one a day for authors


 Seth Godin recently wrote about the power of doing one marketing thing a day. It is a brilliant list of things any author could do. Here is Godin’s post in full.  At the end of the post, I have added a few more ideas for nonfiction authors.

There are at least 200 working days a year. If you commit to doing a simple marketing item just once each day, at the end of the year you've built a mountain. Here are some things you might try (don't do them all, just one of these once a day would change things for you):
  • Send a handwritten and personal thank you note to a customer
  • Write a blog post about how someone is using your product or service
  • Research and post a short article about how something in your industry works
  • Introduce one colleague to another in a significant way that benefits both of them
  • Read the first three chapters of a business or other how-to book
  • Record a video that teaches your customers how to do something
  • Teach at least one of your employees a new skill
  • Go for a ten minute walk and come back with at least five written ideas on how to improve what you offer the world
  • Change something on your website and record how it changes interactions
  • Help a non-profit in a significant way (make a fundraising call, do outreach)
  • Write or substantially edit a Wikipedia article
  • Find out something you didn't know about one of your employees or customers or co-workers
A few more ideas for nonfiction authors: 
  • Write a powerful 300 word bio
  • Hire a professional photographer to take three good photographs of you.
  • Pitch an idea for a blog post to the Huffington Post about the subject of your book
  • Make a three minute video of the subject of your book and post it on YouTube.
  • Make a list of the top 50 blogs in your field.
  • Read and comment on one of the top blogs in your field
  • Offer to guest-post on a top blog in your field
  • Send a copy of your book to one of the top blogs, and ask for a review
  • Review a colleague’s book on Amazon
  • Offer to speak to a college class
  • Offer to speak at a local bookstore 
  • Suggest friends for a colleague on Facebook using the "Suggest Friends" button
What worked for you? Can you add to this list?

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