Pump up your e-book sales volume with a product video

Pump up your e-book sales volume with a product video

Pump up your e-book sales volume with a product video on YouTube, and why not? Most companies selling tangible goods use video to promote their products. For example, in 2009 Samsung launched a product video featuring sheep wrapped up in the company’s latest LED technology.

To date, the Samsung sheep video on YouTube has received 14.5 million views and still counting. In short, Samsung’s product video has reached out and continues to reach out to its customer base with a tantalizingly effective marketing message which has translated into an overwhelming demand for its LED technology and other electronic products. So if Samsung can do it, why not the e-book author?

Creating a product video is not that difficult. There are plenty of software packages available that will allow you to produce a good quality video for distribution over the net. However, getting people to watch your product video is another matter.

One advantage that mainstream companies have over first-time e-book authors is worldwide brand awareness. Unless you are a very famous author, it is unlikely that you will have a global following. If you did, you wouldn’t need a product video.

So how do you overcome the problem of getting your product video noticed? The answer to that question is to create a video that is unique, funny or has novelty value, and which can carry your product message to the marketplace. Remember, the idea is to get as many people to watch your product video as possible. You want your product video to go viral!

Often as not, the most successful product videos are those which resonate with audiences. In other words, identify the audience’s problem and then offer a solution, but do it in such a way that is not contrived or comes across as chalk and talk. Don’t tell! Instead, your product video should entertain and inform.

One of the funniest and perhaps most entertaining series of product videos I have watched in recent years is the Budweiser ads, in particular, those ads where animal and human interaction takes place. Animals are cute and cuddly, but when they are employed to usurp the human intellect, the results can be extremely funny.

Unlike Budweiser, you probably don’t have millions to spend on video production and well trained animals, so capturing a funny moment between animals and humans is not an option for your product video. Ultimately, budgetary constraints will impact on what type of product video you create, but this does not mean you should limit your imagination.

In my next article, I will be looking at how to generate ideas for an e-book product video.

Facebook and Your E-book

With a market reach of over 500 million users, it is not difficult to understand why many e-book authors look upon Facebook as an opportunity to market their e-book products. However, marketing your e-book on Facebook is not as easy as it looks.

Unlike other forms of advertising, social media marketing is built around the concept of social interaction, a two way dialogue where information is shared between individuals or peer groups. The thing to remember about social networks like Facebook is that they empower users to question, challenge and offer opinions on a diverse range of topics, including your e-book.

While Facebook may offer e-book authors the opportunity to promote their e-book to a wider audience, the issue of how to manage social discourse should never be far away from the author’s mind. If managed badly, authors could quickly find their e-book generating negative press which could adversely affect sales. And herein lays the conundrum for authors looking to market their material on social networking sites.

The key to successful social media marketing is to think ‘relationship’ rather than ‘promotion’. When it comes to planning your e-book’s SMM strategy, try to establish a set of goals that take into consideration the following:

· Know your audience – where do they hang out and why? Get to know them

· Connect – how do you plan to connect with your audience? What channels and tools will you use and why?

· Opportunities – what opportunities can you create for dialogue? What topics, other than your e-book, are likely to engage your audience?

· Position – how do you plan on finding common ground with your audience? Don’t burden them with the ‘I’ syndrome. The constant use of ‘I’ will simply drive your audience away. Empathy is the secret to finding common ground with your audience.

· Time – How do you plan to manage the social interaction balance?

Once you’ve established your SMM goals, try to be an ‘ambassador’ in your market niche. Respond to criticism positively and not defensively. Remember, your audience will have an opinion on what you have to offer, good or bad. Whatever their opinion, take the opportunity to thank your audience for their input. This will create a positive twist on any negative criticism you may receive by turning it into an open appreciation of your audience’s time and energy in reading your material.

Social networking sites are about interaction, not promotion. So interact in a way that builds your credibility as an e-book author who listens rather than promotes. Sales will come after you’ve built up enough credibility with your audience.

Writing E-books: Using a Storyline to Sell Products

In order to sell or promote products successfully using a storytelling e-book, you need to take the key points of a given product or service and turn them into a story which your audience can buy into. Basically, the storyline should carry your product message to the reader without being overtly sales orientated.

Your storytelling e-book should be thematically focused and with a storyline which is either humorous or serious, or even both. The secret is to choose a theme and a storyline that you think your audience will enjoy reading. Themes can include relationship building, pets, children or gardening, to name but a few.

Once you have chosen your theme, simply add a storyline that can comfortably carry your product message without going over the top. If your readers find the storyline of your e-book interesting and entertaining, then there is a good chance that your reader will refer your e-book to their friends or relatives.

An e-book that tells a story to promote a product is not too dissimilar to a concept video or a concept advertisement you see on television. An excellent example of a concept advertisement is BT’s (British Telecom) use of a couple’s relationship to promote their broadband services. Each of BT's ensuing ads gave a snap shot of the relationship as it transcended from boy meets girl to the interaction of a mature adult couple. And, of course, this all takes place around BT’s broadband services. Following this same example, there is no reason why you, as an e-book author, cannot do the same. You can even write a series of stories built around a single thematic focus, much in the same way as the early radio soap operas used to.

What I like about using stories to endorse a given product is the fact that the storyline encourages the reader to imagine that they are using the product or service you wish to promote or sell. Reading stories invokes proxy participation much in the same way as watching a movie does. Your readers can engage with the product or service you are promoting by following your storyline.

So what products can be promoted and sold through the medium of storytelling? Pet related products are an obvious choice, as pet owners are often receptive to stories about animals. But even items such as software should not be excluded from the prose treatment. The Internet is awash with affiliate products, all of which can lend themselves to a storytelling medium. It really is all down to your imagination.

The inability to write stories need not exclude you from putting together a storytelling e-book to promote or sell your product. There are plenty of copywriters who would be willing to write your stories for you.

Alternatively, if you are artistically inclined, then you can always use the cartoon and caption option. Popeye and his spinach eating adventures spring to mind here. I have often wondered how much spinach was sold as a direct result of the Popeye cartoon strips. I am sure Popeye played a major role in promoting sales of this versatile vegetable.

So if you are already an affiliate marketer, or you are planning to become one, then you might want to write an e-book with a storyline that promotes your product rather than just pumping your customers with hardcore sales copy.