Question: I’ve written a wedding speech book. How do I market a product rather than a service?

“Hi,

I’ve watched several of your videos and I had a question. I received your download a while back for which directories to submit to but I’ve written a wedding speech activity book and I was wondering, do you have a suggestions for an author or someone marketing a product rather than a service?

I do have a local wedding planner who wants to work with me which is great!  I just wanted to get your take on it. I appreciate your time and consideration.

Thanks,
Jerusalem”

Answer: Determine your potential niche wedding markets and sell directly to them.

Hi, Jerusalem!

There are really two potential markets for your book that come to mind immediately: the best men/maid of honor and the wedding professionals who work with them.

I’d pursue both markets to see which is the easiest to reach and sell to.

Steps for marketing to any niche:

1.    Determine WHO they are very specifically.  The people who may buy your book are searching for help writing a speech for a wedding, but how old are they?  What are their other demographics?

2.    Find out WHERE they are looking for solutions.  Do they look online?  Do they ask on Facebook?  Are they asking professionals?

3.    Once you know who they are and where you can find them, you can meet them there.

Ideas for promoting to the Best Men niche:

• Amazon.com is perfect because I’m sure people are using it to find speech information and it ranks high in the search engines.  Learn all you can about getting your book to rank on Amazon.  Being listed isn’t enough; you want to be at the top of the Amazon search for “write a speech” (or whatever.)

• Kindle Books – Convert your book to an eBook and market it on Kindle.  Again, take a course on Kindle publishing to learn the tricks that get you to the top of the rankings.  You can also use this to generate leads for custom speech writing, if you include good calls to action throughout your book.

• Google search – When you search terms like “write best man’s speech,” what websites come up on Page 1?  These are potential places for you to connect with those searchers.  Explore advertising and guest blog opportunities on those sites.

• Guest blogging – Write articles for wedding-related blogs to earn backlinks and traffic to your website.

• Facebook ads – Target the demographic specifically by age and interests with an ad in the news feed.  Something like: “Stuck writing your best man speech?”

Ideas for promoting to wedding professionals:

• DJs and bands – These pros are intimately involved in helping the bridal party pull of speeches successfully.  They might be interested in purchasing your book as a gift for their couples.

• Officiants – If your book also applies to ceremony speeches, officiants and ministers may want to provide it to their clients as a resource.

• Wedding professional associations – Networking or advertising in industry magazines and websites (ADJA, Mobilebeat, etc.) can help you connect with this audience.

• NOTE:  If you’re selling to the professionals, you’ll have to make the “what’s in it for them” very clear.  In other words, show them a benefit to their bottom line to get the best response.

You’ll probably find it easier to market your book directly to the people who need to write a speech simply because they have a driving problem they need solved and are actively looking for solutions.  I’d still test both markets to see how they respond.

Keep brainstorming along these lines.  I’m sure you can come up with even more avenues and ideas to explore.

Good luck with your venture!

– Stephanie

Do you market a product rather than a service in your wedding business?

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