Marketing Booklets

Posted on December 5th, 2007, by Meggin McIntosh

Question:

I know that you have been sending letters to principals promoting your tips booklets. When you send these letters, are you sending them a copy of the entire booklet as a gift or are you sending them sample contents? I know that we will have to give some of the booklets away. However, the idea is to make money, not give money away. Also, the cynical side of me thinks that some principals may just copy the booklet and give it to their employees. Please let me know what you plan to do.

Posted by Billy Simms | 12/4/07

Answer:

Good question (as yours always are). Here are some of the things I’ve done so far:

Sent an email to principals letting them download my ebooklet (Creating Margins in Your Professional Life) for free for a short period of time (about one week). It gave me a chance to market, but to give them something free vs. selling. And now they’re on my list in a different way.
Sent an email to teachers telling them that if they bought the ebooklet (Creating Margins in Your Personal Life) for $4.75, I’d send them the hard copy booklet for free (and this offer was good for about a 4 day period). Sold quite a few, but didn’t make much money at this rate…so it was more promotional.
Sent a letter to principals and superintendents about the teacher booklet–and telling them that they could buy them as gifts for their teachers for Christmas/Holidays. Presold about 400 booklets…so not great, but better than a kick in the head. I also had Lisa call many of the principals in the state to make sure they had gotten the mailing and to also make sure that they knew they needed to order by 11/30 to get their booklets in time. This made a huge difference in the number of orders (plus several principals then wanted to talk to me about workshops…and it was the call that prompted them to think about me, so it was worth it).

There is ALWAYS the chance that people will copy it. You want to make sure your contact info is on there so that at least if it’s copied, someone could get back to you. In general, though, I think these booklets are inexpensive enough that most principals will be able to see their way to buy them for their teachers–in bulk, so they get a bit of a discount.

I am using my booklets not just as a money maker, but also to help promote what I do…and I think that’s what you’re doing also, so sending out a few is not a bad idea.

You might do a “split test” where you send a letter with no booklet to 100 principals and then a letter with a booklet to another 100 principals…and see if one or the other group orders more.

Hope this helps.