Watch for Your Readers and Buyers - Build a Watch Group (Advisory Board)

Continuing on with the in-depth examination of the W-A-K-E  U-P Marketing Strategy


W = Watch

In the "Watch" phase, you are looking at the whole universe of prospective customers to examine further. (Remember, our example book in this series of posts is a work life balance book for parents). Here you are doing a parenting book about work life balance, probably for people with children, grandparents, and caregivers...but perhaps your book would be one that parenting groups, doctors, daycares, or family therapists might find useful. In the case of this example book, we might want to watch for human resource departments at companies as well, because of the topic. Who among these groups is our customer, and in which part of their life are they a customer? (i.e., you might have an HR person who is not a parent -- they would never see your marketing if you only marketed to parents in their homes.) All of these various groups become your "Watch Group," which by the way, I build simply and inexpensively on Facebook (when possible).

Hint:  "Everybody" is not a Watch Group.  If you have identified "Everybody" as your audience... well, it's not an audience and you can not begin to market to "Everybody."  Do YOU buy "Everybody" else's books?

One way to build a valid Watch Group that can provide you with valuable information about how to reach others like them, is to use the search feature on Facebook. Ask group leaders and popular fan page owners to help you post a notice to invite people to be in your group. Once you build the group with a few people, expand it by asking those people if they know others who might want to be on the Watch Group (Advisory Board). 


Once you have built a group of 10 or 12 people, set some rules -- for example, no bashing or name calling, no opinions about others' ideas. Just sharing where they get their information. Most people will be very forthright, but be advised, some people just like to hear themselves talk and will get all over others. Don't let that go -- stop it as soon as it starts.




Next up:  A = "Ask"