14 Tips for Making the Most of Your Multichannel Marketing Campaign

The good news is that book marketing professionals have more channels through which to promote their titles than ever. But with so many choices and decisions to be made, crafting an effective, far-reaching multichannel marketing campaign is more confusing than ever. Book Business spoke with several book marketing gurus to get their takes on what makes a multichannel marketing campaign work.

1. Take advantage of all available marketing channels. Noreen Henson, marketing manager for Demos Medical Publishing, says her biggest difficulty today is “the electronic revolution in information delivery”—and her constant challenge is to ensure Demos’ campaigns take advantage of this evolution. Among Henson’s strategies are: e-newsletters keeping customers informed of the company’s latest offerings, mass e-mail press releases to media contacts, linking campaigns that improve her site’s search engine rankings, and message boards and online communities that are devoted to relevant topics.

2. Leverage the Internet’s full potential. “If you don’t include the Internet, you’re not relating to [kids],” says Jason Wells, publicity and marketing director for high-quality art publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc. in New York City. “… And if you don’t think kids care [about the Web], then how do you explain the e-mails that complain about a new character not having a Web site yet?”

3. Tap online communities and searches. Peter Costanzo, director of online marketing for New York City-based trade publisher Perseus Books, suggests mid-sized publishers like his own company should “leverage the reach of online communities like MySpace and Gather.com, as well as Google Book Search and soon Windows Live with rich, creative content that not only resonates with targeted audiences, but that also attracts new readers by making sure the content provides added value.”

4. Extend the book experience online. Making additional content available online further engages the audience, and many are hoping it will pay off in ways publishers have yet to be able to measure. “It’s about making it convenient for the reader as much as anything,” says Laura Mancuso, marketing manager of Berkeley, Calif.-based Tricycle Press—the children’s imprint of Ten Speed Press. “We haven’t really found the Internet to be a great source of money for our business. But we look at it as an extra value we’re giving the consumer.”