I have run into more than one author online who has been convinced that sending promotions to groups, e-mail lists that have been opted into, tweet posts, FB posts etc. that are similar or the same are spam. My first thought when I hear an author say, “But I can’t send that promotion out on the groups again it’ll be considered spam!” is that someone hasn’t taken their marketing classes or done their research.
The truth is I’ve run into this more than once and I’m always amazed, especially since the cardinal rule of marketing is that potential readers or buyers need to see something at least seven times before they’re going to be motivated to buy it. For example, do you only see a commercial on television one time? You don’t do you. It’s often played over and over, and while that can be annoying it’s true, it is because they are following that cardinal rule mentioned above. That being said, it only makes sense to put that material or promotion in front of readers at least once weekly. Now, I’m by no means suggesting you post exactly the same promotion every single day. That would not be spam since you’re sending it to people that have opted to receive promotions by joining the yahoo group, newsletter, twitter subscription, or whatever the case may be, but it would be annoying. That’s why I always suggest authors keep it to once a week for each book. It’s fine to promote more than once a week, just vary your promotions so you are doing a different book each time you promote during the week. If you only have one book out, then consider changing up the excerpt so readers have something new to read each time you post.
Now, you may be thinking, “But, but, that means it will take seven weeks before a reader buys my book!” However, this is not necessarily true. Keep in mind, particularly for the yahoo groups, that there are often hundreds if not thousands of readers, and many of them are on digest. What this means is that readers read through their digest, and maybe more than once, so there is a good chance they will see your post more than once. When you couple that with using Twitter, Facebook, and your own newsletter or webpage where often you will have the same or similar target market, chances are some of the same readers will be there and see your promotion a second or even third time. This will help to shorten the amount of time until someone buys your book.
Remember, contrary to what some groups and authors will tell you, spam is not sending the same or similar promotion to a group of subscribers more than once, spam is when you send unsolicited e-mails, or posts to those who have not opted to be a part of the yahoo group, newsletter list, twitter and FB subscriptions in question. Or when you send promotions on a day that the yahoo group etc. does not allow them. That’s one final tidbit. You have to follow the rules for the group.
If you keep in mind that the rule of thumb in marketing is to get your material in front of readers so they see it seven times, and then you change up the material often, there is less chance you will run into problems with those terrified of receiving or seeing what they consider to be spam.