FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE AND MARKETING WRITE! (I Mean, Right!)

Identifying and targeting your specific audience is crucial when it comes to marketing, regardless of the product you’re selling. That makes knowing your audience your first priority.

Most fiction authors write because they enjoy it and also because they love to read. Stands to reason then that these same authors would write the kind of book they would want to read themselves. And that’s your first hint toward identifying your audience.

So, if you fall into this category as I do, the questions to ask are: When scrolling through social media or flipping through television channels, what grabs your attention? More specifically, which advertisements do you stop to listen to or watch?

I have a fondness for humor. Throw some humor into a romance novel, a fantasy (whether it’s a dark fantasy or YA) or a suspense-driven story—my preferred genres, and you’ve got my attention for sure. And turning to all products in general, even if the product isn’t something I have an interest in or even when I don’t know what the product is, if the commercial playing on my screen or one I scroll across while pursuing social media is humorous, they’ve got my attention.

Also, ask yourself, who are your favorite authors to read, and which well-known authors’ books are the most similar to yours? Find those authors on social media, and you’ve found your audience. Check out their websites and social media accounts to see how they’re attracting new readers. 

For example, my website (Author Romantic-Suspense with Paranormal Twist | Gina Salamon, Author) reflects my brand, and so do my book covers. And if I’ve done at least one thing right, my book descriptions are not misleading, meaning that my book blurbs let the potential reader know exactly what they’ll find between my pages.

In my books, you’ll find both romance and suspense, a touch of the paranormal in one form or another, and a good dose of humor. That defines a number of my favorite authors, although not every one of them encompasses all of those aspects. Out of the growing list of my favorites, the well-known, best-selling author whose books are the most similar to mine (in my opinion) is Karen Robards. So, where I can find her fans is at least one place where I know I can find my audience as well. But that’s not the only place because I can already think of at least a dozen other authors whose readers would fit that bill. And having identified my audience, I now have a path to finding them.

Looking deeper into that and moving on to targeting my audience, I step back again and ask myself what I look for when searching for a new read. The same goes for the social media posts that catch my attention while I’m scrolling through, as mentioned above.

The three things that catch my attention are the colors, the image, and the humor. That goes for the post itself, the book cover, the excerpt—whatever the author’s marketing campaign is featuring. If it grabs my attention, new-to-me author or not, I just might decide to buy. That’s a well-targeted marketing campaign.

When browsing the bookstore, whether online or brick-and-mortar, typically, a reader initially goes directly to the genre(s) that interests them. Once there, they might go searching for a book by one of their favorite authors or a specific book someone recommended. Or, perhaps, in searching for a new read, they’re simply searching for something that catches their eye. And what’s going to catch the reader’s eye first? Why, your book cover, of course. More specifically, color, image and title. After that, it’s the book’s description or your book blurb.

So, keep all of this information solidly in the forefront of your mind and take into account what it tells us. It says your first step in targeting your audience and creating your marketing campaigns is your book cover, and that means choosing wisely when deciding on your title, colors, font choices, and image. Be sure it all properly identifies the product within, thereby catching the interest of your specific audience. Otherwise, you risk leading yourself down one of two paths. Either you’ll end up with a lot of dissatisfied consumers, or you’ll struggle to find any consumers at all.

For more on the subjects of your book cover and book blurb, see my article WHAT’S YOUR BOOK WEARING TO ITS PREMIER? (killingitwrite.com)

Next, when developing your marketing campaign, think along those same lines. Ask yourself, what will catch the attention of my specific audience? What does my book offer? If it’s humor, show us some of that wit. If it’s romance, horror, drama, mystery—whatever your books offer, be sure that your social media pages and your website reflect the personality of your stories. In turn, your marketing campaigns should as well. That’s targeting your audience.

And one more important note: All those followers you’ve collected on social media are not necessarily your audience. In fact, it’s likely that only a small fraction of them are.

So, keep in mind that if your focus is on reaching all of those followers, you’re probably reaching no one. Some may take notice of your marketing campaign enough to check out your website or an online platform where your books are sold, but if your marketing doesn’t resonate with your true audience, that’s not going to result in actual sales.

Now, get out there and find your audience!