As digital technology advances, so is consumer behavior, but little do digital marketers and industry observers know it will also impact consumers’ reading habits and preferences. Of course, we are in the information age, and reading is part of every consumer’s daily consumption.
What type of reading material do consumers read? Where do they get them? When do they read and how much time do they spend on reading? Technology, with the help of analytics, could help answer these questions. The answers will not only help authors and the book marketing community to meet the challenges of the digital age but also to ‘humanize’ their approach to book marketing.
How authors and book marketers will make use of the data will help change the marketing landscape in the next 10 years.
More engagement, less advertisements
Before they obsess over numbers, authors and marketers should see to it that readers have been engaged – that data do not just mean empty numbers but engagement. In the next decade, more channels of communication – author websites, social media, and instant messaging apps – will arise, more authors will emerge, and the competition for increasingly fragmented audiences will get fierce.
To rise to the challenge, authors and marketers must create a campaign that pulls people in, not push the message out. In other words, invoke participation, not promotion; other than just spread the message, invite readers and focus the spotlight on them.
Increased social media usage, more connection
In the next 10 years, shopping malls will disappear and online retailers will take over. Bookworms should expect that their favorite books will close down anytime soon. Expect book retailers to run an online bookstore and a drone delivery service.
Unlike brick-and-mortar stores, the online marketplace never sleeps. Social media will keep readers and retailers more connected than ever. For authors and marketers, it will become the most vital part of their marketing strategy. Not only this will help them reach the right audience but also endear themselves to readers in an age where consumer attention is fleeting.
Less aggressive, more personalized marketing
Marketers have long interrupted their potential customers, contacted them without permission, and blindly targeted everyone. This ends today. Marketing in the digital age makes customer retention specialists out of traditional marketers.
In the next 10 years, it will be all about the audience, and part of the focus goes to the messages targeted towards them. Is the message personalized and relevant to the consumer’s need or query? Where and when will they need it?
Thanks to analytics, better research, better targeting, and higher quality content, book marketers are finally able to understand the audience better and customize their content and information to appeal to their interests. No longer do they need to force their message on their audience but earn their attention.
As for authors, understanding their readers’ story is as important as understanding their own story. That should be the norm in the next 10 years.
In the digital age, consumption of information should lead to conversation. Marketing should become conversation, the ultimate call to action.
Book marketing trends are really ever-changing. Authors may already observe some of these changes these days.
I agree! It pays to be informed about these changes.
The self-publishing industry is ever-evolving and the market is growing, which means more opportunities for aspiring writers.
I agree with you, and articles like this one inspire us be more hopeful, not only with self-publishing our books but also with regards to book marketing and finding the right target audience.