The Ad Man Answers #44

Thursday + Gregory Huffstutter = The Ad Man Answers

Advertising Make-Over #1

In our last column, the Ad Man agreed to give the “Gator Bait” treatment to five readers who submitted a brief synopsis of their published or unpublished novel.

After pulling a name from the proverbial hat, our first “winner” is CJ Lyons, whose second book in the “Angel of Mercy” series, WARNING SIGNS will be released in January from Jove (Penguin).

Here’s the book jacket copy:

The national bestseller LIFELINES felt “like all the best episodes of ER and Grey’s Anatomy squeezed into one breathtaking novel” (Hilton Head Magazine). Now CJ Lyons returns to the front lines of the struggle between life and death…

On rotation at Pittsburgh’s Angels of Mercy Hospital and struggling to finish medical school, Amanda Mason can’t afford to make any mistakes—or to reveal a troubling secret. Mysterious symptoms that defy diagnosis have been affecting her performance, and as she struggles to keep control, the only person who seems to notice is the irritatingly observant and sexy Dr. Lucas Stone.

But when one patient showing the same strange symptoms dies and another slips into a coma, Amanda realizes the clock is ticking on her own survival. With the help of her friends—Gina, a roommate recovering from her own trauma; Lydia, a streetwise ER attending; and Nora, a by-the-book charge nurse—Amanda must solve this medical mystery before she becomes the next victim...

Marketing is sometimes about hidden gems – ferreting out small pockets of potential customers that would be attracted to your product if you cleverly reach them in a relevant fashion.  And sometimes marketing is about playing to your strengths and swinging a big stick.

CJ’s book calls for the latter.

Her positioning statement is neatly summarized by that Hilton Head Magazine blurb: “feels like all the best episodes of ER and Grey's Anatomy squeezed into one breathtaking novel.”

So why not go right after those fans?  At their peaks, those two TV shows combined for over 50 million weekly viewers.  That means a huge pool of current and former McDreamy and Dr. Ross-o-philes that enjoy relationship-driven medical dramas. 

Are all of those ER/Grey’s fans active readers?  Certainly not.  But it’s a good hole to start fishing.  If there’s one thing that tie-in novels have proven, it’s that there’s a ready market for familiar characters.  And once you’ve watched every episode of ER’s last 14 seasons, where do you go for similar fare?

By using that Hilton Head blurb on her website and press materials, CJ has already started positioning herself as a natural extension of those recognizable brands.  My recommendation is to take it even further.  Ask fellow writers to give you blurbs along the lines of “It out ER’s ER” and “Turns Grey’s Anatomy green with envy.”  Then use those messages to frame your advertising. 

By doing so, you’ll help consumers – who are inundated with choices – fit you into an easily-recognizable category.  Most writers like to think their novel is unique, but readers are on the look-out for assistance when deciding which books are worth their time.  A simple “If you like this, you’ll like that” can be effective during those purchase decisions.

Now finding ER/Grey’s viewers on TV is easy.  But affording a National TV spot within either program is not, unless CJ has $200,000-400,000 to throw around for a single :30s commercial. 

More cost effective would be a video pre-roll video sponsorship on NBC’s and ABC’s streaming players.  For $3,000, CJ could deliver approximately 100,000 impressions to people who like those programs enough to watch old episodes online.  Hulu.com is another spot to place advertising within full-episode replays.

To hit the hard-core audience, CJ could also place advertising on fan websites like:

ER Headquarters 

Fanpop!

Grey’s Anatomy Insider

Grey’sAnatomy.com

And if she wanted to mix it up 

Comparison statements like “It out ER’s ER” is good for defining yourself, but it doesn’t actually convey what CJ’s book is about.  For that, I’d recommend something short, dramatic, and not at all jokey.  If these hard-core ER fans were looking for medical humor, they’d be visiting here instead.

The first concept that comes to mind is an image of a young woman in scrubs approaching a hospital bed.  The voice over or web banner copy reads:  “To finish medical school, Amanda Mason must solve one more case.”

Before she reaches the bed, the woman collapses into an IV stand and falls to the floor.  The copy continues:  “Her own... Coming to a waiting room this January.  The new novel by CJ Lyons.” Then hit them with the blurbs.

Instead of linking to CJ’s home page, new banner or pre-roll video ads could be directed to a unique landing page for WARNING SIGNS.  That way she could better track incoming traffic, see which ads are performing the best, and promote relevant offers.  For example, on that landing page, she could offer a chance to win a prize for anyone signing up for her mailing list.

Those are just one person’s ideas.  Readers, do you have any other suggestions for CJ’s book launch?

And if you’re interested in an advertising make-over, leave a book description and homepage URL in the comments section.  I’ll draw the next “winner” from the pool of all entries, including the authors who signed up last time.

 

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE and is currently on submission. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

Comments

[Katherine Howell]

Hi, I'd love a go! Here's the back cover blurb for my thriller The Darkest Hour, out now in Australia and in 2009 in UK and Europe.

Paramedic Lauren Yates stumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley – the killer still lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him – he’s Thomas Werner, her sister’s ex and father to Lauren’s niece…and not a man to mess with.

But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back.

Ella knows Lauren is the perfect witness, but when Lauren tries to change her statement, Ella realises that Lauren is hiding something. The harder she digs into the paramedic’s past, the more Lauren resists, and the worse the threat from Werner becomes.

Will Ella’s investigation put her career on the line? Can Lauren keep her family safe? Or will they all – Ella included – pay the ultimate price?

Thanks so much for your work with this column, Gregory. And to you on the entire blog, MJ!
cheers,
Katherine.
www.katherinehowell.com

[M.J. Rose]

And what Greg keeps forgetting to mention is that AUTHORBUZZ.com can create all those ads for all those websites!!!!!

[cj lyons]

Greg,
I feel honored to go first!!! Thanks so very much for your fantastic ideas!

I've already been involved in reaching out to Grey's and ER's fans via their online communities (easy since I'm a fan as well)but I love the idea of trying to find ways to advertise directly to them.

So many wonderful ideas, now I'll need to see how far I can stretch my budget!

Thanks again for sharing your expertise and insight!
CJ

[gregory huffstutter]

For these advertising makeovers, I'm presuming the author will also cover heavy book buyers & librarians through Shelf Awareness, blog ads, PR outreach, conferences, and the like. My ideas are incremental in nature.

I'll be doing a future Q&A with M.J. on how a service like Authorbuzz.com can execute on these traditional and non-traditional marketing efforts.