Recently, I was emailing with an editor who was looking for some stats about marketing budgets to help bolster his request for a larger budget for his publication's marketing. He had succeeded in increasing subscriptions in the past through marketing campaigns, but most ofthe increase was lost at renewal time. I imagine with those kinds of ephemeral results, asking for more money needs to be supported by data to stand a chance.
That same day, I was reading about a new initiative. A web-based collective of creative minds who work to solve one great problem a year — this year's issue is about the education system. They used the term "right brains” and their url is super clever: rightbrainsare.us. Check them out (after youfinish reading).
The latest big release with the term "right brains” that I recall is Daniel Pink's new book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future. In fact, he is quoted on the "right brains” website. Although this movement may indeed deliver good ideas that achieve results (and I hope it does), I can'thelp but ponder: Is this a marketing idea for the book?
Whether it is or not, let's suppose that it is.
Now that is a BIG IDEA: a "Big Idea” for marketing a book is to ignite a movement. Wow.
What is the big idea to solve your publication's marketing challenge? What is your challenge anyway? You have to start by correctly identifying the problem. And if you need to get some help to ensure that you start on the right premise—and so that your trajectory is notcompromised—then that's what you should do.
So, back to the editor I was emailing. He knows his stuff and has an established record of success in increasing subscriptions, and he is looking to do it again. But the results are not sustainable. So, is the best solution to get more money to get more new readers, aka subscribers? What is hisreal issue? I would say it is not getting more readers—it is keeping readers.
So, if the Big Idea for marketing a book is to ignite a movement, what is the big idea for keeping readers? I have some ideas about that, but keep in mind that the Big Idea is unique to each challenge. What worked for some other publication won't necessarily work for yours. And remember, BigIdeas come from looking beyond the assumptions and below the surface to truly get at the core problem.
Have you developed some Big Ideas? We'd love to hear about them.
Monica Bussolati is creative director of the BUSSOLATI design firm in Washington, DC and a member of Association Media & Publishing.
