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We have all walked into a room and realized that we’ve forgotten why we walked into it. And we’ve gone into a grocery store without a list and not bought the item we were sure we wouldn’t forget to buy. Your PR goal with your book is not only that people will remember your book the next time they enter a bookstore or go online but also for them to recall to go into a bookstore or online in the first place, specifically to purchase your book.
Most of us fail to remember every thought or message that we hear during a typical day. Too many messages come at us and we have other things to think about than what those messages say. You may hear an author discuss her new book on the radio as you drive to work. That discussion might strike interest in you. You may decide to read the book, but when you sit down at your computer later in the day, you find that you can’t remember the author’s name or the book’s title. Worse, by the next morning you will have probably forgotten about both. Just as your parents had to tell more than once – in fact, several times – to clean your room, you must repeatedly remind your target audience of your book, and to buy your book, so that they will remember to pick it up.
When Pavlov was working with his dogs, consistency and frequency were key factors in his getting them to associate the ringing bell with the food they liked. The dogs did not immediately associate the ringing of the bell with the food they were going to be food, however. It took time for their brains to notice the correlation between the two and then to remember that when the bell rang, their food would be at hand.
That’s what you need to do with your public relations plan for your book: be consistent, frequent and memorable.
In our next post, we’ll continue to explore this topic.
