SPCG Marketing: Titanic, after the iceberg--1912 Facts About Titanic is the perfect example of second-stage marketing. During its first year of sales in 1998, 1912 Facts About Titanic sold several thousand copies in the general book trade. When sales began to wane and the distributor declared the book "essentially dead," neither Savas nor the author were ready to call it quits. Both firmly believed the book deserved a far wider audience and that it could be a blockbuster if the right "second-stage" marketing strategy could be developed and implemented. Instead of remaindering and giving up, we put our heads together and crafted a new plan. Diligence and persistence paid off when the Titanic Exhibitions traveling the country (about as far from the general book trade as you can get) finally agreed to carry the book in its gift shop. It took six separate mailed copies, letters, phone calls, and a personal visit, but the hard work and a little luck paid off in the end--big time. When Lee Merideth, the book's author, agreed to personally fly across the country and spend his weekends delivering talks and signing books, a new royalty-distribution and publishing plan was put into place to make it financially feasible for him to do so. The result? 1912 Facts About Titanic quickly clawed its way to the top, and now boasts tens of thousands of copies in print (eight printings to date). It is the best-selling book offered by the heavily attended exhibitions. Never give up. |
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