Developing a Domain into a Business - Marketing With No Money

A number of weeks ago I promised to discuss how I was going to market my new scifi book, Battleframe, as a case study for any online business. To make it a little harder I’ve decided to not spend any cash on advertising other than from what my book brings in….this will mean that I’ll need to do some creative thinking.

Friends and Family
When launching any new business the first port of call is to sell your product or service to friends and family. Some people feel a little guilty about doing this but I personally believe that if you’re part of a family then you need to support one another.

For example, my brother launched a wine importation business and I was one of his first online customers. So in launching Battleframe I contacted my family and hit them up to buy my book!

Wider Business Contacts

Each one of us has developed a network of colleagues that are just looking for an excuse to help you out. When you’re launching a new business or product this is the group that will cheer you on and often provide some very sage advice.

One of the great things about the Internet and the domain industry is that over the last fifteen years I’ve developed a huge network of friends all over the world. I count them as friends because I would like to think that our relationships have transcended just business.

So what have I done so far? I’ve let everyone that pays attention to my linkedin, facebook, google+, twitter and my blog know that I’ve just written a science fiction book. The result is a lot of congratulations combined with some sales.

I must admit that the flood of good will towards me has been really humbling. I would really like to thank everyone for their good wishes. Thank you, thank you and thank you yet again!

So right now I’ve got a few sales and I’m climbing the Amazon ladder of importance. The problem is that I’m likely to slide to the bottom of the heap if I don’t start to think really creatively. Some of my contacts have bought a book….this is awesome but in amongst them there will be a few individuals that can potentially sell thousands!

To take the next steps I needed to move from “hey I’ve just published a book” to I’m a publisher that needs to do some deals. So that is it that I have that many people need? I have good quality (well, hopefully) content.

When you look at your product or service, really get down to the nitty gritty of what it is that is so unique about it that someone will pay for it. When you get to this point, look at your contacts again and think about how you could partner with one of them.

For me the answer was easy. I reached out to a great friend of mine that owns a science fiction website and essentially said, “I have content that you could use. Let’s do a deal.” I had their immediate interest and things are progressing forward so that that a number of chapters of my book will start appearing as a serial this Sunday on sciencefiction.com.

Over the years I’ve found that some business people try and cut deals where you lose and they win. I would encourage you to move to a win, win mentality.

There are a number of other deals that I’m looking at doing but what I really want to focus on is doing whatever I can to make sciencefiction.com a great success. My friend runs the business so why wouldn’t I do that?

Here’s another point….when friends help you out like this then make it easy for them not hard. Do whatever you can possibly do to make the relationship a success for them. Don’t focus on you. If the deal is a good one then the more you concentrate on making them successful the more successful you will become. There’s nothing quite like doing a successful business deal with a friend.

I hope that you are enjoying some of my thoughts on the initial stages of marketing my book and can see how you can apply the same principles to your own business. It would be much easier to throw a pile of cash at problem but now nearly as fulfilling as cashflow funding something from scratch.

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Michael Gilmour has been in business for over 32 years and has both a BSC in Electronics and Computer Science and an MBA. He was the former vice-chairman of the Internet Industry Association in Australia and is in demand as a speaker at Internet conferences the world over. Michael is passionate about working with online entrepreneurs to help them navigate their new ventures around the many pitfalls that all businesses face.