Ballroom Icons
The book was already a powerhouse. When first approached to help promote this amazing book, which I had purchased months earlier and read a couple of times, I was thrilled because I considered it the finest book of its subject and one of the most impressive biographical efforts ever. Ballroom Icons outlines the history of the great figures who built ballroom dancing into the phenomenon it is today. Beautifully designed, printed on heavy archival paper and lovingly bound in a hardshell slipcase, this is one of those products you are thrilled to be part of. Here’s how the effort developed.
Strategy
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The previous website |
The marketing which had previously been done for this book fell short of its ability to reflect the power of the book to a potential buyer. The book was elegant and beautiful, rich with biographical text, designed to be read and studied. The existing advertising hadn’t done enough to highlight these qualities. The existing website (shown at right) didn’t make it clear that this was a site about a book. In the entire site, only one reference was even made to the book unless you read the blog entries. People coming to it would have little idea what the site was all about. If they wanted to order the book, they would have to figure out how (you had to write an Email to the author). Clearly the sales process had to be made clear and intuitive.
Branding wasn’t much of an issue, because the book was already elegantly designed. We only needed to have the promotional materials reflect what was already apparent in the book itself.
The first step was to find a marketing and promotional position that the book would take. An analysis of the market suggested that the marketing should be oriented towards dance studios and top professionals, primarily because of the high cost of this initial limited-edition volume. Teachers, studios and coaches are especially interested in the stories that demonstrate the history of ballroom dancing. Knowing this information makes them more informed and more valuable to their students. This was a suitable place to start.
Scattered throughout the text are remarkable stories about ballroom dancing that dancers and teachers would find intriguing. Dance coaches are always telling stories about the legends, and having this book in their library would provide plenty of new information. So the strategy hinged on highlighting those unique stories as a series of questions.
Postcards
Six of the most dramatic statements were pulled out for a series of postcards. These consist of a different question on the front of each card, with identical sales information about the book on the reverse side. Questions included the following:
- Which former world champion was once told a horse could dance better than he could?
- What simple technique did a legendary dance coach use to set nervous students at ease in a lesson?
- Who brought the Blackpool morning practice to a complete standstill?
- What was the joke that inspired Arthur Murray to start his dance school?
- Who saved the Viennese Waltz from elimination as a competitive dance?
The postcard campaign allows vendors at major dance community events (Blackpool, for example) to create contests and other marketing efforts based on customers answering the questions or collecting all the postcards to win a free book or get their book signed or approaches of that nature.
Advertising
A series of advertisements were designed to appeal to people who like to read. After all, the product is a book, so simply showing pictures of the book would not be enough to inspire someone to place an order. Words were important in this campaign. The ads also needed to appeal to coaches, dance teachers and serious competitors who have an interest in knowing more about the great figures who created the traditions of ballroom dancing.
The ads were designed to work as either a two-page spread or a single page, depending on the media. They run in event programs for major competitions, and in some of the more prestigious dance publications.
The ads use the same question approach to create interest, and are designed with a visual styling that matches the treatment of the book itself, creating a strong relationship to widen the brand. Ads could run as a single page, or a two-page spread. Shown here is one of the ads, designed to run in the Blackpool event program. Click on the image to view a larger version.
Website design
A new website also reflected a professional image, designed to match the visual styling of the book. The site makes it clear that this is about a book, with information such as the complete table of contents, a “Look Inside!” section with actual excerpts from the book, testimonials, the ability to order online from anywhere in the world, and a blog that the author can update herself with the latest news.
Social media also plays a key role. The website includes “Facebook Like” links throughout, and has icons for bookmarking or posting key pages to social media environments like Twitter, Facebook, or Delicious. A Facebook fan page was created and is updated regularly with information about the history of ballroom dancing to keep fans motivated to think about the book and its impact.
The new website for Ballroom Icons matches the elegant visual styling of the book. This creates an expectation of excellence and value, which is further enhanced when the book arrives looking just as people expected.
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