Cindy Ratzlaff

Bestselling author, award winning brand marketing and social media pro, Cindy Ratzlaff, creates sales driving campaigns for authors, books and publishers.

How to Create Your Digital Footprint

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When someone Google’s your name, whether during a job search or when considering working with you in any capacity, you want to feel confident that what they find will represent you in the most positive way. For most businesses, brands or products, this isn’t an issue. You’ll have a website, social networks and a host of digital platforms placing positive digital breadcrumbs all over the internet for clients and employers to find and follow.

But for the new graduate or someone just starting out in a new field, additional steps may be required:

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10 Social Profiles Every Author Needs

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Every author needs a platform, a way to connect with readers and let them know when their next book is ready to be purchase. So what is a platform? A platform is simply the reliable ways in which an author can connect with fans and encourage them to buy books.

Bestselling authors have a history of bestsellers, creating a kind of literary celebrity. That’s a platform. Some authors have national television shows, magazine columns or are regulars on nationally syndicated radio. These are platforms too. An author might have a commitment from Staples or IBM to buy books and give them to employees. That’s a kind of platform, too.

Until recently, the average author was out of luck if they didn’t have a platform. That was before social media and the power it has to excite, engage, build community and create media for authors.

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The New Rules of Facebook Marketing

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Facebook moved your cheese. When Facebook began rolling out the new news feed algorithm, downgrading reach for business pages and making it necessary for brands, businesses, entrepreneurs and solo-preneurs to “pay-to-play” to reach more of their fan base, there was gnashing of teeth, wringing of hands and groaning heard throughout the publishing industry and beyond. People threw up their hands and declared they were leaving Facebook.

But is that really the answer for authors, publishers and booksellers who want to help readers find their next book?

Facebook visibility, in my opinion, is a math problem first and a content marketing strategy problem second.

Facebook Visibility is a Math Problem

More than one billion users log into Facebook every month. That’s an enormous ecosystem for authors. The average Facebook user sees updates from only a fraction of their friends or the pages they’ve liked.

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8 Tips to Get More Organic Reach on Facebook

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You’re not imagining things. Facebook reach for business pages has decreased dramatically and Facebook isn’t denying it at all. In fact, they’ve been transparent about the need to deliver a profit for their shareholders and the new reality that business pages will have to bring some marketing dollars to the table to increase their post reach. Authors, small businesses and entrepreneurs do have to add some advertising dollars to their monthly budget but there are still ways to increase reach organically to supplement an ad budget.

So instead of watching your Facebook reach plummet, try these 8 strategies from my Maximum Visibility Playbook. These are just a few easy to implement ideas that you can use to help the very people who want and need what you create, find you.

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Brand Building Strategies | Identify Your Social Media Goals

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When someone asks me what the ROI of social media is, I always tell them it depends on their goals. Identifying the outcome you want from the investment you’re willing to make is essential to determining whether or not the investment is worthwhile.

Every business goal requires a unique brand building strategy. Goals first, strategy second.

As authors, publishers, small to mid-sized companies, and entrepreneurs either jump aboard or ramp up their social media branding efforts, it is prudent to think old school while in the social media marketing planning phase.

If a business were planning to spend $10,000 in print advertising, they would go through the exercise of goal setting as they prepared a creative brief for the advertising agency. Borrowing from that model to plan a social media campaign makes sense in that some aspects of social media engagement are really a new form of advertising, albeit a very sophisticated new form with multiple levels of psychology and strategy.

When writing a creative brief for an advertising campaign, some common marketing goals might include:

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Increase Brand Visibility with Slideshare

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Update: Slideshare is now owned by LinkedIn and is fully integrated into LinkedIn profiles. You can still use Slideshare as a separate platform and link it to your LinkedIn profile. By uploading your presentations to Slideshare, you can reach more people with content you’ve already created, saving you time, positioning you as a thought-leader, and garnering visibility on multiple platforms.

One of my favorite marketing visibility tools is Slideshare.net, a powerful platform for increasing brand awareness, demonstrating authority on a topic, making your stellar content work harder for you across multiple platforms and creating those all-powerful digital breadcrumbs leading back to the brand of you.

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Five Secrets to Creating Brand: You

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You are a brand and everything you do is a brand extension. It’s never been more important for authors, speakers, small business owners and entrepreneurs to understand the basics of personal branding.

When I was a kid my folks told me that I could be anything I really wanted to be. Although not entirely true – I will never be 5’8″ – I have found that I have nearly unlimited possibilities. I’m a writer, a marketing consultant, a wife and mother, a business woman, a coach, a loyal friend, a passionate seeker of new challenges and also someone who loves the quiet solitude of reading on a beach. That abundance of choices and gifts can sometimes muddy the waters when I’m trying to define my “brand” to myself and to potential clients.

I’m working hard to be very clear about who I am and what I do. When I succeed in communicating this with clarity, I’m happier and more productive and so are my clients. I’ve looked to successful leaders to help me identify some “best in class” practices that are helping me define my brand. I hope you’ll find them useful and inspiring as well.

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3 Low-Cost Marketing Strategies for Self-Published Authors

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If you’ve dreamed about becoming a published author, you are not alone. According to ISBN registration figures from Bowker, “self-published titles in 2013 increased to more than 458,564, up 17 percent over 2012.” What the vast majority of those new authors don’t know is that they are now the Chief Marketing Officer of their own personal publishing company. They’ve also taken on the role of Director of Sales, Operations Manager and Publicist.

Very few authors bring all of those skill sets to the table and while bestseller status may not be in the cards for every author, finding and promoting a book to those who are most likely to want that book, is possible and getting easier all the time. Social media levels the marketing playing field for the self-publishing author and helps authors find their reading public through direct to consumer marketing.

Every author may dream of writing a bestseller. But writing the book and dreaming isn’t enough.

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Social Marketing for Authors

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Romance bookResources for authors to help them reach more readers by Cindy Ratzlaff.s are consistently one, if not the, bestselling genres in publishing. Why? Perhaps it’s because romance writers understand the importance of networking. They create writing groups, attend writing conferences, read each others books and share their love of reading at the drop of a hat. I had the honor of addressing this year’s Romance Writers of America Conference in San Antonio, Texas this week to speaking about social marketing strategy for authors and the complete slide deck of presentation is online and available to view or download on my SlideShare Account here.

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8 Simple Ideas for Free or Low-Cost Publicity

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Every business owner knows the value of PR. It helps your ideal customer understand what you do and find you when they want your service or product. But most business owners don’t have a background in public relations nor do they have the budget for a professional PR agency.

The good news is you don’t need to break the bank to garner good publicity for your business.  If you’re willing to commit a little time and ingenuity, you can promote your company effectively and build your reputation as a business leader.

Here are eight simple steps you can take, on your own, to promote your business, book or service.

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