Susan Friedmann [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books.
Today, my special guest is Patricia Viscount. Patricia is a natural storyteller whose journey began with bedtime tales for her sisters. Patricia has worn many hats, including serving as an officer in the Canadian army and working as a communications specialist in the energy sector. She's a master at turning complex jargon into clear, compelling messaging. Whether it's website content, email campaigns, or brand strategy, service providers turn to Patricia for her creative flair and strategic insights. She's passionate about helping businesses boost their SEO, highlight their unique edge, and gather powerful testimonials that drive results.
And when she's not working her magic with words, you might find her scuba diving or planning her next travel adventure.
Patricia, and it's absolute pleasure to welcome you to the show, and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.
Patricia Viscount [00:01:22]:
Thank you so much for having me.
Susan Friedmann [00:01:25]:
Yeah. I just love it. And you are in Canada. We always love talking to our Canadian friends. Yes. One of the things that I know, and I said it in the intro, that you are such a pro at, and that is email marketing. When I talk to authors and I ask them about their marketing, the first thing they usually say is, well, I've got x thousand people on social media. When I asked them about their own list, they're like, well, what's a list? So let's talk about social media and why authors rely so much on that versus doing email marketing? What are they missing out by not doing email marketing?
Patricia Viscount [00:02:17]:
Excellent question, Susan. Thank you for that. We can chat a little bit about both of those things, both sides of that coin. First one is the limitations of social media for book sales. And then on the opposite side is the power of email marketing for authors. Even if you have a large engaged following for your social media posts, others believe that people just know. They just know them. They just trust them from the posts.
Patricia Viscount [00:02:52]:
But how many people are actually seeing that post? Unless you get really good analytics, you don't know how many people of your followers are actually seeing the post. That's one of the limitations of the social media because often your posts are only being shown to a small fraction of your followers. The second one is that you don't have any direct control because the platforms, as we know over the last several years, algorithms change. They change policies. They restrict content. They ban accounts or they get hacked. You don't really have any direct control over who sees it and the people that are seeing your content. The third thing is short content lifespan.
Patricia Viscount [00:03:43]:
As you know it, when you're death scrolling, you see a post and then ten seconds later, it's second or fifth or tenth. You don't really see it for long, whereas emails stay in people's inboxes. So they decide, I've seen it. I've read it. I've interacted with it. I can delete it. I can send it to another folder, etcetera. But those are kind of the most important limitations for social media on the book sales.
Susan Friedmann [00:04:16]:
Yes. And you bring up a really good point with the algorithms and how they just decide in the spur of the moment, or it seems that way. Because we find out that algorithms have changed and all sorts of interesting things have happened with social media. And we've had instances where they've gone on offline for one reason or another, and people panic. Oh my goodness. Because they've put their whole energy and their whole business almost is reliant on the social media interaction. How can we get authors to pay more attention to the email marketing side and make that the priority versus social media?
Patricia Viscount [00:05:06]:
I think even just looking at the power of email marketing and comparing the two, you're much more personalized. The personalization within an email list is huge because you can ask questions. And, obviously, you can do that with social media, but people are way more engaged. They're much more engaged with emails. You don't really know on one social media post. You don't know how many people are seeing it, how many people are reading it unless, you know, with the likes and comments. Whereas with emails and email systems, you can see how many people opened the email. You can see how many people clicked it.
Patricia Viscount [00:05:50]:
You have analytics that can drive what you do and how you do it. If you ask a question and people say, what do you wanna hear from? Do you wanna hear my writing process? Do you wanna hear just who I am as a person as opposed to an author? That kind of thing, you can really be personalized with your list and engage with your list on a one to one basis. Because some people within social media might be a little shy, and they're just lurking. They read it, but they don't ever engage. Whereas they feel safer with an email because it's just you and I having a conversation.
Susan Friedmann [00:06:31]:
Yeah. That's a good point, that personalization. Now, let's say that an author either has a very small list of their own and high following on social media, or they don't have a list at all and have a great following on social media. How do they start converting people? How do they engage people so that they can get their email address and start email marketing rather than concentrating on the social media?
Patricia Viscount [00:07:04]:
There are several different ways. This way is one of the good ways. Talking to people, getting on podcasts, offering things for people. We call them lead magnets. Offering something for free or for a small amount of money that gets people interested and will allow them to give you their email address. It's special perks or personalization that you only get if you're on my email list. Obviously, if you're talking about posting, it's send me your email, and I'll send you this thing. Or join the conversation in over here.
Patricia Viscount [00:07:48]:
I just send me your email, that kind of thing. So it's fairly simple, but most of the time, it does start with some kind of lead magnet or some kind of giveaway that entices them to give you their email list or their email address.
Susan Friedmann [00:08:07]:
Now are there some lead magnets that you've seen that work better than others?
Patricia Viscount [00:08:13]:
Some lead magnets that work better than others are video content, tips and tricks, or a discount if you're looking for something specific. Get the first chapter of my new book, but you have to send me your email or that kind of thing. Like, something that gives them a VIP treatment, something that makes them feel special. That's the kind of thing that really works well.
Susan Friedmann [00:08:42]:
I found checklists. For some reason, people love checklists.
Patricia Viscount [00:08:47]:
That does work, especially if you're trying to talk to people about health and wellness or, professional development or something like that. People are starting to move away from PDFs, but they still work really well depending on who your audience is. But a short Loom video talking about those checklists and then giving the checklist as part of the video. Like, those things really work well as well, but they have to be short. Like, the videos can't be a fifteen minute video. It has to be, like, a three minute video. Let's walk through the checklist that I'm about to give you. That kind of thing.
Patricia Viscount [00:09:28]:
So it has to be useful information and easy to download, easy to use, and engage with.
Susan Friedmann [00:09:35]:
Yeah. And I think those are important words, the fact that it's useful. It's something practical. That's what people are looking for. Is it going to help me now? And is it easy? I mean, people always want to press that easy button. Something I know that you're a real expert in, and that is brand voice. Now I'm gonna have you explain what that is to our listeners so that we're all on the same page before we delve into that subject.
Patricia Viscount [00:10:08]:
Excellent. This really lights me up. I love talking about brand voice because it's so important. It's fundamental to how you show up. Basically, your brand voice is literally how you show up, how you communicate across all of your platforms, your LinkedIn posts, your in person conversations, your emails. Everybody knows as soon as they see a piece of your content that that is you. If you like emojis or your language is a little saltier or your professional and polished is how I like to say it, depends on your personality, and it depends on who your audience is. But it's being consistent across all of your platforms using the same words, the same phrases, the same sentence length, all of those things altogether create your brand voice.
Patricia Viscount [00:11:03]:
And it's how people know, like, and trust you so that they know when they see your posts, when they see you on a stage talking about your book, or when they see you in an email, it's exactly how they think you're gonna show up. And they say, I align with that. I align with those values. I align with that tone of voice. And so that's what makes them your raving fans is by showing up consistently and just having that vibe, I guess, is a good word for it as well.
Susan Friedmann [00:11:36]:
And the authenticity that it's really you. Exactly. I mean, I've had this, people say, well, I listen to your podcast, and then they come on. We do a a meeting either on the phone or on on Zoom, and they say, oh, you sound just like you are on your podcast. And I was like, yep. That's me. You
Patricia Viscount [00:11:56]:
know? And that's the beauty of it because it should be effortless. We're just having this conversation, and you can take this onto LinkedIn, and it's the same voice. It's the same you. It's the same Susan, and people love that. And then, like I said, they know, like, and trust you, and they feel like, yes. She's going to help me with my challenges. She's gonna help me with my situation right now. And that's the biggest compliment somebody can give you is, oh, you sound exactly the way I was picturing.
Susan Friedmann [00:12:30]:
That's fascinating. And you said something too that I had never thought about, but the words that you use and the consistency of the same kind of languaging and even the sentence structure, I'd never thought about that as a brand voice.
Patricia Viscount [00:12:48]:
It's interesting because a lot of people, it's subconscious. They read things that you put out and something's off. I don't know what it is, but something's off. And it's interesting because, again, talking back about social media, I've had several colleagues get hacked. So the first problem is that right away, all of their followers, the likes, all of that is gone because oftentimes, you can't get it back. And if people, they don't know that you've been hacked, but you get an email. You know how that is when you get a a message or something from your friend and it says, oh, they ask you something crazy or something that just doesn't fit. And you think immediately, this doesn't sound like Susan.
Patricia Viscount [00:13:38]:
This doesn't sound like Patricia. What's wrong? What happened? That is the power of brand voice.
Susan Friedmann [00:13:46]:
Yeah. And, again, that also helps in terms of email marketing, and that's a plus for the email marketing because that's not as likely to happen in an email marketing situation.
Patricia Viscount [00:14:01]:
Exactly. And the email, you can send again, as I mentioned earlier, you have that one on one conversation. You're not talking one to many and hoping something lands like that throwing spaghetti on the wall kind of thing. It's we are having a conversation. I know through your replies or your responses to my emails what really counts, what really matters to you. And we can have that personalized conversation that builds that know, like, and trust.
Susan Friedmann [00:14:34]:
Yeah. Now I know that often authors think about how to write these emails without sounding sales y. That word sales y, they're so frightened of maybe promoting themselves too much so that it sounds sales y. What kind of advice could you share with us on that?
Patricia Viscount [00:14:57]:
Thank you for that. That's a really great question because what happens in a content strategy, let's say, for an email campaign or a nurturing sequence, that kind of thing. We have pillars. So it's not just sell, sell, sell. It's let's talk about myself. Let's talk about how I got here. Let's talk about what my process is as an author. Let's talk about why I love doing the things that I do.
Patricia Viscount [00:15:28]:
You could talk about personal stories. You can talk about book related content. You can talk about your process. You can talk about the physical process of writing a book. I start my mornings doing this. It doesn't always have to be sales y, but there has to be a balance, obviously, because you do wanna sell books. You mix all of that content. And in your content strategy or your calendar, you could say, okay.
Patricia Viscount [00:15:58]:
This week, I'm gonna talk about something that's important to me. Next week, I'm gonna talk about a book related process thing. The next week, I'm gonna talk about the physical writing a book. So people get to see you not as a one dimensional author, but as a person who is selling books, who is solving problems, who has the same issues as I do. It's way more complex, I guess. In the same instance, it's easier because then you don't have to think, okay. How do I sell my book this week? People just get that. And then on the bottom, you can say, oh, by the way, my book is being launched, or look out for the my next chapter, or I'm coming to your town on my books tour, you know, that kind of thing.
Patricia Viscount [00:16:53]:
So it's just it's about mixing up the different kinds of content and not always being that hard sell.
Susan Friedmann [00:17:01]:
Yes. And it reminds me, I worked with, Donald Miller. He's got his book, StoryBrand.
Patricia Viscount [00:17:10]:
Yes.
Susan Friedmann [00:17:10]:
And he talks about that too, that whole the sequencing that first, you give some tips. You share something useful that will help your reader. And maybe it's even the third email before you even mention the thought of, oh, by the way, I've got a three week program if you're interested, and it can be in the PS. And PS is talk to us about PS's. The power of the PS, the postscript at the end of your letter, your communication.
Patricia Viscount [00:17:43]:
Yes. It's interesting because I don't know t l d r. So I'm not sure whether you've ever noticed those series of letters on the bottom of an email, t l d r.
Susan Friedmann [00:17:53]:
It just Tell us what that means. I've not seen that.
Patricia Viscount [00:17:56]:
Okay. So it's a too long didn't read. So if you go on and on and on about something and people lose interest, it's like, okay. You've either sold me in paragraph one or I don't have time to read this long email or whatever. The too long didn't read at the bottom is the new PS. So, basically, it's give me what you're trying to tell me in this email above. What is in it for me, and what action do I need to take? That is the beauty of the PS because it really is, if I don't have time, what am I getting? What do I need to know about this email? Is my book is coming out. I'm gonna be in your city in May.
Patricia Viscount [00:18:44]:
Come see me book signing, whatever it is, or this is my course. It's coming out. It's $9.99 or whatever. So the power of the PS is very important. The other thing you can do is how to work with me. So my book is coming out, but I'm also a coach. I can do one on one. I've got a group program that can be in the PS as well.
Patricia Viscount [00:19:09]:
So, yes, I've convinced you in my email to take action. How are you gonna take action? The PS can be how you work with me. The PS can be limited only by your imagination.
Susan Friedmann [00:19:24]:
Just limited by your imagination. Talk to us about mistakes that you see authors make when writing emails.
Patricia Viscount [00:19:33]:
One of the biggest mistakes is being too long. We have in emails, it's called the rule of one. You are talking to one person, and you are talking about one thing. Really trying not to boil the ocean with all of the things, And that's where a good content strategy comes in or a content calendar because you don't feel the need to put everything in the one email. It's like, okay. I wanna talk about this one thing to this one person today. And it can often be, you know, they talk about writing to your grandmother or writing to your mother. When I was in the army and I was in Bosnia or Kosovo, you know, it's like, how do I write a letter home? What is the one thing that you know, you wanna talk about everything and you wanna talk to everybody, but you write a letter to your mother and tell her some of the things that you're doing or one thing that you're really proud of.
Susan Friedmann [00:20:34]:
I love that. The rule of one. Mhmm.
Patricia Viscount [00:20:36]:
The rule of one. One reader, one topic. Another one is that you always talk about the same thing. You're always trying to sell. You're always trying to sell as opposed to using those content pillars where you talk about the book, and then you talk about you, and then you talk about a client's success story or something like that so that people see that three-dimensional person behind the emails, behind the book.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:04]:
Sometimes people are reluctant to share personal information. They feel that it's got to be only about the book or only about business.
Patricia Viscount [00:21:16]:
I see that being more of a concern for me anyway on social media because you don't know who's consuming your content, who's reading your stuff. But with the email, theoretically, it's a safe space because these are the people that have asked to be on your list or that you've done work with. So they're on your list because they trust you and they've already taken a course or something like that. So you can relax a little because, obviously, people buy from people. People don't buy from a business. You want to be able to get a little bit personal to be able to grow that know, like, and trust factor so that people can buy from you. They feel safe buying from you because it goes back to the brand voice because they know you, because they feel like they can trust you.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:11]:
Yeah. And often, authors hide behind the book and are fearful sometimes of coming out in front and, hey. Yes. It's my big fat business card showing you that I'm an expert in this subject. It's like they're relying on the book to do the sales for them. Patricia, this is a great segue for you to tell our listeners how they might be able to find out more about you and the services you offer, especially with regard to brand voice, which I'm totally fascinated with?
Patricia Viscount [00:22:44]:
LinkedIn is my preferred platform of choice. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. It is Patricia Viscount. Viscount is spelled with an s, so v I s c o u n t. And my website is not very imaginative. I know for such a creative person, it's www.patriciaviscount.com.
Susan Friedmann [00:23:07]:
And we'll put that in the show notes. That's that'll be an easy one.
Patricia Viscount [00:23:11]:
Yes. Exactly. Hopefully.
Susan Friedmann [00:23:13]:
Well, you've got one of those names that's memorable. I mean, I think of sort of royalty when you think about Viscount. I think that's very much in your favor.
Patricia Viscount [00:23:22]:
Had the name for the last fifty six years. I'm kind of used to it now. But I do really love my name. I've been married twice, and I still haven't taken my husband's name because I do love my name.
Susan Friedmann [00:23:33]:
Hang on to it because people will remember it. That's often hard though, for people to remember a name. You know, and again, especially if it's tough to spell, like Friedman. And I like that, and it's memorable. As you know, Patricia, I guess always lead listeners with a golden nugget. What's yours?
Patricia Viscount [00:23:57]:
I want people to think of their email list as a long term investment in their business and their author career in themselves. And I think that sending at least one email per month to stay connected with your audience, to remind them that you have expertise and knowledge to share with them, and that you are an author that can help them. I think that is really my tip.
Susan Friedmann [00:24:28]:
Yeah. And it's a great one. Reminding people that you are an expert in this area, and that's why you wrote the book. And so how can they get value from you, your expertise, and the book?
Patricia Viscount [00:24:42]:
Outside the book too. You know? And outside the book. Yes. The book is here, and it's a finite piece. And the launch is a finite time or area and time. But you as a person, your experience and your knowledge and your support is evergreen. You can help them whenever. And so that is the importance of the email and just contacting your list.
Susan Friedmann [00:25:09]:
Yes. And interestingly enough, I'm pleased you brought that up because frequency is such an important point with regard to email, deluging people's email inbox with your messages and sort of honoring that list.
Patricia Viscount [00:25:26]:
Yes. And if I could say just one more thing. And I know that we're talking about social media, not necessarily versus email, but it really can amplify. You can send emails and social media posts. You can use your social media posts to drive people to your email and vice versa. If you write blogs or if you talk about things on your website, you can use both of them. It doesn't have to be an or, either or. It can be an and as well.
Susan Friedmann [00:25:59]:
And I like to be able to do that on a fairly regular basis. I got your endorsement on that. I like it. Thank you. You've been amazing, Patricia. Thank you. Some great tips. That rule of one is my highlight. I appreciate you sharing your wisdom.
And listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you wanted or expected to, let's you and I jump on a quick call together to brainstorm ways to ramp up those sales because you've invested a whole lot of time, money, and energy, and it's time you got the return you were hoping for. So go to bookmarketingbrainstorm.com to schedule your free call. And in the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books. Until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.
Here's how to connect with Patricia: