ROAR! is an Amazon #1 Best Seller!

What started as an unexpected event Friday morning turned into a branding coup that put ROAR! on the path to history.

This Amazon campaign was semi-planned.  I knew there were some concentrated purchases that were going to hit sometime in the next week or so.  I was notified Friday morning that a big buy was happening and started watching the number climb.  Within 2 hours of the call we had hit #2 in marketing.  Since we were close enough I figured let’s get a #1 ranking for bragging rights.  Once you are a #1 best seller you can always claim that brand.  So I called out the troops and the chase was on.  Many supporters stepped up and bought books.  Within 3 hours we peaked at very respectable numbers.

Best result

#1 Best Seller in Marketing Books,

#2 Business Best Seller,

#22 Overall Best Seller

As my friend and Guru Verne Harnish pointed out. ”Hey, maybe it’s not the Jewish Super Bowl ring but it’s the Rose Bowl!”  And definitely a great start!  Here is what we got from the experience.

Value

• ROAR! is officially a Best Seller and an Amazon #1 Best Seller at that.  This brand gives the book and me credibility with media, consumers and customers that will help in generating more opportunities.  Plus it now shows in Amazon Hot Releases and Movers and Shakers lists that will garner more attention.
• Wiley is pleased.  We moved hundreds of books in the campaigned and demonstrated we are serious about making this a breakout book.  They will likely bring more resources to the party.
• We energized the base. Sales are still coming in sustaining our ranking and we got the attention necessary to start the buzz.  Plus all those books sold will be read and hopefully people will talk about the book and share it as well.

Lessons learned

• It takes a lot to beat Oprah and Vampires.  A top 25 ranking is nothing to sneeze at.  But getting to the top 10 and the NYT list will take much greater, widespread effort and consistency.  The books at that level have major money and campaigns behind them.  We will need to continue our guerilla efforts aggressively until we can compete with their resources.
• As my father says, “Man plans and God laughs.”  I had hoped to coordinate and concentrate into many channels in advance.  It was a bit like herding cats and I could not have predicted exactly when people would take action or focus attention on ROAR!  Many people stepped into the game with the excitement.  Keeping tabs on my resources and connections allowed me to concentrate their focus at a moments notice.  Of course looking back I definitely could have planned, coordinated and executed better.
• You will break a few eggs when marketing aggressively.  My base mailing list is about 1500 and growing.  We updated several times Friday afternoon since we needed immediate sales to impact the Amazon number and wanted to keep the fun going.  Most of the email responses we got were very supportive.  We have been using Fanbridge as a great email tool which helps us track list activity.  We lost about 20 subscribers and had a couple of friends say 4 emails in the day was too much.  On the other hand it’s likely that many of those unsubscribers would never have bought a book and there were nearly 100 click-throughs on the bit.ly link from the campaign.  The go-get-um emails outnumbered the complaints by 20 to 1.  Ironically some of the complainers and unsubscribers were marketers.  Go figure.

All in all, the Amazon campaign was a great experience.  We sold a lot of books, fired up the troops and are off and running. Special kudos go to many power players who helped in the campaign.  I hope you’ll check out their links and hopefully support their endeavors.

Verne Harnish and Gazelles – I am keynoting their Summit this week.  Well worth attending online.

Amilya Antonetti – Check out her great new book The Recipe

Gazelles International – The coaches do a great job helping companies grow and really helped.

Len Oppenheimer – A real mensch and the inspiration for ROAR!  Buy a box from Lenny.

Dennis Erokan and Placemaking group – Their blasts are still pushing sales as we speak.

Herta Kriegner of Uber inc. Design – Fabulous Graphic designer

Gary Tuerack of National Society of Leadership and Success – Every college kid should belong

Adam Wolfson – My most trusted insurance guy

Gary Cohn – Great employee benefits adviser

Michael Roderick – Great blogger and our theatre world connection

Dr. Steve Green – Pounded out the word.  Check out his blog on coaching

Sue Mondeel of Sadie Deys Café -  Fun for Mom, Dad and kids

Mary Jane Mapes – Great communications speaker and trainer.

John Papaloukas – If you visit Victoria, grab some pizza

Dan Turner – ROAR! Co Author – set me up with auto updates every 15 minutes so I wouldn’t call and bug him every 15 minutes

Thanks to everyone who spread the word and bought books. There is lots more fun to come.  I confirmed today that the book is in stores now and the first print run with the special chapter and coupon will only be around for a short time so tell your friends, now is the time to buy!