Where are your customers on the loyalty ladder?

All of your readers, and potential readers, will be somewhere on the ladder below.

Sadly, most will be still on the ground, having not heard of you, or your book. But at one level, that's good news, as you haven't yet run out of readers. Many in the 'suspect' group, in time, could be 'customers' at the very least, if not 'raving fans'. Your job as an author is to guide people up each rung of the ladder. The more people you get nearer the top, the more success you will experience. Some people will move up the ladder quicker than others, often several rungs at a time. For a 'suspect' to become a 'prospect', you need to take every opportunity of getting your message across. This can be achieved via social media, websites, blogs, forums, online groups, the list is almost endless. Once the 'suspect' is aware of your presence then AIDA needs to come into play, to convert a 'suspect' into a 'shopper'. (Check out the previous posts on AIDA - Part One and Part Two.) If you have published more than one book, the 'shoppers' need to be convinced to be 'customers', and even the 'customers' need to be encouraged to take further steps up the ladder. Your marketing machine must never be 'switched -off', and the more creative and innovative you are, the more likely success will follow.