Jennifer asked recent author Simon Hawk to explain how his book “The Decision Expedition” is well-placed to receive attention and get an interesting psychological viewpoint of marketing as well.
Let’s talk about the theme of your book – what does it offer readers?
The premise of this book is two-fold:
- Small business owners are experts in their own field, but also need to be experts in marketing. This is what this book is trying to help them become.
- When people talk about marketing, they talk about all kinds of things, like Google ads, Facebook ads, email sequencing and segmenting audiences. These are all important, but in my opinion, if you want to be a good marketer you need to start at the source – the brain.
There is one thing that is consistent with every customer you will ever have – that they have a brain. And the facts are, the human brain has evolved over millions of years to react in a certain way, and there are certain methods and techniques that work better at influencing, persuading and engaging people and you should know what they are. Because that is what marketing is – it is influencing, persuading, and engaging.
So learn how the brain works and you will know the REAL rules of marketing that you can apply to any marketing you ever do, for any budget, for any platform.
What was your overall goal of writing your book?
I want to help small business owners to understand the real rules of marketing. To help them realise that the REAL rules of marketing are actually found in the worlds of neuroscience, sociology, psychology and behavioural economics. The ultimate result being that they will know the right levers and tools to increase profits and maximise any money they spend on marketing. This knowledge ensures they spend it on the right things.
These techniques are not a secret; big businesses have been using them for years. But this book is giving small businesses the framework to use them too.
So, my aim is to take small businesses on The Decision Expedition – a journey to understand how their customers REALLY make decisions.
Do you think you achieved that goal?
I hope so, but I guess the readers will tell me if I have or not. This book might be about complicated topics such as neuroscience, sociology, psychology and economics but this is not full of scientific names about brain parts. It gives small business owners the most important facts and rules about the brain, in an easy-to-understand format.
Regarding the format, I have provided a step-by-step guide, with questions to answer at the end of each chapter so that readers can start to implement the techniques themselves. I hope it helps them!
Which platforms do you personally market your book on?
I have a Twitter page and a book Linkedin page. Both ebook and paperback is now available on Amazon. I promote it on my website too (www.thedecisionexpedition.com).
Another way which gives value too is, I have a podcast called Unreal Marketing, on Spotify, and I promote the book there. I have also developed an online course which ties into the book and its promotion (#1 Neuroscience Marketing Online Course >> Nerds of Business).
(Jennifer searches her Spotify for the podcast. Ha, found it!).
Did you do any competitions or gifting books to reviewers?
Not yet. But that sounds like a good idea…
Would you recommend self-publishing to others in service business? And how did it feel to ‘put yourself out there’?
In a word ‘yes’. The reasons being, for me:
- It is the foundation of a business I have started. The research process (1 year of reading and 1 year of writing) helped me clarify what interested me, what I wanted to do as a business and what I could offer.
- I had a publisher (Known Publishing Ltd) who helped me, which I would recommend – in particular they helped with writing coaching, structuring and also in the end helped me to earn a number 1 Amazon bestseller tag. (This was in combination with Jennifer’s developmental review).
- I am still new and I plan to promote the book a lot more, but it is in my opinion an important credibility play. It is one method of demonstrating a certain level of interest and expertise. And it makes you stand out, as not everyone has written a book.
- It is a platform that allows you to start a conversation.
Thanks to Simon Hawk for his time and effort involved and we wish him every success with the book, which is now on Amazon for $13.99 and $23.09 – https://www.amazon.com.au/Decision-Expedition-Business-Customers-Really-ebook/dp/B0B2QD8LS5/
Just a thought on pricing… If you price a Kindle book at under US$9.99 it would earn 70% royalty, but this price is translated into AUD.
If you’re a new fan of Simon Hawk’s, follow him on the Twitter or press “follow” on Amazon.