Marketing

This Friday, April 5, is the deadline for stores to sign up to participate in this spring’s Celebrate (With) Indies multi-publisher promotions. Booksellers can choose to participate in one, some, or all four offerings.

Learn more about four new spring promotions created just for independent bookstores, which launched last week under the banner “Celebrate (With) Indies.” Then sign up. Promotional materials are available, including shelf-talkers and author videos for the Celebrate Debut Authors With Indies campaign.

At the Winter Institute session “Beyond the Traditional Author Event,”panelists sweet pea Flaherty of King’s Books, Lacey Dunham of Politics and Prose, and Lauren Savage of The Reading Bug addressed the logistics of planning successful and creative events to increase traffic and drive sales.

Four new promotions created just for independent bookstores will launch this spring under the banner “Celebrate (With) Indies.” Titles for the promotions celebrating debut authors, moms, dads, and grads were selected by booksellers, and many are Indie Next List Picks and Indie Bestsellers.

At “Marketing That Moves the Needle,” a well-attended Wi8 session, ABA’s Meg Smith and Greg Galloway revealed the results of a marketing experiment, while panelists Julie Wernersbach of BookPeople and Jill Miner of Saturn Booksellers discussed the strategies that work best in their stores.

Starting on Thursday, February 21, independent booksellers across the country can pre-register to participate in Find Waldo Local 2013, a month-long community-wide scavenger hunt in July 2013 that celebrates the uniqueness, fun, and strength of local businesses.

Kobo is launching a national promotional event on Kobo Mini eReaders and Snapbacks leading up to Valentine’s Day. Beginning January 25 and ending February 14, the promotion consists of a Kobo Mini for $59.99 and a free Snapback.

From now through Wednesday, January 23, Kobo will be offering readers the opportunity to win prizes in a “Guess the Character Trivia Contest.”

On Tuesday morning, January 15, Kobo announced that the Kobo Interactive Trivia Contest, which was set to start at  at 10:00 a.m. EST, had been indefinitely postponed. Kobo apologized for the inconvenience and said it would let booksellers know when it will be ready to proceed with the contest.

Booksellers looking for help promoting this year’s bestselling titles and indie favorites have readymade tools: The 2012 Indie Bestsellers and the Indie Next Highlights lists.

Five new designs for posters and web banners that promote book buying during the holiday season and beyond are now available to ABA members in the Booksellers DIY.

Between Small Business Saturday and the Thanks for Shopping Indie and Kobo Mini promotions, many ABA members were reporting increases in holiday weekend sales and a renewed sense of appreciation for locally owned businesses among their customers.

As ABA members began receiving their shipments of Kobo eReaders earlier this month, a number of stores launched creative and personalized promotions to spread the word to customers.

In its third year, American Express’ Small Business Saturday has established itself as the preeminent national holiday promotion for Main Street businesses, and it is generating substantial national and local advertising that encourages consumers to support their locally owned businesses.