Thursday’s profit tip for authors

One of the ways Chip Heath and Dan Heath, the authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Succeed and Others Die, keep their brand in front of their readers is by offering an attractive, downloadable mini-poster that displays the main ideas of their book.

Their SUCCESs Model poster, shown at left with their permission, is available for their readers, and prospective readers, to download from their Made to Stick site.

Downloadable relationship builder

Their SUCCESs Model poster offers several important lessons to authors who want to build profitable long-term relationships with their readers, including:

• Visible reinforcement. The Made to Stick downloadable and printable SUCCESs Model poster visually displays their book’s 6 major lessons. The poster’s simplicity and visual impact encourages readers to print and hang it on the wall, where it reinforces the book’s lessons and introduces the book to prospective readers.
• List and relationship builder. The SUCCESs Model poster is also an excellent example of permission-based marketing. Displayed on the Resources page of their website, their poster provides a strong visual incentive for readers and prospective readers to submit their contact information, building the author’s mailing list–and paving the way for future book sales.

Stickiness requires more than just content

Chip Heath and Dan Heath’s SUCCESs Model emphasizes the role that an investment in graphic design excellence can play in building a lasting image for a book’s brand.

A great deal of the magnetic appeal that encourages readers to sign up for the author’s mailing list and download the author’s bonus content is based on the visual appeal of the poster.

The starting point, of course, was the decision to write a book based on a 6-step process. Their book’s strong organization paved the way for the creation of a great reader incentive.

But, the poster wouldn’t work as well as it does if the poster had not been as carefully art directed as it was. The poster’s high impact is a result of carefully orchestrating color, layout, and type into a pleasing combination of elements.

As it is, the poster not only communicates and reinforces the book’s message, it just makes you feel good when you look at it. You want to register, download, print, and hang it up.

It’s appearance makes you feel that “somebody cared enough to go First Class,” and you want to share in the brand’s energy.

The big question

How much of Made to Stick’s lasting success can be attributed to the role played by the visual aspects of the author’s branding?I’d like to know your opinion.