Simply Audiobooks Inc.

Funny thing about advertising audiobooks in general. The term ‘Books on Tape’ and the terms ‘Books on CD’ and ‘Audio Books’ are NOT interchangeable. We discovered early on that some people who’ve listened to Books on Tape will say that they’ve never listened to an audiobook.

In a similar vein, a recent survey we did made it clear that many people didn’t realize the iPod was an MP3 player. We asked if they had an MP3 player, then if they had an iPod… and more people had iPods than people who had MP3 players.

It raises an interesting advertising issue for us. We only rent audio books on CD. But our best customers find us while looking for ‘books on tape’. Yet I feel like I’m misleading people anytime we run an ad campaign that says we do books on tape, despite the fact that we do sell books that are literally on tape. I guess maybe all marketers really are liars, but it’s not our fault.

We’re about 1/3 of the way into this buzz campaign, and things are looking pretty good. Lots of feedback, both (overwhemlingly) positive, and a little bit of negative to keep us on our toes. Some of the stories are excellent (and all are informative) – much appreciated by our entire marketing staff, who spend every day browsing through them. Keep it up and keep up the referrals in general.

We’re also revamping the “funny” sayings on our mailers, and I’d love your help. Send us comments via Bzzreports, or here on the blog. Current favourites of mine are:

“This product was not tested on animals. Well, actually it was, but they liked it”
“This product is inflammable if immersed in gasoline and set on fire”

Silly stuff like that.

Click here to view the October Audiobooks Newsletter. 

Important information for newsletter subscribers: The monthly newsletter is now a feature of the blog. All future newsletters will no longer be distributed via e-mail, but instead, will be posted around the beginning of each month here on the Simply Audio Blog.

In case you’ve not received a newsletter from Simply Audiobooks in the past, they are released on a monthly basis and contain:

• News regarding the Simply Audiobooks site, inventory, events, etc.
• Book reviews written by SAB customers (that means you!)
• Audiobook selections of the month
• Information about new releases and upcoming titles

We hope that the newsletter will thrive in it’s new home — and if you have any comments or suggestions regarding the publication, please post them here! Thanks, and enjoy!

As an entertaining excercise, the Simply Audiobooks staff has produced two short video ads, which are presented here for your viewing pleasure. There isn’t much of a precedent for audiobook ads in the video medium, so let us know how you think we did, and take some time to vote on which of the two is your favorite. So go put some popcorn in the microwave, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Oh, and a disclaimer – don’t view if you’d be upset by some (mildly) risque humour. Parental guidance suggested for minors under the age of 13.

When You’ve Got Audiobooks…

Add Some Character to Your Commute

This is getting incredibly confusing, and I blame it all on some incredibly irrelevant domain squatting by the yellow pages (try typing in buzz.com) along with some onomatopoeic disorder on the part of the bzzagent founder(s).

Do bzzagents actually refer to themselves as bzzzzagents (making the bzzzzz sound as they go) or as buzzagents (a more socially acceptable series of sounds)? As I read the reports coming in now on the Simply Audiobooks campaign from agents, I am continually distracted by the sounds in my head. As a fairly normal person myself, I can only assume this is distracting you agents as well. I’ve had enough. Not only is this inefficient, it’s upping my Advil depletion rate.

From now on, I’m going to refer to the aforementioned as ‘those guys’, ‘them people’, and ‘y’all’. Those guys have a great program going. I hope them people are liking them audiobooks. And y’all give me a holler if you need anything. And y’all go tell y’all’s friends about these audiobooks and gift cards that them people were kind enough to send your way.

I’m going back to peacefully reading the reports, missives, stories, rants, epics and quotes that you’re sending back. Fascinating, y’all.