For my day job, I’ve been reading some marketing material, pertaining to tourism. Then it struck me; what they were saying made perfect sense for book marketing as well. Just think of your book as a destination and your reader as a tourist looking for a unique experience.

The material I’m referring to was a study regarding positioning a Greek island as a holiday destination. Destination positioning, as the official term is, has to do with creating a distinctive place in the minds of potential tourists.

This positioning involves two variables:

• Tourist satisfaction: what emotions did the experience create in the mind of the tourist?
• Attribute satisfaction: were the individual’s desires and expectations met?

The author reaches the conclusion that a successful positioning strategy requires that the destination image and the specific product attributes that satisfy the customer should match as perfectly as possible. Indeed, a wrong destination…