Marsha Jordan of Harshaw, Wisconsin writes:
“I’m the founder of a national nonprofit charity helping sick children and I’ve written a book to use as a fundraiser—a compilation of inspirational essays designed to encourage anyone dealing with difficulties and challenges of life. It’s illustrated with drawings by children battling cancer and other serious illnesses. It’s called Hugs, Hope, and Peanut Butter, and it’s specifically targeted at women.
“We want to sell as many books as possible to raise money for the foundation. Since it won’t be produced by a big publisher, we won’t have a publicist. It’s up to me to see that the books sell.
“How do I encourage women to buy this book rather than one of the many other inspirational books out there? I’ve considered forming an alliance with a female musician and selling the book and her CD as a package, thus targeting two markets at the same time. I’m not sure where to begin with something like that and how to convince a musician to work with us.”
The Publicity Hound says: This is one of the more difficult assignments. But our Hounds haven’t been stumped yet. I frequently preach that the best way to get publicity for a book is to not promote the book directly. Instead, offer information that piggybacks onto upcoming holidays, celebrities, current events, trends, etc. What can Marsha do to sell more books? Any tie-in with the peanut butter theme?
Have you considered asking a Peanut Butter company (REAL, Smuckers, Jiff, etc) if they would be interested in a co-promotion? Remember, it is best to have a few great promotional ideas in mind when you approach them. A peanut butter eating contest? your book as a give away from them?
Oh this is not a hard situation at all. My suggestions for partnership arrangements are this:
1. OB-Gyn offices – Talk to the office manager about either offering the books on consignment or providing your advertising in the form of pamphlets or postcards to all their clients.
2. Pediatrician offices – Ditto the above.
3. Professional medical groups
4. Women’s Clubs – Offer to speak
5. Grocery Stores – Seriously – with the peanut butter affiliation, ask to post ads – the larger the better – in grocery store chains. People spend money quickly in grocery stores and the main customers are women of school-aged children.
6. The Governor or Mayor – Get a proclamation done. They love these. Do a press release and have pics made with some children in them.
7. Children’s Book Signings – Notify the newspapers about author book signings featuring the children themselves. Then open a campaign at libraries, malls, bookstores, and so on. This will attract attention for sure! Advertise the even also in all the schools.
8. Speak at schools – Have the children featured at schools along with books for sale.
This could be a fun campaign for sure!
How about hooking up with a women’s fitness center like Women’s Workout World or Curves?
Consider going to Skippy’s brand marketing team and/or corporate parent Unilever and ask them to co-support the book with a special offer to their consumers. Or request they support your organization with this built-in CRM program/fundraiser to help them elevate their brand of peanut butter. The book could be feauted on-pack, in FSIs, through their website or other direct-to-consumer programs and act as a catalyst for their marketing. You could also ask them to add a pennies for peanut butter element and for every special Skippy jar with the book sold, the brand donates a penny to your group (up to a specific amount). The brand team can use that as additional marketing to women.
This is also a great Oprah segment; send a package to Harpo Productions in Chicago with a cover note (3 graphs), perhaps accompanied by a jar of peanut butter and a photo of a child whose essay appears in the book. This could be a segment on one of things she loves.
Contact the National Assocation for the Care of Young Children, a trade group of pre-school/day care teachers, which might do this as a fundraiser for you and offer the book to daycare centers around the country. The daycare centers often do charity fundraisers (yes, it starts that early) to support their extra programming not covered by other funds. My children’s daycare center has done various fundraisers that benefit other children’s organizations and this would be similar, as the book offers value and life-lessons at the same time.
Yes, certainly tie in with a peanut butter company. Also, contact the pediatric cancer wards
at hospitals. They might be interested in displaying the book. Also churches and synagogues
might be interested in having the author speak about it. The author could also speak at
book stores.
Women love to buy inspirational books for each other. In addition to promoting the book for women to buy for themselves, promote it as a gift item. If feasible, you might include gift wrapping…(I did this for a book I published for women and it was a big hit). Be sure to use quotes from the book and sample art work in any promotion you do…it’s sure to catch the eye and ear. Good luck with this great project!
“How do I encourage women to buy this book rather than one of the many
other inspirational books out there?” is the wrong question.
I’m of the opinion that often, competitors can be your best marketing agents. This is especially true in the book world, where people don’t just buy one book on a topic. I believe this so strongly that in my own most recent book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, I actually list 20 other copywriters, with their specializations, web URLs, and full contact info–and an extensive recommended reading list. And just last month I had an inquiry from one of those copywriters about buying this book in bulk.
A better question: How can I approach other people writing in the field to leverage their lists and contacts for my own success, and what can I offer them so that it’s in their interest to assist me?
That’s a very different framework.
In addition to those great suggestions, I would also find an art gallery willing to donate space for an art opening featuring the children’s drawings from the book. Large size prints can be made and hung, accompanied by a wine and cheese reception and book signing. Invite the media, the child artists who are able to attend, and of course, the public.
With the focus being of Christian Woman to buy the books and the wish for a singer to help promote, try contacting Christian media such as http://www.christianwomennetworks.com/
This site list several women performers who lead with humor.
These are all great ideas, and I’d like to add one more. Recently, a friend of mine experienced every mother’s nightmare. Her nine-year-old developed an extremely rare blood infection from no identifiable source that has left this athletic little boy now a triple amputee.
The family kept their faith and hope and love for their son alive by making use of CarePages.com. This hospital posting resource allows patients and the community to keep in touch without physical instrusion. Families post information, and the community–in their case the world–can log on to read updates and post replies of encouragement and hope and offer strength and prayer. Because it’s like a daily blog, these CarePages are extremely powerful and well-read.
During the months of May and June this young boy’s CarePage had nearly all of the hospital’s 930,000 hits! I would offer the books to pediatric intensive care units and check into posting it on CarePages as a resource for families and patients. I’ve noticed other inspirational resources offered there. This way you will reach the target market that really needs it and can consequently recommend it to others. Good luck with your stories of hope.
Marsha-I’m sure you wear many hats as Executive Director and could completely do this job too; however, you can rapidly become overwhelmed with activity if you initiate the majority of this effort. I would recommend you consider contacting your local PRSA chapter to find out if anyone is willing to donate time to your cause. Oftentimes agencies or even individuals work pro bono with community groups. Judging by your zipcode I thought this chapter would be most appropriate. (http://www.prsanewis.org/pages/committees2005.html) This could save you a ton of time, good luck!