How to Successfully Connect with Key Organizations
Have you ever conducted a direct campaign to connect with organizations your felt would be interested in your title? However, for all your effort, did the endeavor produce little to no results? Before you discredit your ability or the effectiveness of direct marketing, consider the following steps.
1. Target Your Market
To begin you will need to select the right organizations with a high likelihood of interest in your titles. Write a list of the top 75-100 organizations or people you would like to target. This may range from support organizations, non-profits, ministries, advanced readers, media groups, etc. Don’t leave out anyone you feel is too elite, you’ll never know unless you try.
Ask yourself: “What organizations support or reach out to my target readers? Do they have a history of recommending or promoting book titles to their followers? Do they have resource libraries or online stores that sell books? Do they have online followers or email newsletter subscriptions?”
If the answer to these questions is positive then you may have a winning list.
2. Build Your Contact List
Once you have a list of key places you want to target it is important that you connect with the right person within the organization. Call the organization and request the name of the person who is in charge of building resource libraries, purchasing, or recommending book titles. This first phone contact has no other purpose than to acquire that name. At this point do not try and pitch your book.
3. Craft a Direct Mailer
Direct mail is still one of the primary ways to connect with people, but it has to be done right. Craft a very simple, to the point letter that grabs the recipient’s attention and lets them know that you will be following up in a couple of days. Consider what you can send to the contact that is creative and will capture their attention.
Many times a copy of your book is a great gesture because it puts your title in the hands of your target contact. However, there are thousands of creative marketing items you can incorporate into your mailer. Think of what your book message represents, and then send an appropriate or off-the-wall promotional item that the recipient will use practically or makes a conversation piece. This will ensure that your mailer is not lost in the clutter.
If you’re doing this process alone be sure to mail out your direct piece to about 25 contacts at a time. This is a realistic number you can follow-up with.
4. Follow-up Systematically
Since you sent out a creative mailer you may be expecting that phone to ring. Don’t count on it. You must follow-up with the contact to have a conversation about what you offer. If you don’t reach the contact right away leave a voice-mail and promise to follow-up again. You should expect to try at least three attempts before segmenting this contact as uninterested. Don’t try to say everything in your voice-mail, simply state that you’re following up to make sure they received your letter.
Once you make actual contact on the phone, begin the conversation pitch and determine their interest. Dig a bit to see how your book may be useful for their organization. Organize your contact interest level so that you continue to follow-up with contacts that show adequate interest but scratch off your list those that show no interest at all.
An experienced publicist or marketing firm can help you develop and conduct a special markets campaign to reach your goals. Keep in mind that many busy organizations pay better attention to professional referrals (agent, publisher, publicist etc) rather than an individual author promoting them self.
What Do You Think?
Feel free to leave us a comment with any feedback you have for us about this article, as well as your experiences with this subject. We would love to hear from you!
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