In Marketing, Public Relations is Everything…
The Kid's Book Is Out!
What a week! Actually, it’s been a crazy and exciting month. With the recent launch of bilingual children’s book, Luna Needs a Miracle!, I have been busy with implementing my client’s marketing strategy, which is rooted in public relations and publicity. (Full disclosure: my client is a chef, the book’s author and also my fiancé who asked me to help him self-publish and market the book.)
As anyone who’s in the business knows, promoting something like this is not something that happens overnight. Indeed, it’s something we’ve been planning and refining for several months. Back when this all began, we agreed to partner with the self-publishing company (Xlibris) for marketing assistance, because they claimed to have experience in this area. Given that I am a solo act, I thought having some other folks’ help with legwork couldn’t be a bad thing.
Guess I was wrong.
On Thursday, I received an advance-review copy, which incorporated language from a rejected first-draft of a press release. They shared this advance-review copy with select media contacts—including some friends suggested by us.
As soon as I saw the press release words, “… blessing from above…” I knew what happened and my crisis communications skills snapped into action. I called my client in the restaurant kitchen where he works and told him.
“Oh, no!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, yes!” I replied. “But here’s the thing. A couple writers who know about your past have already started writing about you. In fact there’s a blog post out of Atlanta that recalls some of your past antics.”
He knew exactly where we were headed with that one. “Do what you gotta do,” he said and hung up.
So, we wrote a letter of explanation and apology to the reporters and friends who would have received the botched up advance-review copy.
We also got on the phone and called some folks who asked us, “Yeah, what’s that all about?”
Thank goodness for authenticity in relationships. Bottom line: our commitment is to the relationships we have already established with our friends, media, clients, and potential and existing customers. In contrast, the marketing department with the self-publishing company does not share that sense of commitment–at least they didn’t with us…
Now, I’m just curious to learn what they will suggest as a corrective action for their grave error. As I wrote to them on Friday in an unhappy letter following my phone call to them: “While we are very much aware that good marketing can’t guarantee sales, we are more aware how poor marketing can blow sales altogether.”
Public relations—whether customers, clients, friends, family—is everything.
What a week! Actually, it’s been a crazy and exciting month. With the recent launch of bilingual children’s book, Luna Needs a Miracle!, I have been busy with implementing my client’s marketing strategy, which is rooted in public relations and publicity. (Full disclosure: my client is a chef, the book’s author and also my fiancé who asked me to help him self-publish and market the book.)
As anyone who’s in the business knows, promoting something like this is not something that happens overnight. Indeed, it’s something we’ve been planning and refining for several months. Back when this all began, we agreed to partner with the self-publishing company (Xlibris) for marketing assistance, because they claimed to have experience in this area. Given that I am a solo act, I thought having some other’s help with legwork couldn’t be a bad thing.
Boy was I wrong.
On Thursday, I received an advance-review copy, which incorporated language from a rejected first-draft of a press release. They shared this advance-review copy with select media contacts—including some friends suggested by us.
As soon as I saw the press release words, “… blessing from above…” I knew what happened and my crisis communications skills snapped into action. I called my client in the restaurant kitchen where he works and told him.
“Oh, no!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, yes!” I replied. “But here’s the thing. A couple writers who know about your past have already started writing about you. In fact there’s a blog post out of Atlanta that recalls some of your past antics.”
He knew exactly where we were headed with that one. “Do what you gotta do,” he said and hung up.
So, we wrote a letter of explanation and apology to the reporters and friends who would have received the botched up advance-review copy.
We also got on the phone and called some folks who asked us, “Yeah, what’s that all about?”
Thank goodness for authenticity in relationships. Briefly stated, our commitment is to the relationships we have already established with our friends, media, clients, and potential and existing customers. In contrast, the marketing department with the self-publishing company does not share that sense of commitment.
Now, I’m just curious to learn what they will suggest as a corrective action for their grave error. As I wrote to them on Friday in an unhappy letter following my phone call to them: “While we are very much aware that good marketing can’t guarantee sales, we are more aware how poor marketing can blow sales altogether.”
Public relations—whether customers, clients, friends, family—is everything.
