If no one shows up for my book-signing at Barnes & Nobles West Towne, on Tuesday, March 9, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., I will not just have egg on my face, I will have a whole soufflé for a face mask.
Why? Because my new book is called Marketing, Advertising, and P.R. and I got the gig because I am a so-called “marketing guru” who is supposed to know how to promote attendance for events like these.
Marketer, heal thyself.
I thought I’d share my advice and my local applications from my other (first) book with you, gentle reader, in case you have a business or fund-raising or book-signing event you’d like to promote. My book advice is in italics, followed by how I applied it, which is shown in regular type.
The event itself is more critical to success than the promotion. Make it compelling, useful, exclusive, unusual, or entertaining.
Unless collectors trade your signature, or you are a porn star, or you are the President of the United States, or you are the first president of the United States to become a porn star, most folks are not waiting around to see you to read and/or sign your book. Besides, my handwriting sucks.
So I decided to turn my book-signing into a more useful and entertaining event. I will do a “greatest hits” compilation of popular highlights from all my business speeches, fill it with audience participation games and useful and counter-intuitive “how-to” tips from all my business classes, offer a free panel of experts to answer your marketing questions, and hold a prize drawing with over $5,000-worth of free books, a free UW Executive Education marketing class, and free marketing consulting from a variety of experts. So far, so good.
Offer food or drink.
I will have it catered by the Barnes & Nobles coffee house. Check.
Make sure your date, time, and location are convenient and free of competing events.
Interviewing successful business event planners, I learn that the worst time to have a business event is during the holidays or summer vacation, and that the cold months of first quarter are best (provided it doesn’t dump snow) because not much else is going on. I choose March. They also say the evening on the way home from work is the most convenient time for working stiffs to drop in, especially if there is food or drink offered, so I choose 5 to 6:30 p.m. (Same reasoning behind Happy Hour.)
And I learn that nobody wants to do anything on Monday after work except recover from going back to work, that Wednesday and Thursday evening are usually already booked with classes and regular events, and that people don’t want to think about work on the weekend. That leaves Tuesday.
Give your event an unexpected, relevant, or ownable name.
My mom might like the title “My talented son Barry Callen signs the books he wrote,” my ego might like the title “Barry Callen Barry Callen Barry Callen,” and my publisher might like “Marketing, Advertising, and P.R.” But I decide that most people would prefer a title that suggests that the content of my speech will be entertaining, useful, and unexpected.
After some creative noodling and independent creative review, I settle on “Totally unfair, perfectly legal, really effective marketing.” Who doesn’t want an unfair advantage over the competition? Especially if you can get away with it.
Use the 5 elements that make an effective invitation: 1) request attendance, 2) name/describe the event, 3) highlight a key feature, 4) briefly list date, time, and place, and 5) call invited guests to action.
In my ad, I highlighted two key features: the expert panel and the prize drawings.
The more individualized and personalized the invitation, the greater the response.
And so, dear reader, I personally invite you to mark the date of Tuesday, March 9, and join me for some fun times and some practical insider marketing tips.
Please come. I prefer my face to be totally egg-free.
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