Editor’s Note: This is a guest post on public relations for your startup (2nd of 3 posts) submitted by Colombian based Fursos (NOW LIVE!) Here is the first article.
Paulo Coelho, best selling author of The Alchemist, just launched his latest book, Aleph.
“I am trying to tell my publishers world wide that I don’t need to give interviews in major media to sell books. This is a big shift for them, but they are coming to my point of view. I decided to give no major media interviews with Aleph’s launching, and the results were astonishing: the book made the bestseller lists all over the world, except UK.”
If a major author is actively declining major media interviews, why shouldn’t you?
The key to a successful launch isn’t the New York Times article. A reader isn’t invested in the NYT story. There is no emotional commitment between the author, the story and the product.
The key to a great launch is finding those few niche story tellers that have fanatical audiences (Think Oprah). Then build a relationship with those authors.
You’re telling your story to a smaller audience, but that audience WILL convert to dollars.
Their loyalty is priceless
Find out what content your audience is consuming. There are bloggers in every niche be it fashion, productivity, PR, sports, you name it. It’s your responsibility to find out who they are and how you can help them.
Tim Ferriss was one of the first to do this with the launch of his book, “The Four Hour Work Week”. He built relationships with blog writers and added value. He gave them free content months before he launched. When the time came, he had the relationships built out so that various niche bloggers were telling his story.
Ironically, the larger media outlets followed up once enough noise had been created in the ‘blogosphere’.
It’s important to give these niche writers their credit. They have thousands of readers, they can convert loyal followers and they’re able to capture information in a way that national magazines can’t.
BUT it’s work.
It’s not as easy to find who these writers are, what their readership base is and how you can build a relationship with them. On top of that, these bloggers demand more from you. The responsibility for the content will rest on your shoulders.
Entering into a Joint Venture via webinars, guest posts or promotions with these bloggers will demand even more of your time. You’re involved in capturing emails and launching email drip campaigns that can take several weeks.
BUT, this work is more likely to pay off and WILL create an emotional connection between your brand and the customer.
Instead of doing the work, though, people follow the path of least resistance.
Blasting a Press Release out and hoping to get short articles on their company.
There is no shortcut to a great launch. It’s a process not an event, involving months of work. The time spent on these relationships should be as important to you as the product you’re launching.
As Thomas Jefferson said:
“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”
Carlos Solorio is the founder of Fursos which helps connect Spanish Media with entrepreneurs, experts and firms. He blogs at latamventure.com.
Photo credits: tyello
