I’m thinking, and I really want your thoughts, too. Here’s the premise: I’m trying out different types of promotion for selling books, and now I want to see if I can tie the effort to social good. All my lessons are open-faced so that you can learn from them and take them for your own projects. But I need your thoughts and ideas on what ELSE we can do, because I think it’d be useful to marketers, to other authors (and yes, to us). Are you game?
So far, Julien and I have been very fortunate. Trust Agents hit the New York Times list within two days of the book coming out. The week after, we hit the Wall Street Journal list. That was you. YOU did all that, and I’m grateful.
As part of the promotion, I made a trade. I gave away 5 deals of “200 books for a 1/2 day of my time” and then gave away 4 (there’s still one left) of “300 books for a 1/2 day of my time.” That most definitely moved the needle. I’m in the midst of fulfilling all those requests, by the way. It’s a LOT of flying, but it’s also a great way to get out and meet great folks.
More recently, with my promotion for Mitch, I gave away 10 guest blog posts and accompanying tweets, in exchange for a purchase of 10 of Mitch’s book. (We sold out pretty quickly.) A strange side-effect was that a bunch more people bought Trust Agents at the same time (so thanks!).
How Might I Tie Trust Agents Sales to Social Change?
Here’s what I know: every individual sale is wonderful, and I’m always grateful, but as one of my mentors, Jeff Pulver taught me: it’s every bit as much work chasing single sales as it is making bigger things happen. So, knowing that every blog post you wrote helped, and knowing that visiting places is helpful, but not really scalable (I’m traveling 49 out of the next 60 days), I want your thoughts.
How do we kill two birds? In what way can I tie purchases of multiple copies of Trust Agents to something charitable and cool? I’ll give you some starter thoughts, but I want YOU to share yours.
Ideas for Trading Multiple Copies of Trust Agents for Social Good
- If a corporate sponsor bought 300 copies of Trust Agents, I’d donate 5 hours to a nonprofit of their choice, helping with social strategy, promotion, blogging, etc.
- What if I offered to pay $50 to a charity/cause for every 10 copies of Trust Agents an individual bought (up to 10)? (That way, it’s within reach of an individual to make a difference).
- What if, for every 10 copies an individual buys, I donate 1 book to a local library?
- …and your ideas will go here.
What do you think? What are other ways that people can tie a marketing goal (selling more _____) to a charitable good goal? How have you seen other companies do it, and how do you think it applies to what I’m trying to do for Trust Agents, and/or for that matter, how will you take these ideas and apply them to you?
The kid in the photo (and the photo itself) belong to Leeann