Fearless marketing strategies for creative people

Fearless marketing strategies for creative peopleFearless marketing strategies for creative peopleJournalist and authorA.J. Jacobsis renowned for his willingness to take on a challenge, chronicling his extreme lifestyle experiments in his manyNew York Timesbestselling books. Recently, he joinedPanio Gianopoulos, author, Next Big Idea Club Editorial Director, and co-host of theWriterlypodcast, for a candid conversation about how creative people can change their relationship to marketing, learning to embrace it as a part of their art.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThis conversation has been edited and condensed.To listen to the full conversation on theWriterlypodcast,click here.PanioMarketing doesnt sound like the sexiest topic in the world, but its absolutely critical.A.J.Oh, yeah. I went into writing partly to avoid being a salesperson and a marketer. And then I realized No one s going to read my stuff if I dont get out there. So I have made a 180, where Ive forced myself to embrace marketing- reframed it, as thecognitive-behavioral psychologistssay, into a creative act. Instead of dreading it, now its, Oh good, I get to have a fun time coming up with creative ideas for marketing.PanioWhat do you do exactly?A.J.I think itd help if I give an example. I wrote a book about following all the rules of the Bible. And I thought, what are some places that wouldnt cover it, but if I can come up with a good angle, maybe they would. So for instance, I knew some people at womens magazines. What if I did a column on sex advice from the Bible? Because the Bibledoestalk about sex. Its got a lot of sex in it. So, I pitched sex advice from the Bible, and they took it. And then I did another one on business advice from the Bible, and music insights from the BibleIts slicing your topic up into different categories as much as you can, to get the word out. My feeling is, if so meone hears about it once, maybe theyll buy it. But if theyre bombarded by it, getting it everywhere- inGlamour, on NPR- then they might pick it up. So, that was my goal, to blanket as much as I could.PanioThat strategy is assuming that you can pitch articles. If you cant do that, how do you feel about something like blogging? Do you think theres any value to it?A.J.I do. Volunteering to guest blog for people is a nice idea too.Whatever the topic is, there is a way in.And I think anyone can pitch articles. Whatever the topic is, there is a way in. I was an editor of the front section of a magazine. I got pitched a lot. So I got an idea of what worked for me. One thing that worked, and its embarrassing, is if the person flattered you. People are weak. At least me. So if they said, Oh, I love what you did with this- just be super specific. Look in back issues and find something they wrote and be like, Oh this was brilliant. And then Im like, Wow, this guys got good tasteJust write a v ery short paragraph with a very catchy idea. And the writing for the pitch should be catchy in itself. I wrote a book about family,Its All Relative, andthe thesis was that were all family, were all cousins.And there are these massive online databases where you can put two peoples names in and figure out how theyre related in this ridiculous, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon way. This is a real one for Barack Obama, I am his sixth great-aunts husbands brothers wifes seventh great-nephew.PanioI see the resemblance.A.J.Ive been told.PanioAround the eyes a little bit.A.J.I actually used that when I was trying to get publicity at events. I would find a reporter or a producer, and say, I know this sounds a little odd, but I just want to let you know that were eighth cousins, and heres how were related, and if you want to do your family member a favor, would you be interested in writing about20 percent of the people were ready to put a restraining order on me. But the vast majority were like, Oh my God, that is so cool. It was the ultimate LinkedIn. Use what you can to connect with the editor. Make a connection, and then pitch something thats interesting to them.I also find that when you just send out books, your chances of getting coverage are pretty low. Which is why Id send out a book, then follow up with a very specific idea on how they could cover it. My latest book is whereI thank a thousand people who helped make my cup of coffee.So I pitched one radio show that, This radio show would not exist without the people who, in Chile, went into a mine and got the copper to make the wires in this microphone. Lets thank a thousand people who helped make this radio show. And that worked. They didnt actually do it that way, but it got them thinking (we mentioned it as a little part of the segment). But youve got to give them more than just, Hey, heres my book.If you get people interested, and following, then there will be more media interest.PanioWhen I was a book editor, a lo t of the publicity push was around book reviews. More and more, those seem to be less important for actually selling a book. They have less of an impact. Do you feel thats transferred over to social media?A.J.Thats a good question. You cant control the reviews. But you can, to a slightly greater extent, control the other coverage- if you pitch ideas and write them yourself. So I would say, focus on that. And do something creative with social media. For this book on gratitude, as part of the marketing, I promised to write one thousand handwritten, personalized thank you notes to readers of my books Heres a fasson on the internet. Fill out your name, address, and any message you want me to say. And it has been simultaneously a pain in the ass and, also, wonderful. Its been hugely helpful to hear what connects with people. Some of the requests have been touching. Some have been strange. I was asked to draw a picture of a dog or a taco. I decided I was going to go above and beyond, and draw a dog eating a taco. So Im very proud.PanioYou over-delivered. They should have sent you a thank you note for that dog eating a taco.A.J.A creative way of interacting with your audience through social media is a lovely idea. The other thing I like is posting on social media as Im writing.PanioWhat do you post?A.J.Research. I can take a picture of when I went to Colombia for the book on gratitude, post photos of my trip. The books not out for another year, but you know, get it in peoples minds. Cue it up.PanioI wonder how early youre supposed to promote your book. Thats a question that I discuss with other authors a lot.A.J.Its interesting because publicists, traditionally, say there is a set amount of publicity, like a pie, and you cannot release any of that pie until the book comes out. But I think thats not true. I think the pie grows. If you get people interested, and following, then there will be more media interest.PanioI agree. That first scenario is a very old-fashioned, conservative publishing approach, which is about scarcity If you give away too much of the book, people arent going to want to buy it. Which goes radically against where we are with social media, and with the internet at large, where you share almost everything, and people buy it and follow it because they like it.I love the idea of taking something that we see as boring, and reframing it as part of the artistic process.A.J.Exactly. And also, partly its hopefully that theyre buying it as a gift for a friend. Even if they know everything about it, maybe theyll buy it as a gift.PanioTheres certainly something to the many steps required for something to succeed. And theres a kind of serendipity. You never know where something is going to lead.A.J.Totally. I interviewed the artist Christo, who does all this giant public art- he put 10,000 orange curtains in Central Park, and he wrapped the Reichstag in Germany. For the one in Central Park, it literally took him 24 years to pull that of f, because he had to go through all this red tape- different mayors, hundreds of studies. And I said to him, How in the world did you keep your interest during that time? That sounds like the opposite of what would be interesting. And he said that his way to deal with it was to see that as part of the art. The red tape was actually part of the artistic process- he would film himself in meetings with the Parks Department. And I love that.I dont do anything quite like that or on that scale, but I love the idea of taking something that we see as boring, and reframing it as part of the artistic process. I think that helped me embrace marketing. You can see it as, Oh my God, Im writing 50 notes to editors. This is the worst- I did not sign up for this as a writer. Or you can say, Im going to write these notes in the most creative and fun way possible, and Im going to come up with fun ways to get this covered, and that is part of my art.PanioI love it. How do you get over feeling like you re being an imposition?A.J.Well, partly its deluding yourself and saying, You know, these people need good content. You have to be delusionally optimistic, that you think, You know whatPanioIm giving them a gift.A.J.Im giving them a gift They are so lucky. I dont always believe that- but if you can convince yourself of that, it makes it a lot easier.This article first appeared on Heleo.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people