Totally Maverick: How To Attract Sponsors And Strategic Partners For Your Business

With publisher, author and speaker

Lisa Messenger

Messenger Publishing

Totally Maverick - How to Attract Sponsors And Strategic Partners For Your Business By Lisa Messenger IF you want to leapfrog competitors, stand out from the crowd, break through the clutter and increase brand awareness in the market place, try producing a book. While it might seem left of field to some, producing your own book will result in greater visibility, enhanced credibility, greater reach and the thing we’re all looking for – leverage for yourself of your business. And it’s not as hard as people traditionally think. Businesses across the nation are now considering this marketing option, either as a message or biography on the chief executive and/or board, or a history on a company’s rise to fame. Other are creating everything from self-help business books – books about their own personal messages of performance or their business secrets – to flashy coffee-table books on their company’s work. One architecture company recently created a gorgeous book of its most prized designs. The book is now being circulated across the country and has positioned them as a leader in the field. A book is the ultimate brand calling card. Almost every major business figure has written one – or is in the process. That’s because it opens doors. It positions you or your company as the guru and gives you something tangible to leverage a media campaign off. Publicity leads to people buying books, attending your speaking gigs, enlisting your company’s services, buying its products, and signing up for your conferences and workshops. It can reach locations across Australia – and the world – that you would have little or nil hope of otherwise reaching through both traditional and non-traditional distribution. With a book, you suddenly have a credible marketing tool which you can use as a premium, incentive or giveaway; as a Christmas, anniversary or holiday gift; to retain existing customers or acquire new ones. The awe around authors and books in general is amazing. Despite the new age in which we live where the internet rules, people still want hard-cover copies of books. They just like it that way. And once your book is published, its impact just keeps on going and will continue to do so as long after the first print run. And the return can be substantial – from both a financial and branding perspective. With a book, you can: Drive brand awareness and enhance credibility – distribute through traditional (bookshops) and more lucrative non traditional (corporate, charity, web, specialty stores, media partners, catalogues, schools, universities, conferences) distribution channels

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Create an additional source of revenue – pre-sell customized copies to underwrite costs and form distribution alliances – aim at corporate sponsors or individual contributors for compilation books Celebrate a milestone – giveaway to all employees and stakeholders to thank them for their contribution Fundraise and create cause-related marketing – support a charity by partnering with them for mutual benefit Incentivise purchases – target potential partners that are aligned with your subject matter to use as a premium with purchase Attain customer retention and acquisition – give away premium books to up-sell clients or acquire new ones Offer business gifts and rewards – reward customer loyalty eg automotive company - leave a book on the car seat after servicing their car. Offer dealer incentives – reward retailers and other dealers for displaying your wares prominently or for selling a significant amount. Whilst most dealer incentives are larger gifts such as trips, books can supplement other promotions Offer sales incentives – to encourage salespeople to better their previous sales. The greater the sales, the bigger the prize – a travel guide book could be offered to any salespeople meeting minimum goal. This could then be tied to a main prize of a trip to New York thus as the sales people read the book they would be inspired to work harder to win the trip. Offer employee incentives – reward employees for being innovative with a copy of my latest book, Cubicle Commando which empowers intrapreneurs (internal entrepreneurs) to work within the confines of a corporation Offer subscription premiums – partner with a business magazine to incentivise subscriptions by giving away a business book with a 12 month subscription Offer coupon redemption – Get customers to collect 10 coupons and receive free book Value add – By bundling it with other products, either your own or others who match your vision and values. Most people are unaware of just how customized books can be. The options are almost endless. But don’t sit there thinking ‘great idea, but way too expensive’. Why don’t you check it out? I can assure you, you’ll be amazed. They’ll probably end up being cheaper than those golf umbrellas or desk clocks you’ve looked at

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for gifts and what are people left with – something of incredibly value and perceived worth.

But before you write one word, you need to work out why you want the book and how you will offload it. Is it simply a positioning tool? A book which you’ll give away; an expensive business card as it were. There’s nothing wrong with this and plenty of people are doing it. Or, is the book to be an extra revenue stream for you, a spin-off of your existing message or a new message you want to sell based on your existing brand? It’s important to work out of the aim of the book early. If it’s the first option, then underwriting the cost of the book is not an issue. You can just pay for it from company or personal funds and watch your profile grow as you hand it around. But if it’s the second, and you want the book to actually make money while it raises your profile, you’ll need to move volume through non-traditional means, either through speaking engagements/building it into your conference fees, from yours or multiple websites, through your database and through corporate alliances and bulk sales which of course will be explored over and over in your marketing plan. Producing a book is a new and powerful way to market yourself or your business. Now the clever part! Gaining a sponsor for bulk sales to underwrite the costs: When I decided to write my first book, I was so excited because I was finally going to achieve a life-long dream. Don’t we all think we have a book in us? At that stage, I knew nothing of the publishing industry and went about my work like I always do – like a bull at a gate. I decided to self publish to test my marketing prowess and to maintain control. What I soon discovered was the price tag. It was going to cost me AUD$80,000. Most people fall in a heap when they realise the costs associated with making a book and they throw the entire project out the window, putting it in the too-hard basket. I, on the other hand, got even more excited. I saw it as a new challenge, one where I could really test out my skills by applying my sponsorship and marketing background to do something different – to see if corporations would be interested in lending a hand. When approaching a corporation to buy your book to use as a premium, incentive, gift or reward, you need to create a win-win partnership. What I discovered is that corporations are interested in including books in their corporate mix to use as an incentive, premium reward or giveaway (so much better than a coffee mug or pen set). I also discovered that if your book ‘fits’ with a company’s ethos or current media campaign, they are thrilled to customize your book to make it their own. The third thing I discovered, was that some corporations and businesses don’t even want their own book, but are willing to

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pay for yours – at a discounted rate of course – to on-sell. Books have a high perceived value. These three opportunities provide one of the greatest sources of hope for the self-publisher. When preparing to approach a corporation for a bulk deal, think about: 1. What companies or organizations (individuals within) do you already have personal relationships with who could use your book in some capacity (see below for options)? List everyone with a strong relationship – you never know it just might work. 2. What companies or organizations do you think are a “good fit” for your book? Ones that agree with your message, your vision and values and potentially have the same target market. 3. Then narrow down the options for each. Would they want to: - Buy bulk quantities to give to their staff - Buy bulk quantities to give to their clients as a premium, incentive or gift? - Buy bulk quantities to on-sell (a company after a tangible product they can

call their own)? Then consider this: 1. Will it work for you? 2. Will it work for them? If you answered yes to the two questions above, then you should consider approaching them. Good luck!

I get very excited about the publishing industry. There is so much

opportunity

and potential

that is as yet … untapped!

- Lisa Messenger

www.messengerpublishing.com.au