Tag: relationships

Following Up on a Media Pitch

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

“I sent an email two days ago and haven’t heard back. Should I send a follow-up email or call the journalist?”

Have you wondered when and how to follow up when you’ve sent a media pitch? Here are a few tips on how to follow up.

  • Don’t email or call “just checking to see if you got my email…“ Media persons receive hundreds of emails a day and who knows how many phone calls. They don’t need one more cluttering up their inbox or voicemail. If you decide to send a follow up email, forward your original one with something added. You want to provide additional information and not just resend what you’ve already sent. Have you created an infographic to accompany your pitch? You could send that. Perhaps you’ve found another source or two who have agreed to be interviewed on the topic or additional statistics and you can send that additional information along.
  • Journalists are very busy, but they also need good stories. If you have a great pitch and want to follow up with a phone call, make sure you have practiced the message you want to leave – because you’ll probably get their voicemail. Write it up and practice it aloud so when you leave the message you sound confident and at ease, and don’t forget anything. Keep it brief.
  • You want to build relationships with media persons. So always be respectful of their time. When you do connect with one, especially if they run with your pitch, be sure to thank them for their time. Send a follow up thank you email or if you have their address, send a thank you card in the mail. You’ll stand out and be remembered the next time you contact them.

Your Book Publicity Menu: Dessert, Media Contacts List

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Book Publicity Mini-Course

We’ve discussed your three-course book publicity menu: website, mailing list, social media. Now time for dessert.

Just as a very special dessert may take a lot of time and attention to detail, so does creating and maintaining a media contacts list.

Start in your local area by gathering local media names and contact information. Keep a spreadsheet with all that contact information and track when you reach out and the response you get. You can get a lot of contact information by doing a Google search, such as “Phoenix radio stations” or “Houston newspapers”, etc.

Once you’ve had a positive response from a media person, send a thank you and stay in touch. Develop these relationships. They are gold in your book publicity efforts.

Commit to Consistent Publicity

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Book Publicity Mini-Course

When your book launched, you probably did a lot of marketing and publicity leading up to the launch—and maybe even for a month or so after the book was released. One of the mistakes I see authors make is stopping their marketing and publicity efforts or becoming inconsistent. They may do nothing for a few months, then do another marketing campaign for a month or so, then stop again, around and around.

It takes work to build relationships with media sources for book publicity. Commitment to consistent publicity is important so you those relationships don’t wither. Working with media sources consistently helps them to get to know you, your business, brand, and message.

If, for example, you’ve written a book about how to manage personal finances, there will be many opportunities throughout the year to pitch to media around the topic of personal finances: the start of the new year, tax time, each quarter, etc. By consistently pitching relevant topics to your media sources, you can become their go-to source.

Client Corner: Book Launch of The Healing Power of Girlfriends

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

I’m excited to announce the official book launch date of our client’s book! Tomorrow, March 8, 2019, to coincide with International Women’s Day, Deborah Olson launches The Healing Power of Girlfriends: How To Create Your Best Life Through Female Connection.

The Healing Power of Girlfriends
Buy the book at Amazon.

Deborah published the book with the assistance of Jera Publishing.

Advance praise for the book:

Deborah Olson details the anatomy of friendship and explains how these components work to strengthen bonds and create flow. Research shows that our happiness correlates to our social relationships; so does our health. This book is a delightful roadmap to cultivate and nurture our circle of connections. The Healing Power of Girlfriends is an engaging, upbeat, and inspiring five-star read. – Laurie Buchanan, PhD, holistic health practitioner, transformational life coach, and  ward-winning author

To learn more about our Social Media Book Launch packages and how we support our clients, click here.

“To my social media expert, Sue Canfield, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your stellar efforts to bring the news of my first book to the world through social media. You and your team are exceptional and visionary, and I cannot imagine the past several months preparing for this book launch without you on board.”—Deborah Olson

Music and the Rose

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Today I thought I’d share a bit about me personally. I feel it’s very important to find out something personal about our prospects and clients and thought you’d enjoy learning something personal about me. Now I’m not advocating we get nosy with prospects and clients. But knowing a bit about what they enjoy doing, reading, the type of music they enjoy listening to, or hobbies they enjoy, can help you develop a meaningful relationship. And relationships is what business is really all about. So here’s something about me and my husband Joel.

My favorite flower is a rose. When I was very young my favorite books were the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She named her daughter Rose and that’s one reason why I like roses. In our yard we had a huge rose bush with white flowers. My favorite color rose is actually more yellow – not bright yellow but a very pale yellow. I like roses so much that our six-year old’s second middle name (yes, she has two middle names) is Rose.

My husband’s favorite thing, after me, is music. He loves music! He’s dedicated a whole website to music. Joel is constantly listening to music – at his desk with his headphones on, in the car listening to CDs, while taking a walk and yes, even all night long. We have our MP3 hooked up to the stereo so we never run out of our favorite music to listen to each night.

So now that you know something about us, we’d love to hear something about what you love!