Author: Claire McKinney

When promoting a book is also about selling a new idea…

Posted on by Claire McKinney

Is it an idea, a book or both?  I have this conversation with authors and publishers all the time.  It is one thing to pitch a mystery novel or a book on weight loss.  It is an entirely different approach if what you want to sell is a new concept or a new spin on something we all know.  Let’s break it down with one of the more difficult “idea” categories using some of my favorite tools when I was an economics major in college.

Eraser Clip Art

Faux Title Study I: Dominating the Widget Market for Investors

Let’s say you are publicizing a book about investing in the widget market.  Your book describes the market, it’s history, sample strategies, tips, potential outcomes, etc.  It is a prescriptive book that can help people make money from widgets, and in general help them learn more about the stock market.

You would likely employ a strategy that included a “top ten strategies/tips” list, soliciting radio interviews, pitching long lead magazines and soft financial publications for the average investor, trying to get on a morning TV show or other talk show that features self-improvement topics, getting involved in social media networks about making money in the market, and more.

With this book you have a clear direction, clear advice you can impart, and a community online and involved in traditional media that is always interested in how to be better off financially.  Now let’s look at the other side of the coin.

Faux Title Study 2: Dominating the Widget Market in a Changing World

This book is similar to the first in that the author talks about the market and history of the widget industry.  He will also probably share some case studies of investors both successful and unsuccessful as a way of illustrating the changes.  Theories of the future of widgets and why things are or are not improving will be in the book.  The conclusion may be more gray than black/white and the author will present a picture of what things are going to look like and perhaps ways we might adjust to allow for a more (or less) volatile environment.

I’m sure you are getting where I am going with this.  Title 1 is a clearer “how-to” offering whereas Title 2 is based on a hypothesis and theory based on research and/or data.  There may be some takeaways in terms of what one might do, but it will be implied rather than described in a list of “tips”.

Clearly these are simplistic examples, but I run into this all the time.  The thing is, we almost always want to try to promote the theory the same way we would promote the prescriptive, and it just doesn’t work.  First of all, authors who are writing about theory usually have a combination of academic and applied credentials and they generally don’t want to give people “advice”.  The kind of interview where “tips” are the goal is often awkward for this kind of person.

The other author loves giving workshops and presentations about how to do things better. For her topic, how we got here isn’t as important as what we are going to do about it.

In an ideal world it might be nice to have the two books and two authors to promote at the same time.  It would make for a fascinating discussion and we would all come away from it with a way to make things better.

 

What’s in a tagline?

Posted on by Claire McKinney

I apologize for being remiss in not posting these past couple of weeks.  To be honest it’s been a bit of a shocker since I live in the NY Metro area and was affected by Sandy.  No power, gas rationing, and empty grocery stores can do that…I can only imagine what some others have dealt with on the shoreline or in lower Manhattan.

Anyway, as promised I owe you an article about taglines.  What are they?  They are probably most commonly thought of as slogans.  Their purpose is to emphasize the brand that is being promoted and to provide another way for the product to stick in a consumer’s mind.  Sometimes, the line can be so ridiculous, you wonder how someone came up with that!  Kind of like watching Geico commercials.  At this point with or without the gecko I know who did the ad by the crazy scenario I see on screen.

So let’s take my tag for example, “Communication Strategies for the 21st Century”.  My goal is to impress on potential clients that I am well versed in traditional methods in public relations and marketing but I also embrace new media and everything it can offer to a campaign (hence 21st century).  What am I going to do when the 22nd century hits…fortunately I won’t be responsible for that, but it has run across my mind, should my enterprise become the booming conglomerate every entrepreneur dreams of…

Here are a couple of others I’ve noted that kind of go out on a limb, if you ask me, but at the same time I certainly can’t forget them.

Applegate Farms: a maker of fresh, hormone free sausages and hot dogs has this on it’s trucks “The Cleaner Weiner” shaped in a smiley face.  See this video for more fun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAwemDM2INo

A septic service in Wisconsin touts it’s excellence with “Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels”.  This is actually the name of their company, but it emphasizes the service.

yesterday's meals on wheels - Chilliwack & Abby Septic Service truck
From collegehumor.com

I have sat in meetings in the corporate world where a room full of people try to come up with a catchy, poignant way to highlight a brand.  I wish I could have been there for these two.  Please share any great taglines you’ve observed.  I’d love to read them.

Mother Nature and the Media

Posted on by Claire McKinney

I love the weather.  It is truly a humbling experience when major natural events occur…a time when I realize how little control we have over our environments.  We can always do our best, but in the end there are forces at play that can unseat even the most organized, type-A personalities.

In the next 36 hours a hurricane is scheduled to make an almost direct hit with the New York Metro area, which happens to be where I live and work.  Schools are closed, transit is closed, and every weatherman or woman worth his salt is jumping up and down with glee–their role normally just 90 – 120 seconds every half hour or so, has risen to the top of the food chain in broadcast journalism.

And, being that NY is the #1 media market in the country, everywhere I look the storm has taken over the airwaves.  There are people posted along the coasts of NJ, NY, and CT.  A reporter is standing ankle deep in water in Battery Park, located at the southern tip of Manhattan.  Sam Champion is on camera with serious rolling waves in the Hudson as a backdrop, to illustrate just how stormy it really is.

From a local standpoint, the fact that there is a presidential election coming in just over a week has taken a backseat to what could be the worst natural disaster in this area since 1938.  Nationally, the candidates are a bit out-of-luck as well, because the majority of national reporting comes out of New York.  There are always the individual swing states, but even some of them are distracted awaiting either 2 feet of snow, or getting their canoes ready for when the rivers make canals of local streets.

See Ma, even the President can’t control the weather.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, there is a scene where a guy gets into a device that literally shows you how insignificant you are in relation to the universe.  The trick in the novel is to keep from having your mind blown in the process.

So to all those storm watchers around the country, and for those of us who live in the path of Sandy…perhaps we will benefit from a reminder that as much as we strive for world domination, sometimes we must batten down the hatches, arm ourselves with flashlights, buy out the bread, milk, and water on store shelves, and hope that when it’s over we can go back to life–minds intact–as we knew it.

 

The Cult of Personality: It’s not just a song.

Posted on by Claire McKinney

Over a decade ago I recall having a somewhat heated debate at a dinner with authors, booksellers, and a publisher about author photos.  The question was whether or not an author photo made a difference in how a book is received in the marketplace.  My answer was “Yes.”

For my part it wasn’t just about how consumers responded, it was about whether a good photo would open more doors in print and on television.  Not unlike a book jacket, the photo became a part of the presentation and let’s face it, media and book buyers like attractive things.

Now the word on the street is all about branding and personal branding no less.  It’s about connecting with readers and communities and getting people interested in your work because they are interested in YOU the author.  What ever happened to book reviews?

Can we blame this phenomenon on reality TV?  Can we blame it on the inability of our government to cross partisan lines? Unfortunately, no.  We have all played a part in this evolution and in the entertainment business we have literally trained consumers to respond to a personal brand.

Is this all new?  Well, not really.  There have been fan clubs for authors since I was a kid at least.  I personally was a member of the Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary clubs and I was very excited to get letters and other stuff in the mail about the women who wrote some of my most beloved books.

So what’s different today?  Well, now instead of “fan clubs” there are web sites and communities where people chat about their favorite authors and books.  Authors go on tour to shake hands with their readers (albeit not quite as often as they used to).  A celebrity writer is literally a “celebrity”, with people behind him who tell him what to say, where to go, and sometimes even what to wear.  Move over Hollywood stylists, make room for author fashion. A website devoted to an author needs to be branded in line with the writer’s work and image.  Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc…all need to fit in with these molds as well.  Messaging and presentation are critical because one doesn’t want to alienate precious readers.

Bottom line:  It’s a vast landscape of possibilities for presenting yourself and your work, but it also requires people whose actual job is done solo, to break out into the world in a bright and shiny way.  I truly believe that good writing and good books have a shot out there and will reach an appreciative audience of some number.  But I also know the bestseller list is competitive and you may need to unseat Snooki for your spot on it.

 

Why won’t presidential candidates answer direct questions?

Posted on by Claire McKinney

Hello, and welcome to my first official blog post on our firm’s brand new website.  So the topic of the day is the debate of course, having glued myself to the television for nearly two hours last night.  My anticipation of the conversation between the candidates falls in the category of “doing the same thing over again, but expecting different results”.  Did I get any answers?  No.  Should I have expected any?  Heck no.

Falling back on my years in public relations and talent management I can tell you there are very clear reasons why we don’t learn anything when a president speaks…I mean not since JFK or Roosevelt or Eisenhower.

First of all, the number of ways what we say can be broadcast around the world is unbelievable.  So being extra diligent about our words is critical, especially when we are promoting a product, handling a crisis, or trying to win an election.  You can’t take it back, and not only that, if you say something someone out there deems offensive or damaging, it will repeat itself in various forms and characters ad infinitum.  Not fun.

Then there is the idea of messaging.  When a public speaker is trained for the media, he is grilled over and over again on question/response protocol.  Body language, phrasing, tonality, all combine with the words themselves.  It’s really like theater in a way.  And if you saw what one newscaster in New York called two figures “circling each other in a cage”, you can appreciate the flair for the dramatic in a town hall setting.  No podium, just wide open stage.

Simply put, these televised productions are opportunities for the candidates to “show” us what they might be like.  Do we actually think Obama is going to admit that there was evidence predicting an act of terror in Libya and that the State Department openly ignored it?  Do we think Romney is going to cop to flip-flopping on his policies vis a vis governing Massachusetts and his campaign?

Fortunately I’ve already been deemed unnecessary by the two campagins because I live in a state that is already “decided”.  So I can sit back and watch, hoping for something that by the very nature of the promotional culture we have all embraced, will never come.