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How to Use Influencer Marketing
To Promote Your Book(Engaging Influencers for my Publishing Clients)
PREPARED FOR GroupHigh Virtual Summit
April 28, 2015
@ChrisAbraham
@GroupHigh
#OutreachMarketing
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Chris Abraham@chrisabraham
@gerrisdigital
slideshare.net/chrisabraham
youtube.com/chrisabraham
#outreachmarketing
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linkedIn.com/in/chrisabraham
google.com/+chrisabraham
facebook.com/chrisabraham
twitter.com/chrisabraham
linkedin.com/company/gerris
google.com/+gerrisdigital
facebook.com/gerris
twitter.com/gerrisdigital
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• The publishing industry has
changed in the last decade
• With eBooks, self-publishing,
and a decrease in traditional
book reading, the margins on all
but the top-sellers is paper thin
• First-time and niche authors
have much less support and
resources towards book-
promotion
• Marketing budgets have been
slashed or preserved for top
sellers and top earners (that’s
assuming you can even get a
book deal these days)3
GLOCK: THE RISE OF AMERICA’S GUN BY PAUL M. BARRETT
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• Unlike advertising or a book
tour, there is no barrier to entry
to social media
• Social media enables both
intimate one-to-one
relationships with online
influencers
• Social also enables access to
one-to-many and many-to-many
social media shares
• Influencer marketing allows
authors to identify and then
engage topically-relevant online
influencers and bloggers 4
LAW OF THE JUNGLE BY PAUL M. BARRETT
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• Time, talent, and treasure are
all you need to support your
online “shadow” book launch
and book tour
• You can do it on the cheap
using just your time and talent
or you can subscribe to a
dedicated blogger outreach
platform like GroupHigh with a
little bit of treasure
• Or, you can open your wallet
and either collaborate with an
expert or hire a publicist to do
the outreach on your behalf
(I’m always happy to help)5
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING BY MIKE MORAN & BILL HUNT
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• While social media marketing lacks formal
protocol, there are three essentials:
1. Treat everyone as if they’re a
Kardashian: be excited and grateful and
don’t take anyone for granted – no matter
how little clout (or Klout) -- and be willing
to lavish time & attention on everyone
2. Be responsive and follow up more than
once: “no reply” doesn’t mean “no”
3. Provide an exceptional gift: bloggers love
bound galleys, they love hardcover
copies drop-shipped. They’ll take
paperbacks, some prefer Amazon-
compatible downloads – but nobody at
all loves a PDF attachment6
MINDFUL WORK BY DAVID GELLES
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• In each of the preceding books, each
author was willing to lavish as many
books, at much attention, and as much
time was as required to make a
connection and honor each influencer:
• Paul M. Barrett was willing to brave
the gun message boards for Glock
• Amy Wilkinson hosted a reddit IAmA
question and answer session
• Mike Moran & Bill Hunt never met an
interview they weren’t willing to take
• David Gelles took podcast interviews
as readily as NPR interviews7
THE CREATOR’S CODE BY AMY WILKINSON
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WHY YOU SHOULD REACH FURTHER THAN THE A-LIST
• Top newspapers, journals, celebrity sites,
and high-status A-level blogs are highly
competitive
• Don’t forsake the crème de la crème but
don’t only rely on them to fuel your book’s
promotion – everyone’s fighting to go to
prom with the prom King and prom Queen
• If you don’t already have a brand, it’s
entirely possible to build a powerful brand
from the bottom up: blog by blog, influencer
by influencer
• Social media goes beyond blogs,
Facebook, and Twitter – don’t ignore
message boards and specialty sites
#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham
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RULE #34B - IF IT EXISTS THERE IS BLOG OF IT
Internet rule #34 - If it exists there IS porn of it
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THERE’S SO MUCH MORE THAN MOMMY BLOGGERS
• Paul M. Barrett made best mates with both
the pro-gun and anti-gun online – I helped
him connect with shooting sport hobbyists
on both general sports shooting and Glock-
specific message boards for his book Glock
• I found David Gelles hundreds of
influencers connected with the mindfulness
movement, both spiritual and secular
• I helped Amy Wilkinson connect with both
entrepreneurs and women with the goal of
connecting with women entrepreneurs
• Mike Moran tapped me to help him and Bill
Hunt track down everyone outside of their
personal SEO/SEM database of contacts
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AS CHEAPLY OR AS EASILY AS YOU WANT TO SO IT
• For years, I did all of my blogger outreach
campaigns using Excel spreadsheets and
then Google Sheets
• I discovered bloggers using keywords on
Google and blog search engines and tracked
engagements on those blasted spreadsheets
• You can do it cheap and hard or spend a little
money to make it easier
• I currently use a combination of Google, SDL
SM2, InkyBee, and GroupHigh to do my
blog and blogger research
• I use GroupHigh to manage my outreach
campaigns, including contacts & follow-ups
#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham
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REACH OUT TO WHEREVER THEY ARE
#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham
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REACH OUT TO WHEREVER THEY ARE
#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham
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MAKE YOUR PITCH AS PERSONABLE AS POSSIBLE
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MOST OF THE MAGIC HAPPENS IN THE INBOX – MAKE IT
HAPPEN!
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TWO FINAL MANTRAS TO LEAVE YOU WITH (AND
REMEMBER)
“Hugs not horns”– Chris Abraham
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is
fighting a hard battle”
– Philo of Alexandria
(or Plato or Ian MacLaren or John Watson)
#outreachmarketing @chrisabraham
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THANK YOU! ANY QUESTIONS? YES, YOU CAN START WITH
ME:
Gerris digital@gerrisdigital
www.gerr.is
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youtube.com/chrisabraham
linkedIn.com/in/chrisabraham
google.com/+chrisabraham
facebook.com/chrisabraham
twitter.com/chrisabraham
flickr.com/chrisabraham
slideshare.net/chrisabraham
linkedin.com/company/gerris
google.com/+gerris
facebook.com/gerris
twitter.com/gerrisdigital
chris-abraham.com
Chris Abraham@chrisabraham
+1 202-352-5051