Overnight Exposure: The Benefits of Cross-Promotion

July 12, 2012 Posted by The BVB Team

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How a book about surfing and dating will revolutionize your marketing

• What will it take to show up differently than everyone else on Facebook?
• What would a few minutes on Fox News do for your traffic?
• How can you transform your outside hobbies into massive exposure for your company?

This week’s expert Tara Brouwer will show you exactly how she broke out of the boring marketing box and caught the next wave forward…

BVB: What’s working right now for your business Tara?

Tara: The idea of cross-promotion has been really successful.

Launching the book “EVERYTHING I Know About DATING, I Learned Through SURFING” has done huge things for my business Shovel Creative.

We have gotten so much exposure from it. We were on FOX News a couple of days ago, we had a very successful launch party with 200-300 people in attendance.

We went live on Kickstarter 3 days ago and have already raised close to $4000 for the printing. And we’ll be on Channel 8 this week. Shovel Creative has never gotten so much exposure before this book.

 BVB: Why is cross-promotion a strategy that is working RIGHT NOW?

Tara: It’s working because it is unique and different.  Social media tools are powerful, but also remember, they are only tools, they are only channels.

You have to have innovative, refreshing and clever content to be able to broadcast across the channels. People nowadays are so bombarded with email campaigns and invites to like a Facebook page. You really need to be raw, transparent and unique to engage users.

BVB: So your social media engagement is way up because of this approach?

Tara: So much! People are sharing our book, our launch party, our exposure on the news on their own Facebook page. It’s going viral because people are so excited for us that it’s moving organically.

Also, we were advised by many of our mentors to use Kickstarter. They said it’s great if you can drive people to it through other social media campaigns.

So we’re driving people there, which is where the conversion actually takes place. People are pre-ordering the book, we are seeing amazing results with that.

BVB: If someone wanted to use cross-promotion in their marketing today, what are the steps?

Tara: The first step is to get your idea on paper and get it in front of people that you trust. We put quotes on post it notes… and put them in the order of catching a wave… We just started writing our stories, we got them out to our friends, and they started telling theirs.

When you get it out to others you can see if it has any traction.

Once you get that feedback, the second step is to learn everything you can about the process. Sit down with mentors, invest in training programs. When Nancy and I started the book, we didn’t know about Kickstarter. We both had social media campaigns in our own businesses, but we sat down with experts, we became coachable.

Get the help you need to find out what you don’t know.

Step three is implementation. Finding the right support to make the product tangible.

And of course, step four: Share! Share! Share! Share!

Be excited, be ready to say yes to any PR opportunity that comes along. Even if it’s scary, you just have to jump in. Just go for it.

BVB: Did you find yourself having to stretch yourself to do that?

Tara: When we were on FOX News we had 18 hours notice in advance. I basically had to drop everything the next morning and go in to be on TV.

And I had never been on TV like that before. I was scared and nervous. I didn’t know what to wear, we didn’t have anything rehearsed to say .

That was a really big deal to me, to say yes to that, to get myself on camera, and do it.

Another challenge is, this has been a lot of time-consuming hard work. I tend to like my freedom, my spare time, and right now with Shovel and getting my book out, I am making a lot of sacrificies, and that has pushed me too.

BVB: Do you have any specific advice for our readers?

Tara: Find a good mentor, a good coach, a good training program. It’s so easy to get derailed, to get stuck in the same obstacles over and over again, and if you don’t have a mentor to hold you accountable, to push you through that, you will just keep getting stuck. Find  a good support network, that will hold you to your highest level.

BVB: This is great Tara. Since our Tribe is full of innovators, we know they will really run with it… 

What unique strategy will you implement this week?

Stop by the Facebook Tribe and let us know!