How a Cold Call Resulted in Several Strategic Marketing Opportunities

If you ever get the chance to be involved in a published book project featuring yourself along with 9 other professionals from various industries, just go for it. It just may be the strategic marketing opportunity you are looking for.

Through being involved in this book, and meeting the other women profiled, I’ve been introduced to leaders in high performance coaching, business consulting, network marketing, hospitality, funeral industry, fashion, financial services, energy coaching, and landscape architecture.

As a result of having New Initiatives Marketing profiled in Breaking Barriers – 10 Entrepreneurial Women Share Their Stories, this exposure has opened doors to new clients, new partnerships, new promotional opportunities and expanded my network.

All of this opportunity from a book that I didn’t write myself!

Here is how I’m making my participation in this book work for my business and some ideas how a project like this could work for yours:

Strategic Marketing: Giving Back

All proceeds from the sale of the book will be going to charity, specifically SheEO. This is a Canadian initiative to provide funding for female-led companies. Being involved and exposed to a global charity on this scale is a fantastic movement to be a part of.

Strategic Marketing: Promotion

People have said that a book is like a business card on steroids. There is something about a book that can open up doors for promotional opportunities.  I had the chance to be featured on the USA based podcast The Power of Women Entrepreneurs . The topic focus was making the finances work for a marketing business and funding Nimble Quotes.

Strategic Marketing: Back In-Touch

What a great way to re-ignite the conversation with contacts who we didn’t previously win business from. As well, what a good conversation starter for colleagues who I’ve lost touch with. The book has been a helpful way to get those conversations started again.

I’ve started to mail books to people I want to get back in touch with. Each package contains a handwritten card with a message specific to that person and why I’m sharing this book with them. Yes, the writing of the personal message takes a long time. This is by no means a scalable endeavour. The conversations and re-established connections have been worth the effort.

Strategic Marketing: Partnerships

Each of these 9 other women profiled are leading businesses not in the marketing services area. My promotion in partnership with each of these women and to collectively promote the book  will be to feature each of these women’s businesses in a blog and dive into specifically how they are using different elements of marketing in their business to grow. 

The series of articles will showcase how marketing is used in various industries. Each post will feature a professional from that industry who will share how they promote and raise awareness for their business.

My aim is for the reader to learn background information about the industry, find out some of the perception challenges each professional faces and discover how diverse elements of marketing and promotion are used (or not) in several ways. The hope is that the articles may inspire the reader to  introduce a marketing concept for their business that is not currently used in their industry.

A cold call started it all

And all of this started with a cold call from Trish Tonaj. Prior to that July morning call, I had no idea who she was.  She was searching for a marketing professional to profile in her book, my name had been suggested to her from a mutual colleague of ours.

Trish started the call by introducing herself, how my name came to her attention and why she was calling. My first reaction was … not interested.

I didn’t think I had done enough professionally to be profiled in a book and too, a book? What was the point in being in a book, I wondered? Famous last thoughts. I’m glad I had a change of heart.

By the end of the 30 minute conversation, we were checking calendars to see when our first in-person lunch meeting could occur. And the rest is history.

If you’re presented with such an project, my advice to you is to go for it. And, consider answering more of those “cold” calls from numbers you don’t recognize. It could be opportunity knocking.

Learn more about Breaking Barriers here at Amazon or Indigo or write to me for your own copy. All proceeds to SheEO. Have I convinced you to get involved in book projects? If so, Trish Tonaj is writing another book.