In the past decade, business has become mainstream. The average person now has knowledge of stock market trends, corporate takeovers, and competition within global industries. From a book publicist’s point of view, this means that there are more “business readers” than ever.
On the one hand, this is good news, because the universe of media venues that need business content has grown. On the other hand, serious business readers now have to be more choosy about the content they consume.
For Best Book Promotion Results, Target Top-Tier Business Media
For this reason, we like to target top-tier business media whenever possible. Why? Because when we’re trying to move and motivate leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs—and hopefully get these readers to buy a business author’s book—we have to go to the media places they frequent. We also always have to be agile and creative in our approach to book publicity. Every book has its unique promotional challenges and publicity opportunities to define, explore, and make happen with great success.
Examples of Business Book Publicity Success to a Targeted Audience
For ethicist Mark Pastin, author of Make an Ethical Difference, we worked on a story idea we thought would interest managers and small business owners: When faced with an ethical grey area at work, how will different people react? Will they be tattle tales, will they keep their mouth shut to protect a colleague, or will they try to work behind the scenes to resolve it? Bloomberg/Businessweek loved the story, and called it “The Different Ways People Handle Ethical Issues in the Workplace,” with Pastin as the author. By aiming high, we were able to reach the “right” business readers.
Businesswoman and trailblazer Joyce Roché has devoted much of her career to mentoring women and minorities in the corporate world. Her new book, The Empress Has No Clothes, about overcoming “impostor syndrome,” struck a familiar note with a leading female business journalist for the Work and Family column at the Wall Street Journal. According to Roché, many successful people—particularly women and minorities—feel as though they’re less qualified than their peers, despite the fact that they’re accomplished and well recognized. The resulting WSJ column, entitled “New Ways to Fight Impostor Fears,” featured Roché and her strategies.
Another favorite stop for business readers is Inc magazine. We felt that leadership scholar Steven Mundahl, the CEO of Goodwill Industries and author of The Alchemy of Authentic Leadership, had a powerful message for its executive and small business owner readership. In the wake of the Anthony Weiner scandal, we pitched Mundahl as an expert who could address the pitfalls and temptations that bring leaders down. Inc featured him and his insights in a piece called “How Great Leaders Stay on Top.”
High-Value Business Media Leads to Better Book Publicity
Now that many top-tier online business venues take guest posts and are actively looking for content, there’s a lot of opportunity for authors who can provide high-quality articles and expertise. It may sound like a no-brainer, but if you want cream-of-the-crop business people to learn about and buy your book, you have to get your book mentioned in the top-tier media venues they regularly visit.