This is an excerpt from The Books Business Abundance Podcast, Episode 74, my interview with marketing expert, Patty Farmer.
Patty: You make money in two ways, revenue and opportunities, right? Those are the two ways we really make money. So, one of the things that I always love to say about an opportunity or an “op” as I like to call it, is op for me, stands for other people’s people. So, how can you serve someone else in such a way that they get to know you, trust you, and feel comfortable putting you in front of their people?
You know, I feel really good when I ask people to write for my magazine, or be on my podcast, or speak on a stage for me, or do a Facebook live, or whatever the case may be. When I feel really good about them. I want to share them with my people. And now that I found out that that ebook thing you’ve got going on, I want to share it with my people. Right?
So, I think that that is what’s really important and how you leverage it. So, what you’re really leveraging there is the relationships that you have built. So many people, they just want to go from here to here to here and it’s really go deeper, not wide. This is really the time in where we are right now for that to really happen and building strategic relationships with the promo partners and strategic partners. And those are not exactly the same thing. A lot of people use that word the same, but it really is totally different-what they do. And so, I think that is really important.
Ellen: Why don’t you share that? What’s the difference? What’s the difference because people don’t understand.
Patty: So, for a strategic partner, for me, a strategic partner is someone who serves the same audience as you, but in a completely different way. So somebody who is in marketing, maybe a sales or websites or branding, , like, so those are good people for me, somebody who does books since I have a magazine, but I don’t do books at all, nothing to do with them, so, I always refer that out.
So, looking at that and how I always tell people, they should think about it is if this is what you do, most people don’t realize it, but when somebody has a problem and you have a solution, and you help them, right? It creates another problem. Every problem when solved creates another problem, right?
Ellen: So, what’s the next step? What’s the next step?
Patty: What’s the next step? So, whoever you would send them to, to the next step, is a strategic partner.
Ellen: Yeah.
Patty: But what people don’t think about…
Ellen: Or, who came right before you can be…
Patty: Or who came right before you. So those are really great strategic partners. A promotional partner, a promo partner, is somebody that maybe we will joint venture on something or collaborate on something specific, but what we will do is we will promote each other. And you know, some people like to call that affiliate marketing, right? But sometimes promotional partners, they don’t have to do affiliate. Right?
So for me, a promo partners, when somebody says to me, this is an example, when somebody says they have a book and they’re going to do a book launch, or maybe they’re going to have a podcast launch, and they’re saying, “Here’s what I’d love for you to commit to Patty that on this day my book comes out,”
Ellen: Right.
Patty: “These are the things that you will do. You’re going to promo it for me on this day and you’re going to commit to these things,” right? It’s not like where it may be a strategic partner we’re going to do an event together or do a masterclass together or something like that. So, really a promo partners really about promotion. And it is really important whenever you’re doing a launch, or pretty much anything that you really know who your promo partners are, so that you’re doing that well in advance. That’s part of leveraging and not waiting because a lot of times people will come to me. I’m sure they do to you. They’re book’s going to come out. Or, their new podcast is going to come out…
Ellen: (Laugh) tomorrow!
Patty: Oh, it’s going to be out in two weeks. I’m like, “Well, if you’d have told me, we could have had you, like, when, when authors come to me, it’s like, I get them booked on a podcast tour. Right? Let’s get you on a podcast tour, so when that book’s going to come out, they’re hearing about it everywhere. Where can we have you be talking about it? Who are the best promotional partners for you? And we go out and find them for you and like, kind of do that outreach and stuff. I think that is really important. People don’t always think about it. They just think that, you know, I’m going to tell you, this may come as a surprise, but just posting about it on social media does not get it done.
To get the entire podcast interview, CLICK HERE.
