SO WE NEED WORKAROUNDS FOR COMP'D SOCIAL MEDIA AND MSM TO GET OUR MESSAGE OUT. Maybe we can modify a basic work equation from the music business.
East Texas musicfag here with a few ideas and a general outline to make the ideas work.
When we had an artist putting together a tour to support a new product we had a generic to-do list that contained 'must do' and improvised actions needed to
1- get media (before/during/after,)
2- get live audiences ('butts in the seats',) and
3- move product on the road (during; merch sales) and after (online, digital, and retail.)
SO in this case
'Media' = any kind of attention, eyes-on, interaction with anyone that either has an audience or has access to an audience.
That would mean letters to the editor, call-ins to local radio talk shows, submitting one page press releases to local news directors and editors, telling a joke and making a short pitch between bands at a microphone, or engaging your favorite bartender in lively Q banter while the afternoon crowd is just arriving and quietly throwing back their first beer.
In person, laugh a lot; tell a few stories about what you have seen and heard so far and how it made you feel.
On paper, delineate your thoughts in such a way that the reader on the other end is compelled to research your statements for themselves. (No that can't be true; OMG it is!)
'Audiences' = watchers/listeners/subscribers/readers = friends, neighbors, co-workers, shopkeepers, city/county/state employees, creditors, customers, network members, friends at the gym, sports team members, etc.
This is the ideal way to approach people that you know either by e-blast or in person.
Everybody in your email inbox should get a one sheet that announces your new blog and why you are doing it.
Let them know that you like/love them and want them to be a part of it.
People that you might not know very well but see regularly in person should get a card and the short spiel; those acquaintances that follow up with more questions might get a first name mention with their reactions in your next day's entry (get permission first.)
'Product' = a one sheet on THE PLAN with a user-friendly resource guide and contact information.
The daily journal is your resource guide.
Keep it simple.
Keep it personal.
Keep it updated.
There is an over-abundance of info in the chans to draw from; write about what you are interested in and how THAT affected you personally.
Draw parallels between yourself and your friends, as we are all connected.
Use connections, cold calls, and promo plans to snag media.
Design promo plans with sponsors for audiences and build in media.
Frame the product and make it desirable, accessible, affordable, and fun by selling the artist behind the product.
Have a little extra jingle? Get a case of travel size Q Tips and staple your business card to the back of the packages.
When you are doing hand to hand combat with 3 or 4 people, and someone overhears your spiel to another and asks questions, whip out the Q Tips and let them know you are 'so happy you asked me that.'
Everybody will laugh and then everybody else will want the freebie.
Depending on what stories you are telling from the chans and Q drops, just about anything could be a giveaway prop ie promo item.
end part1