Case Study: How to Passionately Promote Your Product AND a Cause You Love

Double the Score

If you’ve been where I’ve been in the last year, you’ve probably seen more than a little of my friend Carol Roth. We were introduced by our mutual friend, Barry Moltz, early in 2010. Carol became my client when her book, The Entrepreneur Equation, was still a manuscript. By the time the client work was delivered, our relationship had evolved into collaboration. You may have seen us together on speaking engagements with Terry Starbucker, my business partner on SOBCon. I also had the pleasure of being part of the shoot for the pilot to Carol’s soon-to-be tv show. You can be there’s still more to come.

This proximity has meant is that I’ve been able see the planning, passion, hard work, and love that has brought that book into being — when the book wasn’t the only goal, when the opportunities and obstacles provided a wealth of distraction, and when the time to do everything was the same given to any regular human being. Yet inside that real-life path, Carol has brought her best game and today she pre-launches that book in a way that is worthy of examining for how it reaches out to do well by doing good.

How to Passionately Promote Your Product AND a Cause You Love

Some folks write books to promote their ideas, to gain authority. Some folks write them to propel their speaking and consulting business. Carol wrote this book because she passionately believes that it’s information that every entrepreneur needs to read before he or she sets out to start a business.

And with that same passion she’s gathered the ingredients and the steam to promote her book, The Entrepreneur Equation, and her favorite cause, SCORE.org simultaneously. What’s she’s doing is a fine case study in how to passionately promote a product and a cause you love …

So here’s my Valentine to her for a job well done and my Valentine to you in the form six steps that might inspire your own product launch.

1. Build a powerful network of relationships before you need it. A leader reaches out to people who’ve been where she’s going and learns from them. She values their generosity and nurtures relationships. Carol’s been doing that since long before I knew her. That’s how she’s won the esteem of people like Alexis Neely, Les McKeown, Dave Taylor, Michael Port, Terry Starbucker, me and many more.
2. Have a quest that resonates. Carol is on a quest to help as many entrepreneurs as possible to succeed and to provide them the tools they need to do that just. She doubled-down on her quest by partnering with SCORE.org — America’s premier nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small business succeed nationwide. By matching each book sold with books given to SCORE, the goal is that the 13,000 mentors to America’s small businesses will have this tool to share with millions of entrepreneurs.
3. Make your message clear. Her message is clean and clear advice for entrepreneurs– sunshine and puppies cost extra — it’s not could you be an entrepreneur but should you be an entrepreneur. Let’s make sure that small businesses succeed.
4. Do all you can to make it easy to share. Carol’s built a micro-site, shared books, built several offers, tagged her signatures as any author might. She’s also sent emails to those special folks in her network who’ve opted in to the quest and that email is filled with samples ideas of quick ways they might pass on the news about what she’s doing.
5. Make it satisfying to participate.
   Carol is giving away lots of cool stuff just for accepting the invitation to score for Score — an exclusive 3-part Audio Series and generous offers by entrepreneurs who are on the same quest, including a strategy session with me.
6. Clear delivery on your promise. I’ve read the book. I know it delivers. I’ve also worked with the author and she just can’t do anything less than wonderful work. The book is packed with tools and advice to make sure that your head and your heart are both up to what it takes to ride the rollercoaster of enterpreneurship and win the race. Wouldn’t you rather know that before you invest the resources and time of your life?

Will this book launch be a success? How could it not? It’s easy, fun, and satisfying to help; it has plenty of payoff for those who do; and it promotes a meaningful cause close to all of us — helping our friends and ourselves get this country back to work — to help SCORE meet their goal of growing 1 million successful new businesses by 2017.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Passion, Love, and Promotion aren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s about having your heart inside your head and doing well to do good.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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