OVERVIEW
Dr. Tiffany Jana’s Overcoming Bias is a guide to understanding bias and its impact on us and others. With a National PR plan in place, we were tasked with a focus on local outreach. Our goal was to stand out amongst the hundreds of books being released from the same publisher through speaking engagements, local social media chatter, and feedback from the community.
RESEARCH
We worked to identify events and existing groups that aligned with the values and messaging of the book to engage with rather than trying to create our own separate group from scratch. We researched and participated with the intention of integrating into the existing communities. (The book Groundswell does a great job of explaining the
EXECUTION
Promotions began with a book launch/signing/discussion, held at a locally-owned bookstore. Throughout the first several months of the book’s release, four additional book signings were held across the community. Tiffany even caught the attention of our local PRSA chapter, and she was invited to speak at the October 2017 luncheon. Meanwhile, in response to the presidential election, groups focused on inclusivity were forming on Facebook. When one of those inclusivity groups launched a monthly book club, Overcoming Bias was the first selection. We reached out to the group’s leader and provided discussion prompts, answered questions from readers in the group and even hosted an in-person book club at Tiffany office.
TAKING A CUE FROM FANS AND SUPPORTERS
One of the best things about a dynamic social campaign is the opportunity to adapt and evolve tactics. In response to the popularity of the book in the book club, we created book club template with discussion prompts, reader testimonials and quote cards free on Tiffany’s website to encourage other book clubs to pick up Overcoming Bias.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
The greatest measure of success was the response to the outpour of local engagement around the book from the publisher, resulting in two more book deal signings for the author.
“… I can honestly attribute my publisher’s request for me to write more books to TFB’s phenomenal promotion and marketing strategy. My SF-based publisher said it best when they said, “You and your team did everything right. We are truly impressed.” -Dr. Jana
“…Need to have more dynamic speakers like her in the future. Never have I seen attendees wait in line to buy a presenter’s book! Good job.” – PRSA Richmond Chapter Member
