A reasonably large e-mail send just went out for Blog Marketing, primarily asking folk if they wanted to get review copies or whatnot. While we did prepare a “standard” press release, we also wrote this more “bloggy” one for bloggers.
Let me know what you think. It’s always interesting trying to balance between old PR methodologies and new ones, but I’m hopeful we’ve struck a good balance with this:
Hi xxx,
I’m sure Jeremy Wright has told you we’re publishing his book, Blog Marketing, set for release in November.
Your website already probes the reasons why business blogs (and blogs in general) are vital, and the book has plenty of examples, case studies, and profiles of various blogs and their successes. The word “vital” is spot-on; Blogs are not static, they are very much alive, with real-time updates, unique voices, immediate interaction, and dozens of applications in the business world. Wright points out that simply reading a blog is a passive event, but readers are still participating and interacting with the ideas presented to them. It’s quietly powerful, and quite dynamic.
I’m hoping that you might start a discussion or post a review about Blog Marketing – but even if you never get around to it, I’d like to forward you a finished copy when it comes in. (We should be getting them straight from the bindery shortly). Please feel free to send along your address when you get a chance.
There’s a press release attached for your perusal, and here’s a link to Jeremy’s website, www.ensight.org, which currently has a tease chapter of the book. You can also read about the book at www.blogmarketingbook.com.
If you have any questions, feel free to call me.
Best, xxx
Overall I’m happy with this. The real press release is much more rah-rah salesy, but that’s okay. It’s being sent to a different group of people. If you didn’t receive this mailing but want to respond anyways, I can forward you the publicist’s details, just leave a comment here.
October 14th, 2005 at 1:31 pm
We’ll just call you Brendan Sinclair.
October 14th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Now that’s harsh!
October 14th, 2005 at 2:35 pm
seems ok to me. I wouldn’t be annoyed if that arrived in my inbox.
I’d be happy to get a copy and write a review btw!
October 14th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
I ordered a copy quite a while ago .. would it be possible to get it earlier in order to review it? If not, no worries, just a thought..
October 14th, 2005 at 8:08 pm
– If the message is sent to a blogger then the second paragraph is not (really) necessary.
– Offering a link to a press release might be better than attaching it to an e-mail.
– Include a link to the tease chapter, instead of giving just the generic URL for Ensight.
– Make clear that blogmarketingbook.com is the book’s blog (and correct the URL).
Just my 2 cents
October 14th, 2005 at 8:35 pm
Constantin, thanks for stopping by, just some quick responses.
- We actually trimmed it down. We wanted to provide some context so it wasn’t purely “link please”
- Agreed, however it was a policy issue that I didn’t feel like fighting this time around (getting a blog-specific “press release” was hard enough)
- Agreed, my fault on that.
- Yep.
We definitely made a few mistakes here, hopefully it doesnt’ negatively impact the marketing though.
October 16th, 2005 at 7:19 am
I don’t see much wrong with it – if the send out list was targeted. It’s not too long, it provides all the relevant links and is not too pushy – and has some copy that no doubt they would be hoping would be used in write-ups … again, nothing wrong with that.
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:31 am
Waiting for your book