Borrowing Trust: PR, Podcasting, and Influencer Marketing

[Smithpublicity]

Building an audience from scratch is the slowest, hardest way to market a book. A faster, more efficient strategy is what marketers call “OPM”—Other People’s Media. This involves placing yourself in front of existing audiences that have already been built, nurtured, and qualified by influencers, podcasters, and bloggers. You are essentially “borrowing” their trust to sell your book.
The Power of Podcasting
Podcast listeners are the ideal demographic for book buyers. They are habituated to consuming long-form content, they are intellectually curious, and they build strong bonds with hosts.
• The Pitch: The most common mistake authors make is pitching the book. Podcast hosts do not care about your book; they care about their audience. Pitch the value you can provide. Do not say, “I wrote a book about anxiety.” Say, “I can teach your audience three actionable steps to manage panic attacks in the workplace.” The book is simply the resource mentioned at the end.
• The Funnel: When you are on a podcast, do not just say “buy my book on Amazon.” Create a specific landing page (e.g., yourname.com/podcast) where listeners can download a free chapter or a cheat sheet. This allows you to capture the listener onto your email list, turning a one-time listener into a long-term lead.
Digital PR and Guest Blogging
Getting featured in The New York Times is great for the ego, but niche blogs often sell more books.
• Niche Relevance: An article on a massive news site might get thousands of views, but because the audience is so broad, few will click through to buy a specific book marketing. A guest post on a specific “Sci-Fi Writers Blog” or a “Gardening Tips Website” might only get 500 views, but 50 of them might buy your book because it is perfectly targeted to their interests.
• Backlinks: Guest blogging provides high-quality backlinks to your author website. This boosts your Domain Authority (DA) and helps your own SEO, making your site rank higher in Google over time.
Influencer Marketing (Bookstagram & BookTok)
You don’t always need a massive budget to pay influencers. Many book reviewers will accept a free physical copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
• Micro-Influencers: Aim for accounts with 2,000–10,000 followers. These “micro-influencers” often have much higher engagement rates than accounts with 100k+ followers. They are also more accessible and willing to work with indie authors.
• The Unboxing Experience: If you send physical books to influencers, you must make the package “Instagrammable.” Use crinkle paper, include a handwritten note, and perhaps a branded bookmark or sticker. You want the influencer to feel excited enough to film an unboxing video, which provides free video content for your book.
Conclusion The goal of PR is to create the “Baader-Meinhof phenomenon” (the frequency illusion). You want your potential reader to see your book on a podcast, then see a review on a blog, and then see it again on Instagram. When they see it repeatedly across different trusted sources, the purchase becomes inevitable.

[davidhamilton]

Hallo zusammen, ich habe eine Weile nach einer Plattform gesucht, die nicht nur Standardboni, sondern wirklich Extras für Belgien anbietet. Auf spinmama hatte ich Anfangs richtig Pech, aber ein etwas höherer Einsatz hat plötzlich einen schönen Gewinn ausgelöst. Danach war die Stimmung gleich besser. Eine angenehme Überraschung.

[Author]

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