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army of one presentsIntegrated PR for Writers

A Case Study of the Whistler Readers and Writers Festival

Brian Brett: Writer in Residence 2010

Guest author: Lawrence Hill

Wayne Grady + Merilyn Simonds: Writers in Residence 2009

National book launch 2010: leslie Anthony’s White Planet

+Presentation Overview

Step 1: Know your BIG story – Branding 101

Step 2: Identify the opportunity and messaging – StratComm101

Step 3: Be familiar with the tools – Social Media 101

Step 4: Develop and implement tactics – Guerilla marketing and PR 101

Conclusion: Make something amazing. Experiment. Get your words out there.

+Step One: Know your DNA.(Branding 101) What is your BIG story or position? What do you want to own or be identified for?

“Brands exist as a means of communicating what to expect from a product or service.” Richard Branson

A reflection of what you’re fundamentally interested in

Where you’re at, rather than an idealised version of yourself – something you can deliver on

Bigger than your current project, enduring over body of work

Be graspable, help define you

Eg:Sarah Selecky, short story craftswoman/masterMiranda July, eclectic creative talent with mixed media applicationsDoug Coupland, commentator on popculture and our ZeitgeistSara Leach: KidLit expert

+Case study: WRWFDNA of the Whistler Writers FestCraft-oriented. Inclusive. Intimate.

Other words are a better reflection of where we want to be, or are more specific to the story of this year’s event:

committed, tenacious, supportive, professional, door-opening, community-oriented, relevant, connected

For specific purposes – ie applying for grants, lobbying RMOW etc, focus on different attributes, that grow out of those core values:Ie The real currency of Whistler is story. WRWF contributes to that, because it is connected, credible, acclaimed, and growing.

+A: The currency of Whistler is STORYFrom apres sessions recounting the glory of a ski day, to the timeless

tales of the land shared at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre, to the global resonance of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, to the for-better-or-worse instant reach through social media, the currency that flows through Whistler and ripples beyond the boundaries of the resort, that provides value to the visitor and resident alike, is story.

+How the Whistler Readers & Writers Festival contributes:

Connected

Credible

Acclaimed

Growing

Joseph Boyden and Shelagh Rogers sell out the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre as guests of the Whistler Writers Festival, Feb 2009

“Writers’ festivals and writer-in-residence programs are absolutely essential for keeping Canadians connected, reviving writers and the audiences, and for fostering local culture and identity.” Brian Brett, 2010 Whistler Writer-in-Residence and winner of the 2009 Writers’ Trust of Canada Non-Fiction Prize

+Connected: Partnered with the Vancouver International Readers & Writers Festival : “the

best of the largest festivals in Canada” Noah Richler

Now part of the fall national literary festival circuit that sees authors travel to Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa, Banff, Calgary, Whistler, and Vancouver

Allied with partners at all levels of Canada’s cultural infrastructure, including the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and Whistler Arts Council, as well as publishers, media, and literary magazines

Moleskine notebooks: Sponsor the 2009 Festival. Sponsors and patrons from the 2010 Festival

+Acclaimed:

“Good people, good discussion, plenty of viewpoints. It doesn’t get much better than that.” Winner of the BC National Non-Fiction Award, Russell Wangersky

“I liked the venues, the weather, the scenery, the mountains, the gorgeous hotel. I liked the drive up to Whistler, the drive down, the ferry to and from the North Shore, the small white jug I bought in the village for half price (!!), the exact size and shape I have been seeking for years. In other words I liked the entire experience.” poet Patricia Young

“First class. I would hold it up with any festival I’ve been too.” author Nancy Lee

“Rejuvenated my desire to write” : 2010 Festival participant

+Credible:

Host to 50+ Canadian authors, who have performed, read or instructed in Whistler since 2001, including: Caroline Adderson, Leslie Anthony, James Barber, Maude Barlow, Paulette Bourgeois, Amanda Boyden, Joseph Boyden, Brian Brett, Kevin Chong, Ivan Coyote, William Deverell, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jen Farrell Mark Forsythe, Stephen Galloway, Bill Gaston, Wayne Grady, Lee Henderson, Mel Hurtig, Brian Kaufman, Ross Laird, Nancy Lee, Jen Sook Fong Lee, Annabel Lyon, Elizabeth Lyon, Carrie Mac, Charles Montgomery, Lisa Moore, Claire Mulligan, Susan Musgrave, Stephen Osborne, Kathy Page, Kate Pullinger, Eden Robinson, Shelagh Rogers, Laisha Rosnau, Mary Schendlinger, Merilyn Simonds, Michael V. Smith, Timothy Taylor, Michael Tippert, John Vaillant, Russell Wangersky, Howard White, Michael Winter, Patricia Young, & Terence Young.

+Growing:

+Mission and Goals

The mission of the Whistler Writers & Readers Festival is to leverage the allure of the resort of Whistler, and the role of mountains as a place of creative inspiration, to draw the best Canadian authors and workshop leaders to town, and to be a catalyst for up-and-coming writers to develop their craft, market-orient their work, and connect with leaders in the industry for encouragement, craft-development and professional opportunities.

The Festival’s goals are to : Create a community of writers Develop an interdisciplinary exploration of the creative process, the

power of language and storytelling Incubate talent with professional development opportunities in

Whistler Promote Whistler as a centre for artistic excellence and creative

retreat

+Step 2: Identify the opportunity and the specific messaging of a campaign (Strat Comm 101)What is the opportunity the campaign will address?

To whom are we talking?

What are the business objectives?

What are the communications objectives?

What does the target group think and feel about the client?

What insight do we have about the primary target group?

What do we want to the target group to think and feel after being exposed to the creative?

What one message do we want to ensure the target group gets?

What support do we have for that premise?

What is the desired response?

+Lit Grit. 10 Years and still kicking.

"Sometimes a slog can be beautiful." 

Grit is tough because you don't get the psychic payoffs that come with an exciting discovery or a shift in direction. You rarely get big wins to celebrate. In fact, you may never truly win. You will never have a web page that loads instantaneously or a state with no smokers. All you can do is shave a few seconds off a load time or persuade a few more rural school districts to join your campaign. And that slow, inch-by-inch progress? It's called winning.

+Step 3: Be familiar with the toolsSocial Media 101Hooks you cast to lure people in:

Facebook status updates

Twitter feed

Blog posts, supported by FB and twitter updates

Flickr

Youtube/Vimeo/Slideshare

Press releases, e-newsletters

Traditional collateral – brochures, rack cards, postcards, posters, programs

Contests/giveaways

Podcasts

Anchors:

where you drive people, the virtual home for your online brand identify –

• Website• Blog, tumblr, wordpress• Linked In online resume• Facebook landing page

Integrate them.Create content that will drive people there.

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Use LinkedIn for professional networking – you can integrate it to your twitter feed and blog, so updates will appear on your LinkedIn profile

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Facebook: The widest penetration with more than 540 million users. Biggest demographic user groups are ages 25-34 and 45-54. Women 57%, men 43%.

+Facebook 101: You need to create a personal account (a facebook Profile), before you can

create a Page for your business/enterprise. If you have privacy concerns, you can restrict your privacy settings, and you don’t have to fill in all the fields.

For your enterprise, you should create a Page. Pages, as distinct from Profiles, are designed for businesses, and offer marketing insights, the ability to share administration rights with other staff members who might also post.

Open comments. But allocate time to moderate and delete anything inappropriate.

Launch with engaging content, and solicit your friends and fans to “like” the page, in order to get established and get a high enough score that your content will be shared.

Once you’re established, post every other day. Note that content is more likely to be engaged with when it’s posted in the morning before work hours and on weekends.

For more info, download a free e-book.

+Twitter: A microblogging site

that allows users to send 140 character ‘tweets’ or updates

Lowest barrier to entry. Lowest cost to play.

The best combo of LinkedIn and Facebook’s attributes (networking, status updates, word of mouth potential), without the privacy concerns

Ideal when supported by a website/home page.

+Navigating twitter: Customise the look of

your page under Settings :

with an avatar photo and bio under Profile,

With skin/photo under Design, change background image, tile background

Reciprocity is the unwritten law of twitter. Follow someone, they follow you back. If someone retweets your content, you return the favour.

It’s very easy to get started finding followers, because everyone else’s network is open.

BUT before you start following people, post 4-6 interesting tweets, and make sure your page looks ready.

+A blog (web-log) is a dynamic website

Twitter works best if it drives to a home page. If you don’t have a website, you can get a free one using blog hosting platforms like wordpress, blogspot or tumblr. Quality of content here is critical, but each plays to different strengths. Tumblr is great is you want to post photos and links and could be well suited to a specific project, almost as your own storyboard. Blogspot or wordpress supports behind the scenes storytelling.

+Step 4: Develop campaign specific tactics that meet the opportunity What’s the opportunity? A new book? An event? An

award? Something that is boosting your profile?

WRWF: 10 year anniversary. A story of grit.

Tactics: Writing contest? Postcard Jam? Blogathon – sign on to post one day a month on your blog? Peek inside the notebooks of guest authors? 5 things you should know about guest author? Word-keys? Book by dates: discount or bonus for booking several programs? Write on back of toilet doors? Zine? Stickers? Exclusive VIP dinner opportunity? (Do they fit against your brand DNA?) Burton’s twitter novel?

+Next steps:

Experiment.

Go make something amazing.

Get messy.

Put your words out there.

Adopt a WRWF stream.