A friend of mine recently suggested that monographs can make a pretty impactful calling card when meeting new prospects.
Imagine you walk into a client meeting with a thick, beautiful and classy monograph of your best work and your first action is to gift it to them. Not only this will make a unique first impression on someone who was expecting at best a nice and clever business card, but it will remind them of you every time they look at it.
This is how the Hare Krishnas manage to get so many donations. They cleverly exploit the law of reciprocity by giving you a rose at the airport when you enter the terminal, which makes you way more likely to donate money a few minutes later when their colleague asks for donations. Not to mention that most travellers have no use for a rose at the airport so they end up tossing them and the Hare Krishna slyly recycle them to sell to the next traveller.
Now I'm not advocating for you to go get your monograph back, but as a marketing strategy I think it is brilliant. It's unique and ballsy enough to really make an impact. Bonus point if the book is clearly demonstrating to your client how you can deliver tremendous value to them, as opposed to being a mere portfolio piece.
I understand that to do well, it costs tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce such a monograph, but if it helps to bring in millions in fees, it's probably a small expense in the long run that will pay for itself. Not to mention that such a book can be exploited without expiring for at least 5-10 years.
Has anyone ever tried this?
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