Our Arcbound launch post generated 49,921 impressions. Graviten’s generated another 22,243. Between them: 1,296 comments and 117 reposts.

The business results matter more: the launch and outreach work helped generate 50+ sales meetings for Arcbound and 30+ demos for Graviten.

Here’s what made that possible, before and after the posts went live.

Launch Post 1

The Arcbound announcement. Read the full post.

Launch Post 2

The Graviten announcement. Read the full post. These are cumulative screenshots, not launch-day totals.

I exported my CRM into a spreadsheet and went through every contact. Who was this person? How could they support the launch? What could I offer them?

Then came the personal asks, the coordinated communications, and the follow-up with potential customers, referral sources, and distribution partners.

Those relationships took years to build . . .and the launch gave us a reason to mobilize them. You can start with a smaller network and use the same process.

Whether you’re launching a company, a book, a keynote, podcast, or a coaching and consulting practice, this is work you can learn.

You’ll have to get comfortable asking for things. And become useful to people long before you need their help.

The expensive habit of waiting to be discovered

Here’s my spicy take: the traditional PR model that sells access and lets clients wait for exposure to become business should die in the next decade.

Too much money goes into publicity before anyone answers the commercial questions. What do you want to be hired for? Who would hire you? What should someone do after reading about you?

A recognizable publication logo can feel like progress. Pay-to-play coverage can create the appearance of momentum while your offer stays vague, your contacts stay scattered, and nobody follows up.

That is an expensive way to remain unclear.

Good PR professionals bring judgment, relationships, and expertise worth paying for. Even excellent coverage needs a clear offer and somewhere useful to send people.

Sure, hire support. But stay involved. As a client recently put it to me, you can’t hire a team and expect it all to come together. You actually have to work too.

I learned that with my first client.

What Allen Gannett taught me about distribution

In 2017, Allen Gannett hired me to help launch his book. He now runs the pre-seed fund Sweet Spot Capital. Back then, I was handling launch activities, events, content, and the brand foundation.

He paid me a modest monthly salary. We had a small team and a tight budget, so we had to get scrappy.

Allen had a video series, Allen Asks, with meaningful distribution, plus a newsletter. He was still building recognition beyond the people who knew his work.

Those channels gave us something to offer.

Who would benefit from a feature? Who had an audience that would care about Allen’s ideas? What could we create together without spending money we didn’t have?

I worked the relationships and traded on the value of his show and credibility. That helped get us get into Morning Brew and PRSUIT, onto dozens of podcasts and a TEDx stage, and into guest blogs.

The objectives were specific: preorders, reviews, and speaking opportunities tied to bulk book purchases. Each relationship had a role in the plan.

The show and newsletter helped us grow the network, too. We could feature someone’s work and begin a relationship with something to give.

I still think this way. Before deciding you need a bigger budget, look at the relationships, knowledge, and channels you already have. What could you do with them?

As a side note: The efforts of this launch of Allen’s book, The Creative Curve, resulted in tens of thousands of book sales, 700+ book reviews, a national live event book tour series, hundreds of PR opportunities . . .and a skeleton to disrupt future archaic and fragmented industries.

Decide what you want the launch to produce

Treat your launch like an online event. Give people a reason to show up, a clear experience when they arrive, and a next step afterward.

Start with your north star.

“I want more visibility” leaves too much unresolved. Try something specific: “I want ten conversations with founders whose growing teams need help making decisions.”

For an author, that might mean bulk book purchases tied to workshops. For a speaker, conversations with event organizers or heads of HR at mid-market companies. For an enterprise business, demos with companies that fit.

Choose a primary outcome, a timeframe, and an offer people understand: whom you help, the problem you solve, and how you work.

Then make the destination ready. A speaker needs a clear inquiry page. An author needs a purchase link. A consultant needs a way to start a conversation. A few examples:

• Work with Steve Taylor

• Preorder Steve Barth’s book

• Hire Charlene to speak

• Join Jim’s member community

People should be able to understand your work and take the next step without asking you how.

Give each relationship an appropriate role

The starting point here is the network you already know.

Bring your contacts from email, LinkedIn, your phone, old calendars, and your CRM into one place. Remove duplicates and review whom it makes sense to contact. Use your newsletter to keep relevant people close to the work, with a clear way to unsubscribe.

Spend time with the names. What are they building? What has changed? Who do they know? What would be useful to them?

Every relationship has a role to play, including my own. For a launch, that might look like this:

Someone can play multiple roles. Your strategy should shape the request.

A friend may love your work without needing to buy it and former colleague may know the exact executive you need to meet. A newsletter writer may care more about a useful contribution than the size of your following.

Thus, understanding the people in your spreadsheet takes judgment against a long term vision.

Wear the Head of Community hat

If you’re thinking, “This sounds transactional,” I get it.

It becomes transactional when you only know what you want from people.

You have a role to play, too. Make the introduction or feature someone’s work in your newsletter or on your podcast . . . Then share an opportunity that fits what they’re building.

You don’t need a huge platform and can make a meaningful dent with specificity and depth. A thoughtful introduction or a useful conversation can be enough.

This is long-term relationship work. A contribution doesn’t need an immediate return. People can support you without becoming buyers, and you can help without keeping a running tab.

For a content partnership, start with audience fit. Offer a relevant newsletter feature in exchange for a podcast conversation, or simply pitch an idea that serves their listeners. Explain the value, then follow up. This is a way to “trade on your value”.

Become the King or Queen of the Ask

This is a skill and you have to practice it.

Asking can feel uncomfortable. You worry about being annoying, looking self-interested, or hearing nothing back.

But people who know you often want to help. Make the request clear and easy to act on.

Before our launches, I reached out privately with what was coming, when it would happen, and how people could participate. I also shared what I could offer, including educational events and resources.

This is the message I used to recruit launch supporters.

I sent a version of this roughly 2,000 times per launch. Across both, that meant about 4,000 emails and texts, plus two or three follow-ups to people who hadn’t replied.

You can’t outsource your brand, put on a blindfold, and expect it to magically work.

The goal was to get people pre-committed: a clear answer before launch day about how they would participate.

Here’s a version you can adapt:

I’m introducing my advisory practice on Tuesday. You’ve been part of the journey, and I’d love to send you the announcement when it goes live. Would you be open to reading it and leaving a like, thoughtful comment, or reshare?

Offer something useful when it fits the relationship and track who agreed, the action, and how they prefer to hear from you. Follow up thoughtfully with people who haven’t answered.

This was my launch tracker for both launches: the ask, the follow-up, and who committed. Contact details concealed.

Give launch day a plan

Now you’re wearing your marketing execution hat.

Build the announcement around the human story: why this chapter matters, what brought you here, whom the work serves, and what comes next.

For Graviten, it began with an email to Tim Springer about the gaps in personal branding and the opportunity to build digital infrastructure for fragmented industries. For Arcbound, it was the story of rebuilding the business and clarifying how we served clients.

The story gives people a reason to care. The offer gives them a way to act.

Give each channel a job:

• LinkedIn makes the announcement public.

• Your newsletter gives subscribers more context.

• Personal emails explain why the news matters to that relationship.

• Partners bring relevant ideas to their audiences in their own voice.

Then give each communication one primary action. Supporters get a link to the post. Prospective customers get an invitation to talk (after the initial communication goes out). Book buyers get a purchase page (once the launch comms are released).

When the post goes live, send the link to everyone who agreed to help. Thank them, repeat the ask, and provide the materials they need.

Then follow up.

This is my launch-day email to people who had already committed. The link and instructions make the next action easy.

Answer comments and replies. Respond to introductions. Deliver the resources and invitations you promised.

Follow the attention into actual conversations

Now put on your SDR hat: start the sales conversations and book the meetings.

Some say, “Never waste a crisis.” True :)
I like to say, “Never waste a launch.”

Review everyone who engaged with the post, replied to an email, or came through a partner. Follow up personally with people who fit your ideal customer profile, or ICP, to meet by phone, Zoom, or in person.

Include relevant people from your original list even if they never clicked “like.”

A couple of examples:

For a potential client

Thanks for supporting the launch. You mentioned your leadership team was struggling to keep decisions moving as the company grew. That’s closely related to the work I’m introducing. Is it still a priority? I’d love to catch up and hear what’s going on in your world.

Around next week for a conversation? Here’s my calendar: [your link].

For a referral source

Thanks for helping share the launch. I’m looking to meet founders whose growing teams still rely on them for every decision. Does anyone come to mind? I can send a short note you can forward to see whether they’d welcome an introduction.

When someone agrees to talk, prepare. Understand their situation, ask about the problem, and share relevant experience. If there’s a fit, explain how you work. When you both want to continue, put the next conversation on the calendar before the first ends.

Send a concise recap and the relevant offer or materials.

I wrote more about running a great sales process in “I Screwed Up.”

Track the ask, the response, the last contact, and the next action.
Then measure meetings and qualified opportunities.

Your big takeaway should PR, marketing, and sales are connected.
Yet, most firms you’d hire treat them in a silo.

Use the same process for books, speaking, and podcasts

For a book, ask people to buy a copy, then request an honest Amazon review once they’ve read it. Keep reviews separate from incentives.

For speaking, approach leaders with a talk or workshop that serves their organization, potentially tied to a bulk book purchase. A copy with a personal note can open the conversation. Follow up to discuss fit, format, quantity, and timing.

For podcasts, know the audience, pitch a specific conversation, and show why you can contribute (and send it from your personal email — do not let someone else pitch you for a podcast). Whether you’re launching your own show or appearing on someone else’s, connect the attention to a clear next step.

Keep building before you need anything

Your next launch starts with the relationships you build between launches.

Keep meeting relevant people. Learn what they’re working on and find a way to contribute in that first conversation, before you have an ask.

Define whom you want to know by role, circumstances, and need. With research tools or data you provide, ChatGPT or Claude can help you build a qualified list.

A system helps you stay consistent. This is our outreach dashboard inside ArcBase, part of the technology stack we’re preparing to make available to clients as we continue to productize our work.

July–August: 21 meetings booked through LinkedIn and 19 through email, with overlap. That represents 27 distinct prospects across both channels.

Over those two months, the outreach effort led to more than $120,000 in recurring revenue deals, with another five very qualified leads. Those results come from our tracking beyond this dashboard.

We sent 1,778 LinkedIn requests and 826 emails. The system kept track of the work and the next action.

Content keeps the conversation going. Share something you’ve learned, explain a problem your audience faces, or offer a useful perspective. Let people understand how you think before they decide to work with you.

In Edelman and LinkedIn’s 2025 study, 55% of the “hidden” decision-makers surveyed said they used thought leadership to vet vendors. Your ideas can reach people who influence a purchase even when you’re not their primary contact. Read the report.

That’s how this compounds: the relationship creates a conversation, the content gives it somewhere to go, and the follow-up creates the next opportunity.

The marathon and the sprints

Being your own PR agent is a cap you wear all the time.

The marathon is maintaining relationships, publishing useful ideas, and contributing to your community. A launch is a sprint: you choose an outcome, bring people into the plan, and increase the pace.

But people need to understand what they’re part of. A coherent identity connects your newsletter, your book, your consulting, and whatever you build next. It helps them explain your work to someone else.

Then make the experience worth staying for. Keep your promises. Be useful. Give people reasons to participate beyond the moment you need attention.

You can wait a long time for someone to discover you and create your next opportunity.

Or you can give the people who already believe in you a clear way to help.

Then do the work to make it happen.

Community Notes

1. Check out Steve Barth’s new website. He’s a thought leader on constraints. Pretty awesome. His content is crushing it too. His brand system is also fantastic. Great work Eli Wright.
   

2. Join us for our next Webinar with Charlene Li and CEO of Trovia, Aaron Rallo.
   
   In a prior life, Aaron was the former Director of Agentic AI at AWS. Incredible operator. Charlene is quite special herself.

REGISTER HERE