This morning I received an email from one of my clients, Trevor Eissler.  Trevor’s a clever guy who is marketing a book he wrote.  The subject was “Could I ask for a few mouse clicks?” The email was addressed to friends and family and asked if they’d mind spending ten minutes to complete 3 of 6 items on a list.

Here’s Trevor’s list:

1. Post a review of the book on Amazon.com. (If you haven’t read it yet, feel free to improvise. Pretend it’s one of your all-time favorites!)
2. Paste the address www.montessorimadness.com into an entry you write—in support of the book—on a site geared toward education, parenting, or early childhood such as www.mothering.com, www.parenting.com, or other big name sites, or even smaller blogs such as www.themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com, www.montessoriforeveryone.com, www.educatingforlife.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews, or any other relevant site you can think of. If you can’t think of anything to say, you could cut and paste or cite the review at www.michaelolaf.com/store/product1032.html or any of the reviews at www.montessorimadness.com.
3. Join the Montessori Madness! Facebook group and post a link to www.montessorimadness.com on your Facebook page.
4. Hold a sandwich board, emblazoned with the book title, outside your local Barnes and Noble bookstore.
5. Tuck the book under your arm next time you’re on Oprah.
6. Tattoo “Montessori Madness” on your forearm (using other body parts tends to discourage sales).

Trevor’s common sense approach to spreading the word about his book is simple and brilliant.  By asking a favor of friends and family who I’m sure want to see his book succeed he’s leveraging the power of their networks.   With Facebook, Twitter and other networks it’s easy for Trevor’s friends and family to help him spread the word.

I also like that he asked us to “Spend ten minutes to complete 3 of the 6 items.”  By telling us how long it will take us (not long) I think that the average friend or family member would be more likely to complete the request.  And by giving us a list of six and only asking us to complete 3 items it seems an even easier assignment.

Items 4 -6 are kind of funny and are a little beyond what most of us are willing or able to do, but that makes the list more brilliant. By process of elimination most of us are likely to complete items 1 -3 and that was probably Trevor’s goal.  But it’s not beyond belief that someone in someone’s network knows Oprah – so spread the word friends!  Good work Trevor!

More information about the book – Montessori Madness! A Parent to Parent Argument for Montessori Education