Z.E.R.O.: Zero Paid Media as the New Marketing Model

EPILOGUE

Still stewing on the Z.E.R.O. value proposition? Well, what if we told you that you're proving Z.E.R.O. right now by reading this book? In May 2013, we launched a Kickstarter campaign to essentially self-fund our publishing effort. The idea was to use new marketing to prove new marketing (UNM2PNM) by turning this book into its own case study.

UNM2PNM was coined by Joseph when he launched his first book. Instead of sending out review copies to influencers in the hopes that they would write something, Joseph turned the convention on its head by making a review a condition of getting the book in the first place. Potential reviewers had to explicitly promise to review the book in order to receive a copy. Anyone from anywhere could participate. In taking this strategy, Joseph created a substantial set of reviews and “link love” through a combination of communal marketing (a concept that later became known as social media) and consumer-generated content.

With Join the Conversation, Joseph attempted to “bum rush the charts,” a flash mob tactic that was originally used by independent artists Black Lab, as well as Scott Sigler in his book Ancestor. By encouraging their community to simultaneously purchase the MP3 and book, respectively, Black Lab was able to get their single, “Mine Again” (a very good track, I might add) to number 2 in the charts. Black Lab was the only unsigned band to feature on the charts that day. Scott Sigler hit number 4 on Amazon, with only Harry Potter, ...