E-books: A Content Marketing Gem

I’ve come across some great e-books recently and it got me thinking about their worth in terms of content marketing. The idea of a downloadable book is genius, really. When done right, they provide readers with rich information, in such a simple and easily available format. I found a blogger who seems to be on the same page I am, and offers his reasoning for why e-books should be incorporated into a businesses’ content marketing strategy.

• “E-books can show your strengths” – An e-book is a great tool that allows you to take the time to demonstrate your businesses’ strengths and areas of expertise. Instead of having to flush out your ideas in a couple of paragraphs (such as a blog) or limiting yourself to a couple of pages (like a whitepaper), an e-book gives you plenty of pages to explain your ideas.
• “An e-book is a brilliant tool to grow your list of prospects” – It’s almost expected to offer up your contact information when you choose to download something. Assuming you don’t get spammed with sales material down the road, it’s really no big deal. Marketers love this common acceptance – it gives them an easy way to way to build an audience profile and collect pertinent contact information. So use the e-book to your full advantage and collect the information you need for business development.
• “E-books are so easy to share” – Like most electronic content, e-books are simple to share across various platforms. From Twitter, to blogs, to Slideshare, you can promote your e-books endlessly. Your clients and prospects are everywhere, so do your best to reach out to them in various outlets. You’ll grow your brand and consequentially increase website visitors. If they liked what they read, they’ll likely visit your website directly for more content.
• “E-books can breathe life into blog archives” – A great thing about e-books is that they don’t require you to start from scratch when it comes to topics. Incorporating material from your blog into your e-books is a simple way to get the ball rolling and pages filled. Expand on what you’ve already written, ideally choosing the content that showed positive analytics and reader feedback.
• “E-books are a great compliment to your content marketing strategy” – Not everyone offers e-books…consider that your advantage. Blogs, for example, are common and widely expected from any successful business. However, e-books are a different story. They’re more of an added asset, sort of like an unexpected surprise. They catch your eye, and more importantly, interest, when you see them offered. They help set apart companies from their competition and promote thought leadership in a unique way.

I couldn’t agree more with these reasons for investing time and money into e-books. Speaking selfishly as a PR professional, e-books are like a gold mind. They give us the ability to reach out to journalists with an expert source who is “the author of (insert number of) e-books”. It makes the source all that much more credible, allowing journalists to download, read and get a sense of the company’s area of expertise. The more often you put out e-books, the more resourceful you’ll look. 

So find the next marketing meeting on your calendar and add an agenda item: e-books. Put the topic on the table and see what you and your team can come up with. You may be surprised at the ideas that come forth – and who knows, you may leave the room with a new action item. 

Already providing e-books to your website visitors? Let me know what it has done for your businesses and what your strategies are for content creation, distribution and lead generation. 

-Mary Evans

Thought Leadership Strategies: Write the Book on It

I had the pleasure of catching up with Adam Witty, President of Advantage Media Group to learn more about the surprising facts of publishing a book. A book is the ultimate credibility-builder and demonstrates expertise more clearly than almost any other tactic. It’s a good thing too, because very few people get rich solely because of their work as an author.

Almost 200,000 books are published a year in the U.S., but the average book sells less than 2,000 copies. According to Adam, writing a bestseller as a rookie author is akin to “winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on the same day.”

The real value in writing a book is the invisible income stream that comes from positioning yourself as an expert – people pay more for an expert, and leads come more easily.

Should you write a book? According to Adam, anyone selling high-ticket products or services should consider it because one new customer would pay for the publishing costs.

So, how much does it cost to publish a book? That depends. With DIY services such as Lulu, the cost comes way down if you’re able to write, edit, lay out, market and design the cover yourself (though many authors budget at least $1,000 to outsource some of the tasks). A hybrid publisher like Advantage Media may charge $10-12K on the low end – or up to 6 figures on the high-end for a year-long marketing program, personalized editor and custom cover design.

And if you’re really interested in making your fortune as an author, here are some of the surprising economics of book sales. An author may earn only $1-$2 for every book sold at Barnes & Noble. Retail stores sell books on consignment; 40% of the books on the shelf are returned after 60-90 days. Many of Advantage Media’s best selling authors sell most of their books themselves after personal appearances or speaking engagements. If the author buys books in bulk for approximately $5 apiece and sells them for $20-$25 each – well, you can do the math.

Clearly, the ROI of book publishing needs to be measured in different ways. It’s not necessarily about selling books but about being an author and standing for something. So, if you have a unique perspective that you think will add to your corporate credibility – write the book on it.

-- Katie Hanusik

Content Marketing – Who Has Questions?

As you’ve probably noticed, my fingers have been glued to the pages of “Get Content. Get Customers.” by Joe Pulizzi and Newt Barrett. I’ve shared a few of what I think are thought provoking chapters and hopefully encouraged brainstorming sessions amongst various marketing teams as a result. Admitting that I’m no expert, but just a PR professional who’s constantly asking questions and looking for advice, I’ve decided I’d like to keep the ball rolling and reach out to Pulizzi with a few questions. But before I do, I want to hear from you. What content marketing best practices are you most curious about? What stumps you and your team, or gives you the most grief? Regardless if you’ve had a chance to read the book yet or not, let me know what you’d like to hear from Pulizzi. I’ll be happy to include your questions/comments in my correspondence with him and report back his response in a Q&A format.

- Mary Evans

Content Marketing – Building Trusted Relationships

I took a trip to Best Buy this weekend to stock up on some Blu-rays. I figured hunkering down with some movies would be a great way to pass the time during the weekend snowfall.  Always spending more time (and money) than necessary inside the store, I can usually count on Best Buy to supply the movies I’m looking for. While this is good news for me, this is probably also music to Best Buy’s ears. (Or maybe their pocketbook?)

It turns out, according to “Get Content. Get Customers.”, that Best Buy has lately been focusing much of its attention on me. Well, not me per se, but loyal, highly targeted customers. According to the case study presented in the book, Best Buy has taken a lot of time to identify their elite customer demographic and in turn, has focused their efforts on keeping them “in the know” and returning to Best Buy stores.

How do they do this? Simple. By creating a publication suited exactly for their consumers’ needs. Best Magazine is a print and online publication that highlights what’s “best” in terms of products, from cameras, to cars to televisions. What’s great about it is that an unfamiliar reader would have no immediate idea of the magazine’s connection to Best Buy.  So, while you can read about products and technologies that are sold at Best Buy, readers won’t simultaneously be overwhelmed with their company jargon and “purchase pressure”.

According to Barry Judge, Best Buy’s CMO, it’s critical for the magazine “to build credibility from a trusted perspective by making it clear that there is no obvious way Best Buy will benefit.” In other words, the key is to quietly entice loyal readers to buy something, and then cross your fingers that they will swipe their credit card at your store. Successfully do this a few times, and Best Buy will reinforce their image and keep happy customers coming back for more.

It sounds like such a simple concept, but I can think of countless marketers who haven’t cashed in on this technique. The great thing about it is that it can be used in practically all industries, not just retail. Think about your content offerings, for example. Have you identified your top tier customers, and if so, are you going above and beyond to build trusted relationships with them? Consider their lives and how you can help make their job and decision making responsibilities easier. Where can you step in and help?

Already on top of this idea? Share with us your techniques and how you keep in touch with your audience.

- Mary Evans

Inbound Marketing 101 with HubSpot's Rick Burnes

Inbound marketing - the term used to describe how companies are using Google, blogs and social media to get found - is becoming an increasingly central focus of the work we do at SpeakerBox. Perhaps obviously, "inbound" marketing is the opposite of "outbound" marketing, where marketers use things like advertising, direct mail, email blasts and cold-calling prospects to reach prospects. If you think of how you personally find information on new products, services and companies, are you more likely to be receptive to material that was pushed to you, or do you rely on search results to gather information? Overwhelmingly, people are relying on the latter.

I sat down with some of my SBX colleagues last week to watch video of Rick Burnes from HubSpot from a talk he gave at an event hosted by Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI**. Rick gave a great "Inbound Marketing 101" presentation, which I recommend every marketer or communications professional watch.

There's a lot of great stuff in the video, covering SEO, content creation, social media and measurement, but here were a couple of my favorite takeaways:

• Marketing has evolved in a way that now helps people. Today's best marketers pull people into their web site as opposed to going out and interrupting people or hitting them over the head with their message.
• Inbound marketing is significantly cheaper and more efficient than traditional outbound channels (trade shows, pay-per-click advertising), and results in higher quality leads.
• Marketing is about more than bringing people to your web site. Once you get them there, you have to offer more reason to have them stay or return, and which helps convert them to leads and then into customers.
• Focus on turning your site into a content library - the longer you are publishing articles / blog posts, the longer you'll have a huge archive of assets which will continue to pull people into your site over time through search.
• You can't just focus on one piece of inbound marketing - all of this (SEO, blogs, social media) fits together like an ecosystem, and your business has to become part of that ecosystem.
• With SEO, be specific about the words you are trying to rank for.
• When it comes to content creation (including blog writing), is quality or quantity best? The answer is BOTH! You need to produce good stuff, but also a lot of it. Write about the content that your customers are thinking about. People want to talk about the issues they are facing, not the software, products or services you are selling.
• Think of yourself as a publisher, and create content that will travel across the web and be useful to people. Above all else, be a resource on your industry!
• What kind of content should you create? Try everything, and don't be afraid to experiment. Burnes  recommends starting with a blog ("ground zero"). Your blog is where all of the content you create other places (podcasts, videos, etc.) should live.
• Host your company's blog on your company's domain! Hosting it on a site like Wordpress.com or Blogspot.com doesn't help your site with SEO.
• Free HubSpot tool Rick mentioned: website.grader.com

Rick's presentation was full of actionable advice like this. I've embedded both parts of his presentation below, and highly recommend watching both them.

-Stephanie
@stephstad





**Observant Sounding Board readers will catch that this is my 2nd consecutive post with a home state reference. Viva Wisconsin! I'll work on extending the streak...