Table of contents:
- Strategic Book Distribution
- Book-to-Lead Conversion Mechanisms
- Repurpose Content
- Speaking Opportunities
- Social Media Sharing
When someone picks up your business book or comes across it through an Amazon search, they are demonstrating an interest in your topic. Those readers are leads.
The key, then, is finding out who they are. Amazon won’t tell you, nor will Barnes & Noble or Sam’s Club. As far as those companies are concerned, those book buyers are their clients, not yours.
Which is why you need to think through how you can entice readers to identify themselves, to get them into your sales pipeline. Only once you know who they are can you start a sales conversation.
If they’ve bought your book or borrowed it from the library, they are showing interest in what you have to say. Now, if you can connect with them directly, you can start to determine if they are a potential client or not.
That’s step 2.
Step 1 is to set up a lead generation system to convert those readers into business leads.
Although books can become a new income stream for you by themselves, they are typically more effective as marketing tools. Research has shown that business books pay off, but not necessarily through sales of individual copies.
The recent Author ROI study reported that 64% of business books made a profit, and the median amount was $11,350. That’s reassuring to hear that a portion of the cost to write and publish a book may be covered by sales. However, an even larger potential payoff from publishing a book is in using it to land new clients. The business you can potentially generate as a result of your book is likely to be worth many times the cover price of your book.
So, what are some ways to do that — to find out who your readers are and then strike up a conversation about how you can help them or their business, depending on your expertise?
Strategic Book Distribution
A recent tactic used by online marketers is to offer to mail out copies of your book at no cost to people who register at a landing page you set up. This approach is a way to start collecting names and contact information for follow-up.
Some authors ask for the lead to pay for shipping, which they mark up slightly, so as to cover the mailing cost and subsidize a portion of the cost of producing the book. This approach can be a low-cost way to get your book in the hands of leads.
Another way to collect the names of book buyers is to offer an incentive for proof that they bought your book. Once they send you an image of their receipt or forward a copy of their proof of purchase, send them a digital download or supplementary piece of information that will help them make even better use of your book, or give them a free ticket to an upcoming webinar. You could also make it a giveaway and offer the chance at a gift card or other type of swag in exchange for that proof of purchase.
The essential part of whatever process you set up is that you collect their name and contact information.
However, a book can be an extremely useful marketing tool when you’ve curated your own list of your Top 10 or Top 100 hot prospects. In this case, you compile the list yourself and then ship out books for free, so it’s more conversion-focused than lead generation, but it can be profitable.
Enclose a note pointing out what you think the prospect could take away from your book, or how it could assist them, and then follow up to see if you can convert them from a lead to a prospect.
Book-to-Lead Conversion Mechanisms
You can also use your book as a gateway to gathering more information about your leads and prospects.
Within your book, you can include QR codes and links to other resources that are available on your website. You can run your author or company website across the bottom of each page, for example. Enticing readers to visit your site helps increase their familiarity with you and your business by giving them a reason to go there.
You could create companion resources available only to people who register at your landing page. In exchange for their contact information, you might offer a free workbook that helps the reader apply what you’ve taught in your book. You could also sell the workbook on Amazon as a bundle with your book or as a standalone product. Just make sure you print links to landing pages and your website there, too.
Other ancillary products you could use as incentives include checklists, resource lists, assessments, and spreadsheets, all of which you would make available for free in exchange for their name and contact information at your website.
Repurpose Content
Once your book is written, there are dozens of ways you can slice and dice it into new products and services, which you can sell or use as lead magnets and conversion tools.
For example, you could record short YouTube or Facebook Live videos that walk viewers through key concepts you shared in the book or that expand on examples you cited.
You could also create entirely new graphics and charts based on statistics and content shared within the book, which you can then share on social media and link back to your book’s landing page or company site.
If you have a podcast, you can mine chapters for interview topics to share on your show. Or use data points from your book to pursue guest podcast invitations.
You can also turn your book into an online course, webinar, or training program that you sell to clients. Your book becomes evidence of your expertise and qualifies you to get paid to teach others.
Speaking Opportunities
Many authors desire to write and publish a book in order to qualify for paid speaking engagements. Many speakers’ bureaus require a published book before they will consider representation, although it is very possible to book speaking gigs yourself, without a speaker’s agent.
Some speakers bundle books with their speaking fee so that attendees receive a copy of their book in exchange for their attendance. Others sell copies of their book at the back of the room following their presentation.
Another format for connecting with readers is creating online book clubs where readers can meet in groups and gain access to you for Q&A sessions. You can set a minimum attendance requirement, such as 15 or 20 people, to make sure it’s worth your time to participate. Guest appearances at book clubs can be effective ways of connecting with leads and setting yourself up for potential opportunities at their companies.
Although book signings are popular with bookstores, they are rarely worth an author’s time. You sell very few, if any, books, and the stores may not want you asking for the buyers’ contact information. Don’t waste your time.
Rather than traveling to sit at a table within a bookstore, a better use of your time would be exploring relevant industry conferences or conventions where you might speak for a fee or for access to their attendees.
Social Media Sharing
Social media platforms offer a cost-effective way to connect with readers and potential clients. For business authors, specifically, LinkedIn can be a good fit because it is a business-focused site. Which is why articles and posts related to content in your book can be worth sharing on LinkedIn.
More visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where photos and videos are the preferred format, can be smart places to upload videos and photos related to your book.
You could also create a newsletter on Substack or Medium, where subscribers have to register.
And you can run ads on social media platforms to increase awareness and visibility of your book.
Your book can become the hub of a multifaceted marketing campaign with many, many spokes that get you in front of leads. It’s then up to you to qualify them, to determine if they’re worth pursuing as potential clients, and convert them to clients.
But it all starts with using your book to get their attention, as a start to building a customer relationship with them.
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