How to maximizing your eBooks
Shhhh. Today, we’re spilling the tea on how to get the most out of one of our favorite kinds of marketing content: the eBook. Done correctly, eBooks created alongside a greater strategy can drive lead generation and, ultimately, lead to conversions. (If you need inspiration for what to put in your eBook, we covered creative ideas in a recent blog).
Now there is no one set way you must approach your eBook, but we do have a few ideas of how you can help your content deliver maximum delight and impact.
Match your eBook to where your buyer is in their journey
One of the reasons our team is so fond of eBooks is that they work so well at both the awareness and interest stage of the buyer journey — you just need to tweak your content and strategy for each stage.
Wait, what’s the buyer’s journey got to do with it?
If you’ve ever had any content marketing conversations with Content Matterz CEO and Founder Cara McDonald, she’s likely snuck in some gem about the buyer’s journey. The TL;DR of it is that all prospects follow a decision-making process that helps them understand, compare, rationalize and ultimately make a purchase. With B2B and tech products, asynchronous selling is super-critical to provide the right kind of information for your future customers to keep moving through the sales funnel.
How can you position your eBook correctly in the buyer’s journey?
As we mentioned, eBooks can be content marketing magic and great for lead generation, especially if you match your information and strategy to where your prospect is in their buying journey. Where an awareness stage or top-of-the-funnel eBook might feature more of a “this is an industry-wide problem” educational content and be shared out on social media, once you cross into the interest stage or middle of the funnel, you want to start tuning in with product-specific content that can be shared by email or other targeted campaigns.
Audiences today respond to personalized content that meets them where they are, so it’s always a good idea to map marketing materials (like eBooks) to where they are in their journey.
1. Follow a blueprint that includes quality production
It sounds simple, but if you want to maximize your investment in resources used and time spent creating a marketing eBook, you want to do it well. We’re talking about everything from doing background research on your topic to following best practices for structure and length, as well as utilizing high-quality designers to make your content pop.
A few things to keep in mind:
- In general, an eBook for content marketing purposes will have about 2,000 to 2,500 words, or be 5–10 pages, and have 4–6 sections that function like mini-chapters.
- Remember to keep content as evergreen as possible to extend how long you can use your eBook in future marketing campaigns or have it available as a resource for your sales teams.
- You want your eBook to compliment your brand — it needs to be reflective of how your brand looks and sounds to build credibility.
- Don’t skimp on the design! Having experienced professional designers will ensure that your eBook looks as good as all the hard work you put into developing the content.
An eBook isn’t built in a day, but with a little planning can be completed on a reasonable schedule. Building reviews and time for design production into your eBook creation process can help all stakeholders have realistic expectations and ensure you have the room to create the high-quality marketing content that drives results.
2. Pair your eBook with a promotion strategy
If you’ve done allll the work researching, drafting and designing your eBook the last thing you want to do is publish and forget. Because these are such meaty pieces of content, it’s highly recommended to have a fully fleshed-out strategy to help maximize the impact of your eBook.
A whole package
For those wondering what we mean by full strategy, we like to think of big pieces like eBooks as headliners, complete with all the supporting acts (emails, social media posts, landing pages, etc.), in terms of packages. Just like going to see your favorite star on tour (oh hello, Lizzo), it’s so much better with the fanfare before, backup dancers and singers, and other elements to complete the experience. To help your eBook garner even more buzz, pairing it with other marketing content that hits at exactly the right time can make all the difference between simply sending it into the ether and driving up engagement.
An eBook serves as an attention-grabbing lead magnet, but supporting it with a solid promotion strategy and related marketing collateral is the best way to get everything you can from your piece.
Yay, eBooks!
Of all the different types of content marketing, eBooks are one of the most versatile and fun to create. It might not be as big of a secret as we teased, but having the right strategy and supporting marketing materials can help boost the impact of your eBook and drive those leads and conversions that we’re all after.
Need some support with your marketing efforts? Get in touch!