Photo: Zhao (CC)
Blogging and social media can be useful tools for marketing your company through winning content and timely promotions. But they’re often not enough in this competitive online space.
I’ve long been a proponent of speaking directly to an engaged audience, rather than churning through random site visitors. To do this requires a way to contact them directly, typically email.
So I create free ebooks to build my subscriber list. Because I create so much content in posts, slide decks, videos and other formats, I can repurpose it into books without much effort.
By offering valuable ebooks for the cost of an email address, everybody wins. (You could monetize them by charging for them, or finding sponsors or advertisers, but for this post, I’ll focus on building a list of long-term customers and drip marketing.)
Think carefully about your audience: What is the biggest problem they need to solve? They might need to save time or money. Or earn cash. Or improve a relationship, learn a skill or become healthier. Your book, especially the title, must light the way for them.
Whether your book’s content is new or repurposed, make your audience smile or gasp or compelled to keep turning pages. You can use prose or a photo album or charts or your most popular posts or your answers to frequently asked questions. You can use pull quotes or step-by-step instructions or a webinar outline.
The content you use must be a step beyond what you usually serve up on your site.
If you’re stuck for what to put in that ebook for your fans, blog readers and future customers, allow me to share some ideas. They can live in a white paper, a pamphlet, a 500-page tome or anything in between. Be creative, have fun and make people smarter and extremely satisfied for not only downloading your ebook, but cracking it open.
- Five Easy Plumbing Repairs to Tackle in 30 Days;
- What Not to Flush: How to Avoid Plumbing Emergencies;
- Is It Time to Replace That Toilet? An Illustrated Guide;
- Turning Your Bathroom into a Mini-Haven;
- Keep Your Garbage Disposal Running Forever (Well, Not Literally);
- Before Your Pipes Burst: Preparing for Winter’s Freezing Damage;
- The Buyer’s Guide to Plumbing in New Homes;
- Plumbers Share Their Secrets to Easy Preventative Maintenance;
- You Won’t Believe What These Plumbers Saw in Their Craziest Housecalls;
- 11 Questions to Ask About That Replacement Sink;
- The 3 Most Costly Septic Tank Repairs, and How to Avoid Them;
- Saving Water, Saving the Earth: Best Practices for Conservation;
- What Nosy House Inspectors Look for in Pipes, Fixtures and Faucets;
- Super Showers: The Ultimate Look Book in Contemporary Designs and Setups;
- How to Select the Right Plumber for the Job;
- Should I Get a Bidet? And Other Nagging Questions for the Finicky Homeowner;
- Sticker Shock: Why Good Plumbers Cost So Much;
- A 7-Point Inspection Plan for Your Pipes;
- How to Build Your Own Outdoor Shower.
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Need more ideas for marketing?
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