In this guest post, Ginny Carter shares some great tips for business owners who are writing a book to help promote their own business. While this is a fairly narrow niche, the principles in the post can apply to almost any author, so it is a definitely must-read!
So you’re writing a business book and to showcase your expertise. You hope it will bring you more speaking engagements, more exposure, more credibility and – just as importantly – more clients and business. This is a fantastic move – well done!
When it comes to marketing your book, if it’s written to appeal to the right people in the right way, that will be pretty simple. If it doesn’t, you’ll be giving yourself a whole load of extra work, which I’m guessing you would like to avoid.
Here’s what you need to know if you want to streamline your business book marketing. And the good news is, these same principles will ensure that your book supports your business at the same time. Double win.
Your book needs to have …
- the same audience, and
- the same big message
… as your business does.
This sounds pretty obvious, but in the excitement of starting to write a book, it can be easy to go off track and forget the basics.
Why is this so important? For several reasons, including the fact that aligning your book with your business will make it easier to boost your own expert factor. However, in this post I’m focusing on just one of them: it’s because it makes your book marketing streamlined and effective.
What to ask yourself at the beginning
There are four main questions to ask yourself when you’re planning your book.
- Is my intended readership the same audience as my business currently serves? You’ll already have a marketing platform set up for your business – it might be a website, email list, social media presence or some other marketing activity. These are the very people you’ll want to be promoting your book to. If your book is aimed at a different audience, you’re going to have to bypass the one you’ve worked so hard to build up and start again with another. That’s a lot of hard work! Make life easier for yourself by aligning your two audiences with each other.
- Is my book’s big message the one my audience and my clients want to read about? If your book is aimed at the right audience, that’s great. But if your book’s topic isn’t something that they’re desperate to learn more about, then your book isn’t likely to sell. Furthermore, there’s a difference between what your readers need to know, and what they want to know. So please write a book which answers the big question that your clients AND your readers are asking. That way your marketing will carry double the weight.
- Where will my readers be hanging out? Although your potential readers will ideally be in the same broad market as your current business audience, there may be a few, significant differences. For instance, your list could be aimed at clients who have taken one of your programmes, and your social media audience much more general than that. So to harness your marketing efforts effectively, prioritise the platforms that have the biggest crossover.
- Am I already marketing to my potential readers on a regular basis? You’ll have been on the receiving end of marketing activity by authors who have a big book launch coming up – suddenly you’re their best friend and getting emails from them and their business partners, and also seeing their Facebook ads every time you browse your newsfeed. It’s never-ending! And it also looks pretty exhausting. On the other hand, if you’re emailing your list and blogging regularly, and staying in constant touch via social media, your book marketing will just be a natural extension of this. And your audience won’t feel overwhelmed or pressured either.
So you can see that marketing your book is a lot easier if your business and your book are closely aligned, and if you’re already marketing to your business audience on a regular basis. What’s more, your book will be so much more likely to help you build your expert brand if this is the case. Good luck with your book!
Ginny Carter is a business book ghostwriter and book writing coach, working with speakers, coaches, experts and consultants. Specialising in ghostwriting in your voice, she also coaches aspiring authors who would love to write their own book. Download her free giveaway How to Stand Out as an Expert With Your Own Book here: http://marketingtwentyone.co.uk/how-to-stand-out-as-an-expert/