By The WBR Team
Marketing business books written by entrepreneurs is a whole different ball game to marketing nonfiction or fiction books by other authors. This is mostly because business leaders have an already established niche audience and are selling their knowledge to that audience.
An entrepreneurial author’s main goal will be to develop a tool that gives them credibility they can leverage. This leverage looks like speaking opportunities, developing strategic partners, revenue and lead generation, and fee increases.
As a publisher, your goals might look somewhat different – more along the lines of volume of sales.
Whilst both parties are aiming in the same direction (that of a successful book), the two might have very different ideas about how to get there.
Bridging the gap
An entrepreneur with limited knowledge of the publishing industry may assume that all of the marketing and promotion for their book will come from their publishing team. There’s a misunderstanding that publishing houses handle everything from start to finish.
This can cause real issues when it comes to launch. An entrepreneur may not have the time or skill set necessary to produce an effective launch campaign, meaning they miss out on valuable sales, leads and connections – and so does the publisher.
In order for the book to perform as the entrepreneur wishes, it requires an expert marketing campaign aimed specifically at their customer base. As business leaders and not marketers, an entrepreneur likely has neither the particular skill set nor the time to plan, write, edit and schedule a marketing campaign; and as a publisher this likely isn’t your first priority either.
In this blog, we’ll be exploring why a unique and engaging marketing campaign is so important, and the three key questions it needs to answer to be successful.
1. Are you reaching your entrepreneurs’ established target audience?
Twitter might be the home of publishing, but LinkedIn is the home of entrepreneurs.
For entrepreneurs, entire communities and networks of customers are built on LinkedIn, and often this is the number one platform they use to grow their business.
Launching a marketing campaign with limited knowledge of how to get the most out of LinkedIn might mean that you’re missing out on vital sales that will benefit both you and your author.
2. Can you dedicate resources to continuing a post-launch campaign?
The publication of a book should be the beginning of the excitement, not the end.
After the initial launch period has passed, how much time, experience, and bandwidth does your team have to dedicate to propelling the book and continuing the marketing campaign?
A successful launch maintains a continuous buzz of excitement that builds into a crescendo at the launch day – but, critically, continues afterwards. Missing out on post-launch marketing means missing out on continual engagement, increased awareness, and an ongoing conversation with potential customers.
Continuing the momentum after launch is crucial in ensuring the success of the book builds and isn’t reliant on a singular “go live” day. The main benefit, however, is that continuing the campaign after the publication day allows an ongoing conversation between the entrepreneur and their existing customer base, as well as prospective new customers.
Whilst the publication of the book might tell the audience what it is and where to get it, the post-launch marketing is a great opportunity for the entrepreneur to explain to their audience why they wrote the book and what readers can expect to gain from it.
A huge part of the entrepreneurial nature is networking and engaging with their community, and it is in this post-publication stage that the entrepreneur gets to do this most effectively: responding to feedback about the book, answering questions, and using it for its intended purpose – as a tool to bring in more business.
The most successful tried-and-tested method of marketing suggests 2-3 pieces of content weekly in the lead-up to launch, and 2-3 pieces of content weekly after launch. But it’s not just the sheer volume of output you need to be considering, it’s the quality of that content that’s going to determine sales.
3. Do you have a team of marketing experts that can create ongoing quality content?
The most vital part of producing content to market a book written by an established entrepreneur is understanding who that entrepreneur is. This requires a relationship with the entrepreneur which is best achieved through being part of their network and their world.
Entrepreneurs know their audience inside out. But they might not know how to translate that knowledge into information you can use in your marketing campaign. Because an entrepreneur is so intertwined with their business, often being the face of their ‘brand’ themselves, the most effective marketing for their book is going to come from them.
This is why it is so vital to understand their tone of voice, the message they want to get across, and who they are. Most entrepreneurs are not marketers themselves, so this is a crucial responsibility for the individual spearheading the marketing campaign.
It’s not just a case of ‘I wrote this book about X, buy it here!’ Rather, the entrepreneur envisions their book as a sales and marketing tool for their business. How can your marketing campaign be framed to communicate this?
Ask the experts
The audience for a business book written by an entrepreneur will be forced into boredom and a lack of engagement if the marketing is focused solely on the book being published. They want to understand the entrepreneur’s story, what knowledge they can glean from the book, and how this relates to the business behind it.
Hiring third-party marketers who don’t have an inherent understanding of the entrepreneurial nature simply won’t garner the same results. At Write Business Results, our sole client base is entrepreneurs, and an understanding of the world they inhabit is at the core of our processes.
For more information on how we can help to bridge the gap between publishing and content marketing, get in touch today. We’d love to hear from you so we can work together to build better services for business leaders sharing their knowledge with the world via the medium of books.