Ebooks are Promotional Powerhouses
Andrew Wroblewski
Ebooks are part of the new frontier of cyberspace. They are an entirely new
medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert
knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows,
causing the exposure of your ebook to increase incrementally. It's obvious
why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.
The publishing industry, I hope, does not intend to forever banish the
printed word to the dustbin of history. Books in print have their own
special qualities and merits, and the world would be diminished by their
disappearance.
Having said that, let's look at what makes ebooks so important and so
unique. Ebooks have certain abilities and qualities that other mediums do
not possess.
For example, ebooks are fairly easy to produce, and their production cost is
inexpensive. Just think about it: you don't need a publisher, an agent, a
printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just
need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the
right software.
Additionally, ebooks are easily and rapidly distributed online. They are
also easily updated; they do not require a second print run. All you need is
to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because
of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.
Ebooks are also immediately obtainable. You don't have to go to a bookstore
or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do
is download it from a website, and presto! It's on your computer, ready to
be read.
Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific
qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out,
order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and
video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even
direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The
potential is virtually limitless.
Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not
possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few
times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can
be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and
stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.
Another wonderful quality is that ebooks have no barriers in terms of
publishing. You don't need to go through the endless process of submitting
your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having
the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to
shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All
ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software. Figure out your market,
write your book, post it on your website, and with the right business savvy,
your audience will come to you.
Finally, you have creative control over your ebook. You don?t have to
compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don't
have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by
snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.
How to Use ebooks for Marketing and Promotion
There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote your business and drive
quality traffic to your website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them
into a daily course, which brings your customer back to read the next
chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a purchase or for
filling out a survey. Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an
innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc into
your sales packages.
The most effective marketing products are those that are unique. Copyright
your ebook, and immediately, you have a powerful tool that you, and you
alone, can offer to the public. People will have to visit your site to
acquire your ebook, which increases the flow of quality traffic and the
potential of sales and affiliate contacts.
Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it frequently as the
market and trends change. Add new advice and techniques to show your
prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly
keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see
profits from your ebook for years after your original creation.
Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can test their marketing
potential without putting out hardly any cash at all. You can even produce
an ebook one copy at a time, each time you receive an order, eliminating the
need for storage and inventory. By this method, you can gauge the saleablity
of your ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the orders start
pouring in. Ebooks allow you to learn about your market and customer habits
and motivation over a period of time, without risking your precious
financial resources. They also provide you with an invaluable way to gather
marketing information, which you can use in many different facets of your
business.
Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and problems are in your
specific industry. Then figure out how to solve these problems, and publish
an ebook with this invaluable information. This will increase the value of
your business, upgrade your reputation, and get you known as an expert in
your field.
You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking the book down into
chapters for a serial course, into special reports available on your
website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into
several different promotional materials by excepting some of the articles
and using them to promote your product. You can include a catalog in your
ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include a
thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial
version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience to
contact you for further information or with questions, thereby building your
business relationships and your mailing list.
Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of individually producing
separate promotional materials. You can use a single ebook to entice new
prospects and to sell new products to your current customers.
No other medium has this kind of flexibility and ability for expansion.
Think of your ebook like a spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web.
Now go and create that web, and see how many customers and prospects you can
catch!
When not on his soapbox, Andrew Wroblewski is doing battle with the
thousands of spyware programs that can affect you via his ant-spyware and
spyware removal website:
http://spyware.pcwash.com where you can get a free spyware scan of
your computer system.
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