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Grow Your Business with a Book?
December 16, 2010
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by Katie Steigman
How a book can expand your client base and establish you as an expert
How do you stay competitive and differentiate your company or brand at a time when cutting through the noise is harder than ever? To get consumers to take notice of you over your competitors, you have to not only demonstrate your knowledge and expertise—you also have to broadcast it.
A book is a great medium to integrate credibility and intellectual capital into your current branding and business development efforts. It acts as a persuasive advertisement for your business, your consulting services, or your personal expertise. When you pick up a good-looking book on management (or sales, or health, or leadership) that’s sitting on the shelf at an airport bookstore, you automatically attribute a certain amount of credibility to that author. A book helps speakers, consultants, and business owners differentiate themselves and their brand from all the other companies out there doing the same thing.
Is a book a good next step for building your brand or growing your business? Here are a few factors that may point to “yes”:
- You’re a consultant in leadership, management, sales, or customer service, and you have years of experience in the business and want to make yourself more visible to potential clients. A book may be a good way to share your take on best practices or new approaches based on your experience.
- You’re a health professional, MD, dietitian, or fitness expert, and you want to publish your winning methods, breakthrough research, or health plan while simultaneously building a wider platform for your services and products.
- You’re a marketer, publicist, or social media expert, and you already have a following online. A book is a logical extension of the platform you’ve already built, and you can pass along your knowledge to other marketers while opening up a new channel of communication for your brand.
These are not the only folks who may consider becoming authors, and there is a wide array of circumstances that may prompt someone to write a book. Other alternative options for sharing your expertise that you may consider are
- Creating white papers or case studies
- Starting a blog or a newsletter
- Producing booklets, workbooks, or pamphlets on your industry or topic of expertise
Though these type of products won’t have the reach of a book, they all provide useful content that you can distribute to current and prospective clients.
For more on books as a branding tool, check out this article from the personal branding blog.
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How to Use YouTube to Position Yourself as an Author-Expert
June 3, 2010
by Shennandoah Diaz
Everyone likes to have a face to go with the name, but as an author, you don’t have that many opportunities to get face to face with your readers. Luckily, the advent of new media lets you give readers a face to put with the name. Not only can you give them a face, but you can also give them a taste of a live and in-person experience, a teaser of what one could expect should they attend one of your events or book you for an interview.
New media has opened up several new avenues for authors, giving them the opportunity to connect with potential readers and positioning themselves as experts in a more personal and engaging manner. One of the most popular venues is Youtube. Not only can you post and share videos, but you can also create your own channel, allowing you to share a series of videos on a related topic in an entertaining and informational way.
To really make the most of Youtube, your videos need to be:
- Short: We live in a world of short attention spans. Keep your message brief in order to keep them engaged.
- Informational: Your posts should provide value or information to the viewer. There are more than enough renditions of Lady Gaga on YouTube and plenty of people filming their pets looking “oh so adorable.” Stand out from the crowd by giving people something they can really use.
- Entertaining: Yes, you are competing with cute pets and dancing babies, so in addition to being informative you need to be entertaining. This doesn’t mean being gimmicky, it just means delivering your information in a lively and personal manner.
- Quality: In order to be worth anything it has to be easy to see. Make sure you use good equipment, edit if necessary, and avoid posting files that are too grainy or that require constant buffering.
- Relevant: Above all, the video needs to be relevant to your platform. In order for your platform to be effective, its needs to be consistent. Don’t go off topic unless you plan on changing the direction of your platform.
Here is an example of a well-developed video:
Notice how the video is short, informational, entertaining, good quality, and relevant to the author’s topic. By presenting this specific topic in this manner, he has further positioned himself as an expert and demonstrated his ability to speak, which will help him book more appearances and interviews. The author also has other videos listed on Youtube. All of them consistently meet all five of the requirements above and help build his platform.
You don’t need a film degree or a large presentation to start making use of this social media tool. You can start by taking a concept from your platform and breaking it down into simple parts that you can deliver as a series. Post them on your social media and your website, and make sure to list your contact information at the end of every one of your videos. This will all help drive traffic to all of your social media outlets and help you grow as an author and position yourself as an expert.
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Give A Great Interview
June 1, 2010
by Shennandoah Diaz
You’ve probably seen them: those interviews where there is no energy and the guest is as placid as the polar ice cap. Or worse: the guest is talkative—too talkative—and runs over the host with wanton disregard. Guests like these are rarely invited back. The key to becoming a media darling and keeping the publicity coming is to be a great interviewee. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:
- Keep it short and sweet: Whether your appearance is in print, radio, television, or otherwise, the publication or broadcast program will have a limited amount of space and airtime allotted for each item. Be respectful and keep your answers brief.
- Develop your talking points: Though questions may vary from interview to interview, there will be some basic questions asked over and over again (e.g., what is your book about, why did you start writing, what advice do you have for writers, etc.). So, develop a few key talking points that you can easily integrate into every interview. Also, customize a few for each venue. This means doing your research before you show up to the interview.
- Mention your book often!: The point of publicity is to get your name and the name of your book out there. Mention your book, website, and contact information often. Here is a short video demonstrating how to easily work that information in to the conversation.
- Dress and act professionally: The majority of a person's impression of you is formulated before you even open your mouth. To make the best first impression, dress like you care about the interview. If it’s an online or phone interview, make sure your website and social media are professional and clean; be on time and courteous; and don’t tie up the long-distance line any longer than necessary.
- Tempo: Speak quickly enough to finish your talking point, but don't speak so fast that no one can understand you. Take deep breaths, wait for the host to complete his or her question before answering, and actively listen to yourself so you can catch any acceleration in pace.
- Be gracious: Especially if you are a first-time author, don't continually correct the host or editor, don't constantly nag, and by all means say thank you!
Being polite, brief, and professional will take you far with the media. And remember to prepare beforehand so you can work in all of your talking points and sell more books!
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