Instant Publisher's Self Publishing for Professionals Marketing Guide and Workbook

MARKETING GUIDE & WORKBOOK

Self-Publishing for Professionals

Position yourself as the ultimate authority in your niche!

2Self-Publishing for Professionals

MARKETING GUIDE & WORKSHEETinstantpublisher.com 800-259-2592

Self-Publishing your book is easier and more important than ever. As a seasoned professional, you have unique experience and perspective that, if shared, can help your clients and prospects, and grow your business. Addi-tionally, you are now seen as the expert authority in your niche. Publishing a book distinguishes you from your competition. Rather than exchanging business cards, you can hand your clients, referrals and prospects your self-published book. It establishes trust, creates good-will and increases confidence in you and your business.More professionals are taking advantage of self-publishing. Self-publishing is no longer seen as ‘vanity publishing’ but as a necessary step to increasing your reach, building your list and growing your business.When you put your experience and perspective in a book, benefits include:

• Positioning yourself as the ultimate authority in your niche

• Becoming the “go-to” expert for information with prospects, referrals, clients, peers, and the media

• Expanding your brand to include author, speaker, consultant, and coach

• Monetize and profit from many channels of business.

• Being featured as the guest authority on TV, radio, podcasts, web- nars, magazines and newspapers

• Build and control your list

• Increase traffic and leads

• Being attractive to investors, affiliates, and sponsors

As a professional, writing a book, it’s not just about writing a book but also about building your business. The key is to leverage your book and your product to build your list through as many channels as possible, and then automate your promotions to grow your business and your income.

WHY SELF-PUBLISH YOUR BOOK?

Become the expert in your niche and grow your business

http://www.instantpublisher.com



Before you can promote your book, you need to be clear on a few things. Unless your clear on who you are, what your book is about and who you can help, marketing your book will be diffi-cult and ineffective. Your marketing efforts need to cater to your audience and unless you know what you can offer them, your message will be convoluted. Answering a few of these questions can help you gain perspective and keep your brand, messaging, and goals consistent. Take a mo-ment to reflect on these questions.1. Why did you write the book?

2. Who is the book for?

3. What the book is about. What can the book do for your audience? Make it about your customer. What’s in it for them?

YOUR BOOK IS DONE, NOW WHAT?Getting it out into the world




4. How can your book contribute to the growth of your business?

5. What do you want to accomplish, both professionally and personally?

6. Consider your SMART goals for writing your book.

• What is your Specific goal for your book?

• Is it Measurable?

• Is it Attainable?

• Is it Realistic?

• Is it Timely?

7. Does your professional brand support your message? Does it separate you from your competitors? If so, how?




9. Is your visual presence across platforms in line with your brand? What areas need im- provement or further development?

10. How comfortable are you promoting your book, business, and message?

BRANDING YOUR BOOK

Clarify and build your professional brandYou are your brand. What do you stand for both personally and professionally? What is your professional style? Do your marketing messages and materials support your book and your busi-ness? Your brand should be uniquely you, easily recognizable, distinguishable and consistent.Think of your brand as a family. Everyone family member is different but there are certain com-monalities that everyone shares. Your branding elements are the same. They can be different but they should also equally recognizable as representing the same business. Elements of your brand include:

1. Book Title, Cover Design, Layout - They should be clean design, memorable title and easy to read interior layout

2. Style Guide - Creating a consistent look and feel to your brand starts with visual elements being consistent across all marketing platforms. The first step is to decide on the following and use them for your book and marketing materials:




• Fonts / Typography - Pick two or three that resonate with you. Suggested and popular choices should be a sans serif font (ex. for headlines), a serif font (for body copy) and a be more stylized display font (for your logo, headlines, or to draw atten-tion and create a unique look to your brand.

• Graphics / Images – All should include similar theming

• Colors, choose at least 5 colors that can be used with regularity in your marketing and look good together, separately or in pairs. Ask a printer for the colors Hex code to stay consistent.

3. Digital & Print Materials - Media/PR Kits, Brochures, Business Cards, Letterhead, etc.

4. Logo, Sub-Logo, Stamp - Consider different variations of your primary logo but with minor adjustments for application: color, orientation (horizontal vs. vertical), initials or image/icons.

5. Tag Lines – One sentence that tells your prospects who you are, what you do or what you stand form.

Bas

ic S

tyle

Gu

ide

Fonts / Typography

Graphic Elements / Icons

Logo / Sub-Logo / S tamp

ColorsHEX CODE

SANS SERIF

SERIF

DISPLAY

HEX CODE HEX CODE HEX CODEHEX CODE




AUTHOR/BUSINESS WEBSITE

Make your site a marketing and selling machine!It is imperative to have an author website or your book featured on your business website so you can sell your book. It may be on Amazon or with other booksellers but when you sell it on your site, you control the marketing copy, lead capturing and profits. This online presence not only adds to your credibility but is essential to the success of your book. A website you control provides you with the forum to display information about your book your way. 1. Create sales copy that entices the reader, shows the value that the reader will gain when they

buy your book, portraying you as the expert in your field.2. Create a lead capturing system that lets you to further reach out to visitors via email cam-

paigns. Engage with your audience by offering incentives such as free chapter downloads, discounts, consulting opportunities, newsletter subscriptions and/or sneak peaks of new books or updates in exchange for their information.

3. Purchasing link on your website allows you to keep all the profits from your site. Direct all links via social media, emails and other marketing efforts to your purchasing page.

If you have more than one book, dedicated a page to each of your books on your website. These pages should include the cover, a brief description, price, and links directly to purchasing. Pages to consider on your website:1. Home Page

• Book Overview• Book Reviews/Testimonials• About/Author Bio• Sign up form with incentive to capture name and email

2. News & Events (links to interviews with author, write-ups, reviews, author appearances, book signings, book fairs).

3. Blog - engage with your audience on a regular basis with your content or other respected experts in your field to show you are an active member of the community.

4. Purchasing Link & Other Reseller Links.5. Social Profiles links.




Search Engine Opt imizat ion (SEO)Optimize your website with keywords rich content in order to come up in searches. Create a list of meta-data (titles, descriptions, keywords, alt tags, and such), add these throughout your website copy to increase your chance of coming up on searches. Once your website is optimized for your keywords, use these keywords throughout your promotions, blogging and social platforms. You need to be sure that the search terms you think are important to your audience are part of your website meta-data and content on your website. What keywords are most important to you? Start with the name of your book, your business and your name. Use Google search engine to test the popularity of these words, simply type in your words into Google and if it auto-populates the search box, you can be sure they are popular searches.

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

Capture informat ionMany professionals have a community or following but fail to capture their contact information. If this is you, now is the time to start capturing that information (name and emails should be your focus, phone numbers are ideal too but most people are very protective of their phone numbers. Make sure you are providing them with information that will benefit them as well as, promote your book.)

Build y our email listIt is important to create and grow your email list, have your audience opt-in to your list, and provide relevant, valuable information. This will assure that they will want to know more about what you have to offer. This is an important step to providing value to your audience and ulti-mately grow your business.

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Consistent communication helps keep you and your services in the forefront of your audiences' mind. Here you have the opportunity to build relationships, educate and further confirm your status as the expert. As the expert, you are uniquely equipped with the information and skill to write great e-mails.Your mailing list is the foundation of all marketing and promotion efforts. To encourage visitors to sign-up for your e-mail news, entice them with valuable offers: free information, booklets, and sneak peaks. An automation or auto-responder feature can be set up once they sign up on your site, sending your e-mail campaign when they sign up. Providing complimentary information asserts your professionalism, demonstrates your creativity, builds relationships, and inspires reciprocity. Make sure you have an email sign up on the home page of your website.

ESTABLISH SOCIAL CHANNELS

Which social channels should y ou use?Whether you use social media or not already in your personal or professional environment, there is no denying that this is a force when it comes to marketing your book. With almost 2 billion users on social media, this is a great opportunity to gain access to your target market through interaction with various platforms and social groups and forums. Each social platforms have their own unique set of characteristics that cater to different demographics. Find out where your audience spends their online time and you will have greater success than to blanket the Internet without any real intention. Many professionals worry about which social media platform to use. The best social platform to use to promote your book and grow your business is the one you will interact with the most. A social platform will not work if you don't use it.Twitter and Facebook social sites are popular with many authors because they’re easy to use, have large audiences, and link easier to and from other sites. LinkedIn, is popular with profes-sionals. It can help you to reach large groups in a variety of industries. Google owns YouTube and Google+ so when you post there you have better visibility in Google's search engine. Pin-terest and Instagram the most popular visual sites.Visual content gets the best interaction across all platforms. Use images, video and 'Live' fea-tures to increase exposure.Social media is just that, social. A hard sell will not work in this environment. Consider treating social media as you would a cocktail party. Include some personal interactions such as sharing hobbies and travel interests along with offering information or training in your niche and then soft sell your books and services. Once you decide on your preferred social platforms, make sure you include your social links on your website and emails.




DATE CATEGORY / TOPICS TITLE / HASHTAGS CREATIVE

Weekly social planPLATFORM

blog postinstagramfacebook

newslettertwitter

other____________

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other

imagevideolive

other


newslettertwitter

other____________


newslettertwitter

other____________


newslettertwitter

other____________


newslettertwitter

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newslettertwitter

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newslettertwitter

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Notes




GET EXPOSURE

Show y ou are t he expertForums and groups are great places to get attention because they’re targeted and encourage interaction. You can become a star by sharing what you know, especially if you’re an expert, but be mindful of the group admin's authority. In groups, you can test ideas for blog entries, articles, publicity and invite people to connect with you on social media.LinkedIn has a very large array of professional groups. Facebook, Yahoo and Google also offer professional communities with an opportunity to connect and interact.Consider creating your own group or forum in order to keep your finger on the pulse of your community. You’ll meet peers, editors, reviewers and publishers, all while keeping up with changes in the industry, new technologies, services, and sales and distribution channels.Meetup.com has active, popular communities because it’s focused on in person meetings. Meet-up.com has a lot of writing, reading and social groups for authors and groups in business and social niches.

Create Press ReleasesPress releases must be very well-written, timely, and connected to specific interests or events. It’s better to focus on quality over quantity when distributing press releases on your own. Instead of spending money and energy distributing to every media outlet, focus on a targeted list of me-dia outlets that will have an interest in your topic. This will increase the likelihood of an outlet running your press release. You can also seek alternative methods of distribution such as a PR distribution service.

Wri te and reuse contentIdentify parts of your manuscript that might make interesting, stand alone articles or stories. Of-fer free articles to magazines, newspapers and websites in your area of expertise in exchange for a linked blurb about you and your book.Diversify your content. A book can be just the beginning to growing your business. Once your book is published you can reuse your content in various ways and create variety in what and how you post to your social sites and website while increasing your exposure to a new audience.1. Videos are easy to watch and get strong engagement. Videos also give the viewer a more

personal experience as they can see you and hear your voice. Add these video links onto your website and other social platforms




2. Podcasts are extremely popular right now with professionals. Listeners can easily digest your content while driving to work or waiting in line. Contact podcast producers in your niche and ask to be featured. Encourage them to connect with you on your social platforms and email.Creating your own podcast is easier than you think. Using a podcast not only great expo-sure but is allows you a reason to reach out to influencers in your industry asking them to be quests on your podcast.

3. Blogging keeps you interacting with your audience and gives you fresh content to redistrib-ute. Guest blogging gives you additional exposure to a new audience to offer your books, products and services and add to your email list.

4. Ebooks typically are a shorter, more condensed version of your book or topic within your book. Easy digital download gives your content to your audience immediately. Consider pep-pering your ebook with links to your website and social platforms to encourage connection.

5. Webinars/Teleseminars are a great opportunity to engage with your audience live. This is where you can 'show your stuff'. At the end of the webinar you can be more aggressive with selling your book and services as you have had the opportunity to develop a relationship with your audience. They now feel like they ' know,like and trust' you. Follow up with them via email by outline the major points of your webinar and offering a one time only replay.

6. Speaking is a natural progression to authorship. Now that your are an author, you can ap-proached clubs, networking groups and universities to speak about your topic. Remember to create a 'sizzle reel' with your first speaking opportunity and add to it as you become more experienced.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the things you can do to market your book as a profes-sional but it's a pretty good start and should keep you pretty busy. We, at Instant Publisher, wish you great success with your book. If you are a professional on the verge of self-publishing your book to grow your business, think of us, we have been printing and publishing books for over 4 decades. We can help guide you through the process.

Instant Publisher specializes in producing high quality books quickly and affordably.

800-259-2592


Instant Publisher's Self Publishing for Professionals Marketing Guide and Workbook

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