Using Your Book as a Marketing Tool

How Writing a Book Can Boost Your Business

What is 6″ by 9″, usually weighs about one pound, and gives business professionals a serious edge over their competition? A book.

A business book serves as proof of that work in a sea of marketing material that tells what a business can do. Most importantly, executives, consultants, and experts in various business fields who compile their knowledge, experiences, and results into a book expand their networks and résumés and gain one key component to success: credibility.

Credibility—especially for those in the consulting and service industries—is crucial to marketing a business. Being a published author establishes a person as someone who has reached a certain level of expertise. Every reader becomes a potential client as they learn more about the author’s philosophies, thought process, results, and more. Industry peers recognize the author as a leading voice in their field.

Who can benefit from using a business book as a marketing tool?

• Consultants, specializing in virtually all fields
• Service-providing business owners, from insurance companies and home security experts to psychologists and financial planners
• Self-help professionals, life coaches, and motivational speakers
• Non-profit organization leaders

Publishing a book is the first element of the book-as-a-marketing-tool strategy, but the book doesn’t do much good if no one knows about it. The media attention around the book is the second crucial element. When a businessperson becomes an author and executes a marketing campaign for their book, they attract media attention. Potential placements range from expert commentary in major news outlets to interviews on podcasts, radio, and television, to becoming a regular contributor for industry-specific publications, and more.

As a result, when a prospective customer visits a company website and sees that the company or executives have been featured across various media channels, it shows them that they are trusted.
But traditional media coverage isn’t where the opportunities end. Today’s professionals find their author status helps them secure more speaking opportunities and even coveted TED talks.

So, how difficult is it to get started?

At one point in time, publishing a book was an exceedingly lengthy and difficult endeavor, with a relative handful of gatekeepers determining what books were worthy of publication. But publishing has been democratized. Anyone can publish a book and share their message with the public. Publishing options are vast and cost-effective thanks to avenues like self-publishing and print-on-demand. For as little as $1,000, an author can have a professionally designed and produced book.

“There are more avenues open to authors now and more publishing opportunities to get their expertise out there,” says Mike Onorato, Vice President of Publicity at Smith Publicity. “If you have a credible perspective that can add value to someone in their professional life, the various publishing options available to you now can help bring your voice forth.”

The bottom line

An author’s business book marketing success hinges on credibility, and authoring a book can greatly enhance that credibility. But for this strategy to be effective, people need to see the book, so make the most of your investment by marketing your book. Use it to secure media placements, speaking engagements, and other opportunities, which will ultimately place you front and center in front of the eyes that matter most: your customers.
Says Onorato, “Simply put: books open doors and create opportunities.”

Smith Publicity Business Book Marketing Services

The professional book publicists at Smith Publicity have the experience and know-how when it comes to marketing business books. Authors unsure of how to market a business book can take advantage of our first-class book promotion services. Contact us to schedule a consultation today.