- Selling a book is a long game.
It's all about staying in the market
and consistently doing things to find readers
day after day.
One of the best ways to do that
is through content marketing.
So if you're wondering what content marketing is
and how to use it as an author,
well, I have some great news.
This video is for you.
(cheerful music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad.
I'm a three-time, working on four-time author,
and the founder of a fabulous
self-publishing services company called Book Launchers.
One of the things I do a lot of as an author
and a business owner is content marketing.
What is content marketing,
you might be asking.
Well, you're watching a great example of it right now.
My entire YouTube channel is content marketing.
All the blog posts on booklaunchers.com
are content marketing.
My free downloads, like this one,
"How to Write a Business Book," content marketing.
All the live streams I do,
yep, content marketing.
My biweekly email newsletter called "The Launch Letter,"
you got it, more content marketing.
Content marketing is any content of value you create
that has a long life.
It'll be found on search engines,
and it sends people to you.
For some people, this can be imagery,
writing, videos, in-person content, or audio content.
Every nonfiction author should be doing
some form of content marketing
because it establishes credibility,
it builds a loyal audience,
it reduces the cost of advertising,
it drives traffic organically,
no ad spend necessary,
it can lead to book sales, business growth,
and even PR opportunities.
Now, your first and probably the most important thing
you should create
is at least one high value reader magnet.
I'll link to a video on that at the end
so you've got some help and support in creating one.
But that reader magnet needs to be set up on an opt-in page
so you can collect email addresses
and begin building a relationship with people
interested in your content.
As an example, you can head to
booklaunchers.com/businessbook, link right here,
and check out a simple download page,
and get the "Business Book," download,
which is an example of a reader magnet.
What you do beyond your reader magnet,
well, it's pretty much up to you.
If you're starting completely new,
my suggestion would be to tap into places
that already have an existing audience
versus starting a blog on your website
and having to drive traffic to that blog,
or waiting for the search engines to deem you worthy.
Truly, the content marketing options are endless,
and I know book marketing can already feel overwhelming.
So rather than give you a gigantic list
of all the things you can do,
pick one that appeals to you even a little.
Imagine someone said you can only create
one type of content for a year.
What's that content?
Audio, written, live stream, imagery, video?
For me, it's video.
This helps my business, it sells books,
it makes me feel good because I'm helping people,
and ultimately I really enjoy
creating video content for you.
It's a creative outlet for me,
I can teach stuff I've learned, which I love to do,
and apparently I enjoy talking
where nobody talks back to me.
In my dream world that I will have someday,
I have a studio, a video crew
with someone that actually fixes my hair,
and we can create more dynamic, entertaining,
and educational content.
That day will come,
but in the meantime, this is still fun,
and my husband comes in front of the camera
from time to time to help entertain you.
- Who me? (laughs)
- Now, think about what content
kind of gives you that feeling.
Is it that visual?
Is it that audio, written, video?
And then, once you know that, decide on your platform,
your website, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube,
again, options are endless.
All I'm asking is for you to commit to one type of content
and then commit to a regular content creation schedule
no matter what.
If you look, I've been posting videos every Tuesday
and Friday for four years.
I don't miss a day unless it's during my summer break
where I take five week break from posting new content
for my mental sanity.
I do this. and I keep to this commitment
by batching content.
I usually shoot somewhere between six to 10 videos in a day,
which takes about three days prep leading up to that,
but it's all batched
so I've got a whole bunch of videos.
So if I get sick or I'm traveling,
a video always comes out every Tuesday and every Friday.
So to recap, choose one format for now,
then set a schedule,
and commit to sticking to that for a year.
Now, brainstorm all the things
that your book audience,
remember that lovely ideal reader
we've talked about so many times?
Brainstorm all the things they'll find valuable.
And this can come straight from your book.
For example, if you look at my book
"Self-Publish and Succeed,"
you'll notice a correlation
between a lot of the content in that book
and YouTube videos.
A lot of the content from my book
appears on the YouTube channel.
For example, I have a section
on the copyright page in the book,
and I pretty much took that content word for word
and turned it into a video for the YouTube channel.
I've also taken excerpts from the book
and had them published on various websites
and in other people's newsletters.
When I do that, I usually just add some intro comments
or closing remarks.
In every piece of content you create,
make sure you have a call to action.
You wanna send people to that all important
reader magnet that you've created,
like I did before, sending you to
booklaunchers.com/businessbook.
Now, here's where content marketing gets fun.
You're repurposing that content.
For me, that happens in many ways.
Like I said, the videos get turned into articles,
the articles get turned into social media posts,
and so on.
But bigger than that, my YouTube besties like Allen West,
Linda K. Lee, Michael Facherty, Efren Delgado,
and Rachel Robertson,
they've all likely noticed an increase
in marketing related video content around here.
Well, that's because the book I'm working on right now
is all about book marketing strategies
and tactics for non-fiction authors.
So I'm creating videos that become scripts
that become material for for my manuscript.
These videos are also getting broken up
into content for social media.
Other people use the videos on their blogs.
In my biweekly newsletter,
I reference some of the content,
or pull from the scripts of a video for the material.
The list goes on.
Just because you put that content into the world once
in one format, you don't have to stop there.
It can become audio visual, something else.
You can smell it, you can eat it.
No, you can't.
Okay, just because you put that content into the world
once in one format, don't stop there.
Use it as audio visual clips,
snippets, and words wherever you can.
Very few people will ever see it
in all the places or in all the ways,
and even if they do,
they're probably gonna be okay with it.
They just might not spend as much time on that content.
But usually you're reaching different people
with different formats.
Now that you've got your content in the world,
you now can spend money on ads if you want to.
Paid ads that are sent to content
tend to cost less than if you're sending to a buy,
and they build a much stronger audience,
and they usually lead to book sales,
brand awareness, and business growth.
For me personally, I've stopped donating money to Big Blue
with only one campaign exception
that actually did perform for me
until Facebook abruptly shut it down.
I have not been able to make Facebook ads profitable,
but I have had success Google ads on YouTube,
leveraging all the amazing content I have on YouTube.
But I didn't start with ads.
I started with content and once that content was performing,
then I invested in ads.
If you're getting the feeling
that all this content marketing is work, it is,
and it's work you have to do consistently to get results.
Now, there's some companies out there
that you can hire to help you,
but one action will rarely lead to thousands of sales.
It's consistent effort over time
that leads to your own version
of YouTube besties, book sales, clients, and more.
That's why I said pick something you enjoy
and stick with it.
You won't find me hanging out on our social media channels
or writing big, long articles
for magazines or other places.
I can do those things, but I prefer not to.
It's not as fun for me.
As Book Launchers grows,
other people on my team
are taking on some of those tasks,
but for me,
you'll find me hanging out right here on YouTube.
So go ahead, say hi in the comments below,
and I'll prove it to you.
And when you do say hi,
let me know where I can find some of your great content.
Go ahead and drop your links.
Now, if you're looking for that reader magnet video,
click over here my friend.
However, if you're all set on that,
here's my thoughts on creating video content as an author.
Either one will be great for you to see right now.
I'll put on some coffee, tea, or hot chocolate for you,
and I'll see you there.