Nathan Yerian
E-books are a growing trend in content marketing. Compared to blogs though, they are still few and far between; this scarcity is part of their allure. People are hungry for knowledge, and there is a high demand for quality content in a variety of forms.
In addition to serving as a helpful resource to customers, clients, and peers, e-books can boost a company's overall marketing goals. Fortunately, anyone with Microsoft word, a PDF creator, and a talent for writing can quickly and easily self-publish.
Across industries and fields, e-books can help businesses and consultants add more value to their content marketing strategies.
Here are 5 benefits to adding an e-book to your content marketing strategy.
1. Gain authority as an industry expert
One key takeaway from the blogging community is that self-publishing mediums are powerful bases for knowledge. Blogs provide information, best-practices, and insights in short form.
E-books, on the other hand, explore topics in more depth. Well-written e-books serve as teaching resources, and help their authors increase their reputations as industry experts.
2. Create inspiration and build buzz for a traffic-generating blog series
An e-book from a credible source will generate attention, bring in new followers, and increase social media shares. It can also introduce a topic to promote a traffic-generating blog series.
After publishing an e-book, you can break down its content into digestible blog posts. At the end of each post, you can have a call to action button that links to the full e-book. This gives your blog readers a taste of what the book includes and encourages them to download the full piece.
3. Attract backlinks from industry-related sites
If people find a resource valuable, they share it with their peers, friends, and colleagues. E-books are an excellent way to generate buzz from social media. If you have generated interest in your e-book, industry websites may link to your content, which can provide value by improving your search engine rankings.
4. Bring in traffic through syndication
Through syndication channels and social media social bookmarking resources, an e-book can augment traffic levels. While one blog can serve as a hub for a dedicated audience, a network can help writers and companies further branch out and recruit new readers and followers.
5. Create a unique landing page for sales leads
A free e-book can help attract potential clients to a designated landing page on your website. In exchange for providing an email address (or other information you require), site visitors can gain access to the free e-book. An attention-grabbing landing page will attract people, showcase the value of your downloadable content, and convert visitors into quality sales leads for your organization.
E-books are an easy and inexpensive way to build a brand. They offer strong value to both the writer and the reader.
Download our Inbound Marketing e-book and discover a complete strategy around creating value based content that generates qualified leads.
