E-books: the next hot corporate strategy in content marketing?
Sykes Enterprises. Outback Steakhouse. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Big hitters in the Tampa Bay business community ... and powerhouse book publishing houses?
Well, they aren't publishing today -- as far as I know. I just named-dropped those companies to make a point: that businesses can viably get into e-book publishing as part of a content marketing strategy.
A New York Times article (shared by Steve Rubel) details how news media sites are leapfrogging publishing houses to put out timely e-books. These e-books help media sites monitize content and zip past the slow-moving processes of traditional publishers:
Swiftly and at little cost, newspapers, magazines and sites like The Huffington Post are hunting for revenue by publishing their own version of e-books, either using brand-new content or repurposing material that they may have given away free in the past.
And by making e-books that are usually shorter, cheaper to buy and more quickly produced than the typical book, they are redefining what an e-book is — and who gets to publish it.
Shel Holtz followed up on Rubel's tweet with the following thought:
@steverubel I suspect there's an opportunity for businesses to publish e-books, too as part of the "think like a publisher" philosophy.
This makes perfect sense. As the Times article says, the Kindle/iPad revolution in book publishing is perfect for shorter, more timely and niche-focused work:
“On the one hand, a Kindle or a Nook is perfect for reading a 1,000-page George R. R. Martin novel,” said Eric Simonoff, a literary agent. “On the other hand, these devices are uniquely suited for mid-length content that runs too long for shrinking magazines and are too pamphletlike to credibly be called a book.”
In other words, businesses can look at e-books as an ideal complement to social and content marketing strategies. E-books can be another social tactic to bring value to targeted audiences.
E-books can serve as a tactical component of a solid content marketing strategy
E-books can be ideal for companies looking to further explain a viewpoint in a given market, or as a way to provide deeper value than can be conveyed in a blog post. For that matter, there is no reason a company couldn't package up a series of blog posts into an e-book -- a tactic many bloggers have used for years.
What if, for example, the Buccaneers self-published an e-book that more deeply explained the team philosophies on offense, defense and personnel? E-books allow organizations to take deeper dive to engage their committed followers and fans.
E-books tend to carry a greater sense of worth than a blog post. Books, in whatever format, are still revered in our culture as a higher form of content. It won't be that way forever, but it is still that way today.
Can corporate e-books enhance your content marketing strategy?
The internet, as it always does, has declared war on the middleman, this time in the publishing industry. That has created an opening -- another way for companies to add value while cutting through the red tape.
Companies need to evaluate whether e-books can serve as a component of content strategy to better serve their audiences. E-books can serve lots of purposes for companies -- lead generation, conversation starters, or simply a different way to share content in a package with more permanence than a blog post or video.
Ultimately, it comes down to understanding how your audience finds you and consumes your content. E-books offer an opportunity to take a deeper dive with your most passionate advocates, packaging up your content in a format that is both easily sharable and offers a greater sense of permanence than other forms.
What topics do your audience want you to dive deeper on?
Not sure?
Ask them.