Image courtesy of Hubspot 1

Table of Contents

4 Introduction

7 Chapter 1: What is Content Marketing?

19 Chapter 2: The Beauty of the Blog

26 Chapter 3: The Art of the Article

32 Chapter 4: The Extraordinary EBook

40 Conclusion

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Copyright © Jeff Charles

All Rights Reserved

This ebook is meant to be shared, but please don’t change any of the content.

Artisan Owl Media

Introduction

It’s not easy. Many professional service firms have a hard time doing it well. What am I talking about? Attracting and retaining clients.

Obtaining and keeping clients consistently has always been a challenge for most professional service firms. So how do they do it?

The organizations that attain success do so by establishing and maintaining a strong online presence. Having an established internet presence gives you more exposure and makes it easier for prospects to find you.

It’s no longer enough to just have a website. Now, your website needs to be a tool that converts prospects into committed clients.

If you’re reading this eBook, it’s probably because you already recognize the importance of having an online presence. You understand that consumers are using the internet to find the services they need. The problem is: you don’t know how to use the internet to get more business.

Whether you’re a dentist, lawyer, real estate firm, medical professional, or other professional service provider, you understand the challenges involved in succeeding in such a competitive environment. Not only do you need to convince prospects that your firm can solve their problems, you need to show them why they should come to you instead of your competition.

What does this mean to you?

It means that it’s time for your firm to become a Professional Influencer. Read on and I’ll show you how.

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So how do you become a Professional Influencer? By differentiating yourself from your competitors. By establishing your firm as a thought leader. Becoming a thought leader means having influence. You can’t become a thought leader if you’re not influential. Building influence will help your firm be seen as the authority. It will position your firm as the ultimate resource for the services you provide. How do you build influence? When it comes to influence, my theory is simple: the amount of influence you have is directly related to the amount of value you bring. It’s simple, but not easy. Providing value is the most effective way to gain influence. If you are going to succeed, you must provide consistent, tangible, and impactful benefits to your readers. People allow themselves to be influenced by those they perceive to be valuable. If you can show your prospects that you can bring them value, they will not only become your client, they will become your evangelists. This is where content marketing comes in.

“It’s simple, but not easy. By providing value. The best way to gain “Building influence will help your firm be seen as the authority. It will position your firm as the ultimate resource for the services you provide.”

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For professional services firms, content marketing is a crucial component to gaining more clients. A comprehensive content marketing strategy can enable your firm to provide value by giving your prospects informative, relevant, and helpful content that helps them solve a problem or reach a goal. Building authority and influence is key. High-quality content can help you build the influence and authority you need to position your firm as a thought leader. In the end, you will earn more clients and drive more sales. This eBook is designed to give you a high-level introduction to the world of content marketing. I will introduce three common content marketing tools that can help your firm begin to build its online influence. If you use these tools effectively, you can set yourself apart from your competition. First, I’ll explain what content marketing is, why you need it, and how to create high-quality content. Then, I’ll discuss three of the most common content marketing tools that are used by professional services firms. These tools are blogs, articles, and eBooks. When you finish this eBook, you will understand: • What these tools are. • How they can help your firm. • How to use them.

“The amount of influence you have is directly related to the amount of

value you bring.”

Chapter 1: What Is Content Marketing?

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“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

– Tom Fishburne

Image courtesy of Hubspot

What is Content Marketing?

It’s a pretty complex question. There are several definitions of content marketing. Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute and all-around content marketing guru has six definitions of content marketing. Here’s one: Content Marketing is a method of marketing that involves using relevant, engaging, and relevant content to provide value to your audience in an effort to drive more sales. Here’s one that I made up: Content marketing is a method of marketing that involves creating awesome content that is designed to help customers rather than shoving your product down their throats. Basically, content marketing is using helpful content to positively impact the lives of your readers. By doing this, you convince your prospects to buy into your brand, which means they will be more likely to use your services. Regardless of the definition you prefer, content marketing is essential to the success of most businesses today. Content marketing is absolutely critical to the success of professional service firms. By providing your audience with relevant and engaging content, you increase your influence in the marketplace by establishing your authority and becoming a primary resource for your audience.

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“Content marketing means using helpful content to positively impact the lives of your readers.”

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As I stated previously, it’s not enough to just have a website. Content marketing means having a website that actually works as a lead generation tool. When the prospect visits your website, they need to have a reason to consider doing business with you. After they do business with you, they need a reason to continue doing business with you. Content marketing is the key. It allows you to provide value to your customers outside of your services. One of the things I will discuss repeatedly in this book is the importance of providing a tangible benefit to the reader. I’ll probably mention it so much, you’ll get sick of reading it. If there’s one thing you learn from anything I write on content marketing, it should be the importance of providing value to your readers. If your content does not make your reader better, it’s not worth writing. Without providing useful content that is designed to inform and educate your prospects, they won’t be given a reason to engage with you. Instead, they will look at competitors who are providing value. Don’t believe me? Check out the fun facts on the next page. Then tell me I’m wrong. Go ahead. I dare you!

“If your content does not make your reader better, it’s not worth writing.”

Fun Content Marketing Statistics

• Brands that create 15 or more blog posts per month average 1,200 new leads per month.

• Customers who receive email newsletters spend 82% more when they buy from the company.

• 70% of consumers prefer to get to know a company through original articles.

• 6 in 10 (customers) say that after reading a custom publication, they feel like they know more, and feel better, about the company.

• 61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content.

• Blog give websites 97% more indexed links.

• Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate.

• 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement.

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The great thing about content marketing is that it’s multi-faceted. It comes through many different channels. This means that there are tons of different ways to show off your expertise and expand your influence. There are many different channels by which you can distribute content. These channels include: • Blogs • Copywriting • Articles • Infographics • Newsletters • White papers • Videos • Social media • Podcasts • Print books • EBooks

This particular eBook will focus on blogs, articles, and eBooks. These are some of the most frequently used methods of content marketing. All of these channels are effective ways to distribute your content to your audience.

What Does Content Marketing Look Like?

11 Image courtesy of Hubspot

Key Principles of Content Marketing

As you can see, content marketing can take many different forms. When figuring out which forms of content you want to create, you need to know what types of content are best for your audience

While the types of content vary, the components that make your content strategy successful are largely the same. Successful content marketing has several different factors.

These include:

• Consistency

• Relevance

• Quality

In order to implement a winning content strategy, you must product relevant, high-quality content on a consistent basis. You must also have a promotion strategy so you can get readers to consume your content. When you are implementing a content marketing campaign, all four of these factors must be present.

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Consistency: Planning Out your Content

Consistency is key. Many business owners wonder how often they should post. The answer is simply this: you can post as much as you’re able to, but make sure you are consistent. Consistency in your postings matters much than the amount of postings you make.

If you decide to post content twice per week, you need to stick to it. For example, if you maintain a blog and you start getting more readers, they will come to expect you to post a certain amount of blog postings a week.

If your postings become sporadic, readers will lose interest. People like consistency, which is why it’s so important.

A good way to maintain consistency is to use an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a great tool that helps you plan out your weekly blog postings.

It’s also good for planning out other types of content as well. You can use it for podcasts, videos, infographics, and other types of content. If you look online you will be able to find several useful templates for editorial calendars.

One of the main reasons businesses are not consistent with their content production is because they lack the time necessary to provide high-quality content. It’s the reason most companies either outsource their content marketing efforts, or have a team of employees who are responsible for maintaining it.

13 Image courtesy of Brian K on flickr

Relevance: Knowing your Audience

Who is your audience? What type of content do they read? What are their needs? What questions do they have? How do they find information?

Having a successful blog means answering these questions. If you don’t know your audience, you won’t know how to serve them with your content.

Before you craft a single blog post, you need to know who your readers are and what information they need. Of course, doing this requires research.

Becoming familiar with your audience means creating buyer personas. You will need to do the research necessary to create the most accurate personas possible. If you do these things well, you will get the information you need to craft the right content for their needs.

What is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a fictionalized profile of a particular type of client that you are marketing your services to. It’s a tool you can use to get into the heads of your prospects.

When you create a buyer persona, you will write down information about each fictionalized customer. You will include demographics, buying habits, income, hobbies, and other characteristics that are applicable.

When creating the buyer persona, be as detailed as possible. More detail will give you a better picture of a prospective client. You will better understand their motivations, goals, pain points, and desires. This will allow you to craft content that is appealing to them.

Since it is likely that you will have more than one type of client, you will probably create multiple buyer personas. Creating multiple personas enables you to diversify your content in a way that will appeal to multiple types of customers.

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It’s All about the Quality

So what exactly is high-quality content? Isn’t this subjective? It’s just a matter of opinion, right? Well, not necessarily.

When it comes to creating great content, there's only one real factor to consider: the reader. Yes, ranking high in search engine results is very important, but the only way you can do this is by writing high-quality content.

Google's algorithms are set up to benefit websites that offer useful content. If you create helpful, impactful content that people actually engage with, you will end up ranking higher on search engines.

So what is high-quality content? Simply put, high-quality content is content that is designed to provide a distinct benefit to the person consuming the content.

People read content because they are looking to meet a need. They might need information. They might have a problem that they need to solve. Maybe they just want to be entertained.

The material you create should be designed to meet a specific need. The type of content you need to produce depends on the type of business you are in and who your prospects are.

As a professional, you need to create content in a way that establishes your authority and position in the mind of your potential clients. When you write authoritative content that provides a tangible benefit to your reader, you earn the right to influence them.

15 Image courtesy of Pixabay

Why is High Quality Content Necessary?

You only need to research the topic of content marketing for about five minutes before you are told over and over again that you must create high-quality content. I mean, it seems obvious right?

It’s not. If everyone understood that they should create only high-quality content, there wouldn’t be so much “junk content” out there. Google wouldn’t need to make changes to their algorithms that are designed to punish black hat search engine marketers who find ways to game the search engine system.

The fact is, if you want to be influential (and I know you do!) you have to have quality content. This is even more true for professional services firms. Whether you’re an attorney who wants clients, or a real estate agent who wishes to attract buyers, you need to prove that you’re the expert.

This can only be done if your content is of high quality. I can’t emphasize this enough. Realistically, if you can’t take the time to make sure your content is top quality, you shouldn’t bother creating content at all. It’s that important.

Remember, the key to building influence is providing value. The more value you provide, the more problems you solve, the more influence you will earn. High quality content is what will enable you to provide this value to your prospective clients.

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“Making content that people want to consume is more important than just writing material that is designed to please search engines.“

How to Create High-Quality Content

Here are some guidelines to follow when creating content:

Grammar and Spelling

This goes without saying. Grammatical and spelling errors are a BIG no-no when you’re creating content. Make sure you proofread every piece of content that you create.

Not only will it keep you from embarrassing yourself, it will make sure that readers continue to read your content. There are several programs you can use to make it easier to check your spelling and grammar. I use a tool called Ginger. It works great!

Readability

Is your content easy to understand? Or does it read like a schematic to a nuclear fission reactor?

If you want people to consume your content, make it easier for them to consume it. Avoid using huge words and complex sentences. Sure, it might make appear smarter, but nobody will care because they’re not going to read anything you write.

Also, try to avoid industry jargon. If a layperson reads your material, they should be able to understand exactly what you’re saying.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Depending on your audience, it may be absolutely necessary to use industry jargon and million-dollar words. This is where knowing your audience comes into play.

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No Sales Pitches

Here’s a fun fact: your prospects don’t care about you.

Yes, I know. It hurts. But it’s true. When your prospects visit your website, they’re concerned about one thing: getting their needs met. Cheer up. It’s your chance to be the hero!

Don’t blow this opportunity by trying to sell them now. You can sell them later. I promise.

Right now, the objective is to get your reader to buy into your brand. Be their hero, and they’ll buy into your brand.

18 Image courtesy of Bill Toenjason Flickr

Mix it Up

Don’t publish only one type of content. Yes, it’s okay to have a primary method of creating content, but don’t limit yourself. If your primary method of producing content is your blog, that’s fine, but you should also throw in a full-length article every now and then. Maybe one week you could add an infographic to your marketing efforts. The more variety you have, the wider an audience you can appeal to. Creating high-quality content can be challenging and time consuming, but it’s not impossible. Make sure your content is grammatically correct, easy to read, devoid of sales pitches, and diverse, and you will have an engaged audience.

“When your prospects visit your website, they’re concerned about

one thing: getting their needs met.”

Chapter 2

The Beauty of the Blog

“The currency of blogging is authenticity

and trust.” – Jason Calacanis, Professional

Blogger

19 Image courtesy of Stuart Miles on

FreeDigitalPhotos

What’s A Blog?

A blog (short for weblog) is a website that companies can use to regularly publish their own content. Typically, companies will publish a posting at least once per week. Blogs can be used for: • Company announcements • Informational content • Promotions • News • Entertainment

Professional services firms use their blog to help them establish their authority, engage with their audience, and showcase their expertise. It’s one of the most commonly used forms of content marketing. Blogs are most commonly used because they are cheap and easy to maintain.

20 Image courtesy of Hubspot

Why You Need To Blog

Blogs are absolutely essential if you want to be successful in your content marketing. A successful content marketing machine is highly dependent upon blogs.

If you are diligent about maintaining high-quality content on your blog, it will most certainly pay off. They can help your business establish credibility and maximize your influence.

Additionally, it can give you more exposure and visibility. A good blog with regular postings actually increases your search engine results. This makes it more likely that your firm will be found when a prospect is searching for your services. The more content you have, the more likely it is that your website will come up in search results.

Another benefit of blogging is that it can position you as an influencer in your field. If you have a blog that is more informative and helpful than that of your competition, you win. Your audience will perceive that your firm is the authority in your field.

Don’t believe me? Check this out. In 2009, 56% of companies reported that their blog helped their company establish a positioning as a thought leader within their industry. If you want to have influence, you must embrace the blog.

21 Image courtesy of David Levitz on Flickr

Example

You like stories, right? Here’s one for you:

Larry is a real estate agent who has a blog that he updates multiple times a week. A prospect who is looking to buy a house in his area types in “golf courses” and the name of his city.

Luckily, Larry has written posts about the popular golf courses in his area, so it pops up on the search results. After reading his incredibly informative post, they decide to check out the rest of his website, since he obviously knows his stuff. As a result, they send an inquiry through his “contact us” page.

Larry the real estate professional just got an instant lead by creating content that is both relevant and helpful to his prospect! Creating helpful content not only made his website easier to find, but it also influenced the prospect’s decision.

This is just a small example of how blogging can increase your leads and get you more exposure. Want to know how? Keep reading!

22 Image courtesy of ThinkPanama on Flickr

“In 2009, 56% of companies reported that their blog helped their company

establish a positioning as a thought leader within their

industry.”

How to Blog Successfully

So now you know what blogging is and why you should do it. The question now is: how do you do it?

A good blog post should have four main characteristics:

• A great headline

• Informative content

• An easy-to-read format

• A call to action

If your blog post has a catchy title, helpful content that is easy to digest, and a compelling call to action, you will have crafted an excellent piece of material.

Headline

Great content doesn’t matter if you can’t get people to read it. A well-developed headline can compel prospective readers to click on your content.

A good headline promises a clear, tangible benefit to the reader and conveys a sense of urgency. Experiment with different headlines and see which ones work the best. There are also several tools online that can help you craft a good headline.

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“Great content doesn’t matter if you can’t get people to read it.”

Informative Content

After getting your readers to view your content, you must keep them engaged. How? By delivering on the promise you made in your headline. Not only must you deliver on this promise, you must do it in a way that makes your reader want to keep reading.

Your content must be helpful and informative. If you are answering a specific question, answer it in a way that makes sense to the reader.

If you are giving advice, make sure the advice is practical and actionable. Your reader should be able to take your guidance and put it into action right after reading your content.

When I write a piece of content, my objective is to make the reader better than they were before they read it. I want my readers to be more informed, better equipped, motivated, or entertained.

The reader must walk away with some type of benefit. If your reader does not find a benefit to reading your content, they won’t continue reading it.

Here are some questions you should answer before finalizing a piece of content:

• What do I want the reader to get out of this?

• Does this material deliver on my promise?

• How does this material deliver on my promise?

• Is each sentence structured in a way that makes the reader want to read the next sentence?

If you are able to satisfactorily answer all of these questions, your content should be worth reading.

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Easy to Read

Your content should be easy to understand. Your readers shouldn't need an advanced degree in thermonuclear physics to understand what you are writing. Always make sure that you express your thoughts in a way that is easy for a layperson to understand.

Most experts recommend that you write at an 8th grade reading level. It’s probably okay to be a little more sophisticated than that, depending on your audience, but in general, you want to make sure the average person can understand what you’re writing. For additional help with this, use this tool. It will tell you what writing level your content is at.

Of course, there can be exceptions to this. If you’re writing on a highly technical subject for a highly technical audience, it’s ok to write at a higher level.

A good blog post will have at least 2 – 3 pictures that illustrate the points you are making in the post. Additionally, you need to break up your paragraphs into smaller, easier-to-digest chunks. Each paragraph should have only 2 – 3 sentences.

If you have large chunks of text throughout your blog post, it will make it harder to read. Readers will simply move on to something else. Break your content up into smaller paragraphs and your post will flow more effectively.

Call to Action

Finally, a good blog post has a compelling call to action that is designed to get your reader to do something. The action you want them to take is up to you.

You might want them to sign up for your newsletter. Maybe you’d like them to share your content on social media. Perhaps you want them to sign up for a free consultation.

A blog post is a great place to get your customer to do something that is favorable to your brand. Make sure you use an effective call to action at the end of each post.

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Chapter 3

The Art of the Article

“ Make the prospect a more informed buyer

with content.” - Robert Simon, Four

Seasons Hotels

26 Image courtesy of the Italian voice, on Flickr

Articles: What they are

At first glance, articles can seem very similar to blog posts, however they are actually very different and they serve slightly different purposes. While blog posts are meant to give more high-level information, articles are used when you want to go a little deeper.

Articles tend to be longer than blog posts. The word count can be anywhere between 700 – 2,000 words long. They are also more detailed and informative than blog posts.

While blog posts use more informal language, articles do not. Articles are typically written in a more formal tone and usually include more facts and figures rather than just an opinion.

How articles are used

Articles are used to showcase your authority and expertise by going deeper than you would in a blog post. An article is more of a lecture than a conversation; people typically don’t engage with an article like they would with a blog post. When you write an article, you giving the reader a deeper understanding of the subject than a blog post would.

As a professional services firm, you should rely heavily on the use of articles. Since your ultimate objective is to increase your influence and position yourself as a thought leader, you need a way to provide factual information that can make your readers see you as the authority.

In many cases, blog posts and articles can be related, with the blog posts being used to give an overview on a particular topic while the articles give more in-depth information. A great way to use this combination is to create a blog post that highlights a specific subject and then use your call to action to lead the reader to the more in-depth article in an effort to learn more.

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Examples

Here are some helpful examples of how a professional services firm might use articles to enhance their online influence.

• A local real estate firm that publishes an article analyzing the housing market in their city.

• A law firm that creates an article outlining the facts of a major class action tort case.

• An accounting firm that uses articles to provide information on recent changes in state tax law.

• A dentist that writes an article that gives the reader a closer look at a popular cosmetic dental procedure.

• A chiropractor who crafts an article that gives the reader in-depth advice on preventing back pain.

If you are a professional, there are many different ways you can use articles to use your knowledge to benefit your customer. Next, we’ll discuss the benefits of producing high-quality articles.

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The Benefits of Writing Articles

Articles are crucial to the success of your content marketing efforts. For a professional services firm, it is arguably the easiest and most effective way to position yourself as an authority in your field.

This is especially true if you happen to do business in an area where most firms don’t engage in content marketing. Having well-written articles on different subjects can make it easier for readers to find your content.

If your articles are engaging and helpful enough, the reader will continue to turn to your firm for guidance. It will also make them more likely to become your client.

Here are some additional benefits:

• High-quality articles can increase your search engine rankings, making your website easier for prospects to find.

• If your articles are informative and well written, your readers are more likely to share them with their network. This means more exposure for your firm.

• Articles communicate authority. When a prospect visits your website and sees a large number of well-written articles, they will be more likely to trust your brand.

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“If your articles are engaging and helpful enough, the reader will continue to turn to your firm for guidance.”

How to Write Quality Articles

If you are writing an article, you need to make sure you are doing it correctly. An effective article is crafted in a way that informs and educates the reader.

Here are four components of well-written articles:

Formal Tone

You don’t need to write your articles as if you’re writing a doctoral thesis, but the language you use should not be informal either. Since you are going to provide a lot of factual information, it is more appropriate to adopt a more formal tone.

This means you need to follow all grammatical rules and avoid slang. You can save that for your blog postings.

Use Facts and Figures

Every claim you make in your article should be backed up by compelling data. You can include statistics, charts, studies, and anything else that will make your assertions authoritative.

This means that your articles will need to be well researched. Take your time when crafting an article. The last thing you want to do is write a superficial article that doesn’t really help your reader. Prospects don’t like to have their time wasted with useless content.

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Have a Clear Objective

Your articles shouldn’t just provide random information. Each article should have a clear goal. There needs to be an actual benefit that you intend to give your reader.

At the beginning of the article, the goal should be clearly communicated. The reader should know exactly what they are going to learn after they are done reading the article.

Use Links

In addition to backing up your claims with data, you should also let your readers know where you are getting your information. This is where hyperlinks come in.

You should link to every source that you use so that your reader can do further research. Also, if there is other content that could help your reader understand your article better, include the link.

This is especially beneficial if you are able to link to your own content. Not only is this great for SEO, it will also keep your reader engaged with your content.

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Chapter 4

The Extraordinary eBook

“These days, people want to learn before

they buy, be educated instead of pitched.”

-Brian Clark

32 Image courtesy of James F. Clay, on Flickr

What are Ebooks?

An eBook is a book that is read using electronic devices. These devices can include e-readers, laptops, mobile phones, and desktop computers.

Ebooks are typically created as PDF, epub, or mobi files. These are the most common file types.

You can choose whatever file type you want. Epub and mobi files are useful because of the built-in features that make the ebook easier to navigate.

Ebooks have become increasingly popular because of their convenience and affordability. For a content marketer, they are a great way to establish credibility.

Publishing ebooks is a great way to establish credibility and further position yourself as an authority. Ebooks go farther than blogs and articles when it comes to providing helpful content.

Not only do they offer a great way to become a thought leader in your field, they can also be used as a lead generation tool. More on this later.

Professional services firms in particular can benefit greatly from publishing ebooks. Prospects are more likely to hire a professional who is an authority in their field. Because of this, an ebook can give you the edge you need to attract more prospects.

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“Publishing ebooks is a great way to establish credibility and further position

yourself as an authority.”

What’s So Great about eBooks? For a professional services firm, eBooks can benefit your organization in several

different ways. If done effectively, your ebooks can help you obtain more readers, clients, and, of course, profit.

Here are the four main ways you can use ebooks to benefit your firm.

• Sell it

• Generate leads

• Stake your claim

• Generate more content

Selling It

One of the most obvious ways you can benefit from an eBook is by selling it. If you’ve written a quality eBook, you can potentially make a lot of money from selling it to your customers. If you are going to use your eBook as a source of revenue, there are a few factors to consider:

• Don’t write everything you know about your subject. If you do this, your eBook will have a lack of focus, which makes it harder for your readers to benefit.

• Try not to overwhelm your reader with information. Give them just what they need to know. You can write another eBook if you want to go deeper.

• Make sure you promote it. Promoting your eBook is every bit as important as writing it. You should have a coherent marketing strategy for your book before you publish it.

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Generating Leads Another great way to benefit your firm with eBooks is by using them to generate leads. They are a great way to entice prospects to give you their contact information. Write a quality eBook that addresses a common issue your audience faces, then offer it in exchange for their email address or other contact information. People love to get helpful content without paying for it! If you offer something valuable for free, prospects will be more likely to pay for your services later. Here are some points to consider: • Even though you’re giving the eBook away, it should still have quality content.

The free offer may have moved them to give you their information, but it’s the content that will increase the chances that they’ll buy from you.

• If you are covering a subject that is already well know, try to approach it from a different angle. Offer the reader something they can’t easily get somewhere else.

• Write the eBook on a topic that is relevant to your reader. Do the research and figure out what problems your reader is trying to solve.

• Create the right type of eBook.

“People love to get helpful content without paying for it! If you offer something valuable for free, prospects will be more likely to pay for

your services later.”

Staking your Claim

What does your firm believe? What is your stance? What is your firm’s philosophy and why should people care?

An eBook can help your firm express its beliefs and how these beliefs influence its approach to serving your clients. By reading your eBook, your prospective clients will understand who your firm is and why it matters.

Sure, you can also do this with a blog post, but an eBook gives you an opportunity to explain your firm’s position in more detailed. It also sets your firm apart from others because many firms are afraid to express an opinion or a position on any subject. When you do this, you are asserting your firm as a leader and making it more influential

Making More Content

When it comes to generating content, eBooks are the gifts that keep giving. When you write a quality eBook, the contents of the book don’t have to stay in the eBook.

You can take the material in the book and use it to create other types of content. Blog postings, social media posts, Slideshare presentations, infographics, podcasts are all channels that can help you spread your message. This is especially beneficial because people who may not be inclined to read eBooks might enjoy listening to podcasts or other types of content.

36 Image courtesy of Hubspot

How to Write a Killer eBook

Now that you understand the great big benefits of creating a high-quality eBook it’s time to actually create it. Contrary to popular belief, an eBook isn’t just a long blog post. It’s more than that.

An ebook is the ultimate way to establish your authority and make you an influencer. Because of this, you will put more work and research into it. When you write an eBook, you need to make sure that it is well researched, relevant, and helpful.

Research, Research, Research

The worst mistake you can make when writing an eBook is to just start writing it without a coherent plan. Yes, I know that the idea of writing an eBook is exciting, but it won’t be exciting if nobody reads it.

The first thing you need to do is understand your audience. Who are they? What do they need? What issues are they dealing with? Finding out this information will give you the material you need to begin writing your eBook.

Here’s an example:

You have a law firm that specializes in corporate law. Your clients are mainly small business owners don’t understand how to stay in compliance with the laws of your state.

You might consider writing a primer on the various reports, formalities, and regulations that dictate how a business should be run in your particular state. If you write this eBook that makes your state’s laws easier to understand, you will have instantly showcased your expertise and authority. Additionally, you will have made things easier for your prospective clients.

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Solve the Problem

After identifying your audience and their pain points, you will know what to write about. Remember, the hallmark of high-quality content is that it solves a particular problem.

Your eBook should be designed to make the reader’s life easier. If it doesn’t, there’s no reason for anyone to read it.

Evergreen is Best

When writing an eBook, think evergreen! Evergreen content is material that will be useful years after it is written. If you’re writing content that is only relevant right now, then your book will only be consumed right now. It means people will not read it later.

Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to write evergreen content. No matter what industry you’re in, there are subjects that will always be relevant.

Here’s some examples of evergreen topics:

• Real Estate: How to Enhance Your Home’s Curb Appeal

• Law: How to Avoid Discrimination Lawsuits

• Dentistry: Enamel-Eroding Foods to Avoid

• Management Consulting: How to Manage Conflict

• Medical: Fighting Hypertension

See what I mean? These topics are perfectly evergreen. Why? It’s highly unlikely that there will ever be a time when your clients don’t need to know about these subjects.

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Edit Your Work The worst thing you can do when writing an eBook is to publish it with grammatical, spelling, and factual errors. Publishing an eBook without thoroughly editing it will increase the odds that you publish shoddy content. Publishing low-quality content will torpedo your credibility and ruin any chances of influencing your readers. After you finish writing your book, you must make sure that there are no errors. If you’re not good at editing content, hire someone who is. It’s best to invest the time and money into making sure that you are putting out a quality product. Remember, you’re trying to build influence. You can’t influence anyone if they think you don’t know what you’re doing. Here are some of the things you will need to check: • Grammar • Spelling • Facts • Quality The importance of grammar and spelling is obvious. Fact-checking is incredibly important as well. If you make assertions in your eBook that are not factually correct, it will cause the reader to doubt everything else you say as well. Finally, you need to make sure your content is well written. Is it engaging? Does it flow well? Does it make the reader want to continue reading? These are the questions you are trying to answer when editing your content. If you follow these steps, you will have an incredibly informative eBook that your prospects will want to read. If you promote it correctly, you will increase your influence and position your firm as a thought leader in your field.

Conclusion

There you have it.

If you desire to earn more clients, your firm needs to become influential. It needs to stand out from the competition.

Becoming influential means providing value to your readers by creating consistent, relevant, and high-quality content. It means showing the world that you have the expertise and knowledge that is necessary to solve your prospects’ problems.

While the three forms of content discussed in this book are not the only ways to create valuable content, they are some of the most common tools that professional services firms use. If you use these tools well, it will be easy for you to position your firm as your prospect’s resource.

Zig Ziglar once said “you can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Creating quality content that is designed to help your readers get what they want will make your firm influential. Becoming influential will enable you to earn more clients and increase your profits.

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Artisan Owl Media is an Austin-based content marketing agency. We specialize in helping professional service firms grow their client base by establishing and growing their influence. Artisan Owl Media provides a host of content marketing services that are designed to increase authority and influence. We also create materials that are designed to help the professional service firm understand how to market and sell their brand in a way that helps them obtain more long-term clientele. To learn more, come visit us!