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Standing out from the competition is getting tougher and tougher. Businesses and organizations hoping to reach potential clients and customers need to provide useful content in a format that’s both easy to distribute and convenient to consume. While most types of digital marketing (like blogs or social media posts) meet these requirements, e-books have emerged as a more substantial and enduring form of content—and they come with additional advantages that aren’t seen with other marketing materials.
Use e-books to:
Establish yourself as a thought leader: Even the shortest e-books are at least several pages long, giving you plenty of space to do a deep dive into a particular topic. The lengthier format allows you to present ideas thoroughly and comprehensively, demonstrating your knowledge and expertise without word count limitations. Including content such as original research, personal perspectives or actionable advice will further position you as a credible source of information. For example, two AOE team members recently became certified by the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute. Their expertise, as well as findings from AI projects they led, formed the basis of our e-book “The AI Revolution has Arrived… Are You Ready?”
Reach a broader audience: Once your e-book has been created, there is little to no cost involved in distributing it to your target audiences. E-books don’t require printing, physical storage or shipping—once the file has been uploaded to the internet, limitless copies can be circulated indefinitely, making them an environmentally friendly option (something that appeals to Gen Z—see our “Understanding Zoomers” e-book for more). E-books are also easy to share: simply distribute the link wherever potential readers may be. That could be in the form of a social media post, a QR code on a tradeshow booth display, a link on your website or a downloadable file in your e-newsletter.
Get the most out of your content: While social media posts are easy to share, they get buried relatively quickly in your audiences’ newsfeeds. They’re also difficult to repurpose without becoming repetitive. Blogs have the potential to be evergreen, but most of them lack depth and reusability; you may get a couple of social media posts out of a blog, but not much more. In comparison, e-books generally have a much longer lifespan due to the value and extent of their content. They can be repurposed, repackaged and reused in multiple ways: turned into a webinar (with the e-book itself sent out as a “reward” for attendees—such as what AOE did with our e-book “How to be Successful in Sustainability Communications”), divided into multiple pieces for a blog series, or used as sales or marketing collateral, to name a few.
Increase lead generation: While you may opt to distribute the e-book freely using the methods above, you can also offer them as a free download in exchange for contact information. Due to the extent and quality of their content—like the detailed walkthroughs in our e-book “Take Your Video Marketing to the Next Level”—e-books are perceived as having much higher value than other digital content. Because of this, many readers are willing to provide their email address to receive access to your e-book. (Note: If you do collect readers’ email addresses for marketing purposes, such as adding them to your e-newsletter distribution list, be upfront and transparent with your intent and follow all policies and laws regarding email marketing.)
While they may take time and effort to create, it’s impossible to deny the significant advantages of using e-books in your digital marketing efforts. Take your content creation to the next level with an e-book—AOE is ready to help you get started today!