Local Business Online Marketing Thursday Thought – Are You an Expert?

After chatting with a few people today about various local business online marketing methods, I thought, “Well why not share these golden snippets of info…” There is my ego taking over again!

So the plan is to share a quick thought or idea, maybe inspire your creative juices to try something new.

So let’s get cracking with today’s thought…

I bumped into an old online friend earlier on Skype who was telling me how he had finally followed his dream (and talent I may add) and had gone back to school to study journalism and poetry. We were chatting about his work and he was quite surprised when I said, “Just publish it”.

Now, you may think to yourself that I have finally lost the plot and what has publishing poetry got to do with marketing online?

It’s really quite simple. Publishing a book, whether it’s poetry, your restaurants best low calorie recipes, a craft shops 101 things to do with crepe paper or an accountants tax isn’t terrible… All have one thing in common.

A book establishes and re-enforces your status as an expert – both online and offline!

You own and run your small business, you already have so much knowledge about your specific industry sector and other people want to know it too. Think of the bragging rights – you really have wrote the book on it!

There are a few ways you can publish, here are 3 relatively low cost methods.

• Publish electronically straight to Kindle and sell on Amazon for up to 70% royalties.

This is a really quick and cheap way to publish. Formatting your e-book for Kindle takes a bit of work, and if you want to do it yourself I highly recommend Kindle Publishing Made Easy by Val Waldek.

Her guide takes you through the whole process step-by-step with screen shots. Yes, that is an affiliate link, I am sure you don’t begrudge me a few dollars in commission! Oh, and if like me you’re from the UK, don’t be put of by dollars, it’s converted to proper money on the payment page.

• Publish as a regular e-book in PDF format and either sell it from your website or use it as a gift to encourage people to sign up to your mailing list or like your Facebook page etc. This method doesn’t carry as much clout as being published on Amazon, but you do keep 100% control of your book and you can use colour graphics.

• If you prefer a real book, try one of the online publishing sites such as Lulu. They have various plans, print on demand and distribution methods.

Being an expert in your field is fantastic marketing. You become THE person to consult, the one to go to for more information. You can build up a fan base who will not only like your book but buy more of your products or use your services. It can open the doors to some great media opportunities too.

Are you ready to become an instant expert?

Find out more about how I can help you with content creation and publishing – here.