Brian O'Leary, principal of Magellan Media Consulting, presents eight methods book publishers can use to leverage content marketing for successful ROI, along with the tools to implement a successful content marketing strategy at your publishing house. In this free one-hour webinar, he describes the models most beneficial to publishers, ways to attract and retain an audience, and how to monetize the process.

2. Today’s talk
• How direct marketing is already shaping book
publishing
• How conversion architectures work for direct-to-
consumer (DTC) marketing
• Why publishers are well-positioned for DTC
• What you can try now to prepare for DTC sales
• How publishers can be good content partners for
other companies

3. DTC is already shaping
book publishing

4. Source: Mequoda Group
How conversion
architectures work

5. Why publishers are well
positioned for DTC
• Established as content curators
• Recognize and know how to tell great stories
• In the business of linking content to markets

6. Publishers are
accomplished curators
• Curation provides value to readers
• DTC creates opportunities to interact more
frequently with those readers
• The combination showcases content depth
• Content depth can also earn attention from target
influentials, multiplying effectiveness

7. Effective storytellers …
• Recognize and value high-quality content
• Understand a target audience
• Can focus on niches
• Develop and nurture a unique style
• Offer a clear point of view

8. Linking content to markets
• Historically skilled at identifying target audiences
• Comfortable using free (ARCs, galley, blads) content
to promote paid sales
• “Whoever decided to put chairs in bookstores was a
content marketing genius”
• The success of “Search Inside The Book” and its
equivalents shows how this has migrated online
• The value of tools like journey maps

9. –Joe Pulizzi, Founder
Content Marketing Institute
“If we only sell a book, we’ve failed.”
But …

10. So what else is there?
Recruit audiences
interested in a topic,
not just a format
Offer multiple
pathways to discovery
and purchase
Provide more than one
opportunity to
monetize an audience

11. What does the DTC
opportunity represent?
• A focus on content strategy, not just a new or
different channel strategy
• Imprints become platforms; focus is critical
• Leverage both free (samples, gifts) and paid
content

12. What to try now
1. Understand how search, social and referral marketing works
2. Inventory your content
3. Capitalize on the appeal of longer-form content
4. Measure what you do
5. Blog about the topics that matter to your targets
6. Think carefully about your calls to action
7. Nurture your infrastructure
8. Host a live event

13. Search, social and referral
marketing
• Learn how these things work
• Put a senior person in charge
(more than an IT assignment)
• Regularly report and discuss
best practices
• Evaluate how ready you are to
implement best practices

14. Inventory your content
• Pick a niche to focus on
• Review both published and
marketing content
• What could be packaged
differently to better serve your
target audiences?
• What content needs an update
to address a consumer
audience?
• Can you truly offer a critical
mass of differentiated content?

15. Longer-form content
• People do read longer-form
content online
• Search results favor relevant
longer-form content
• “What can we offer to attract &
retain audiences?” (e.g.,
excerpts)
• Test calls to action
• Maintain or improve meta-tags
and rich snippets

16. Measure what you do
• Followers and subscribers
• Engagement, via services like
bit.ly
• Brand recognition
• Return visitors
• Untapped markets, especially
outside your home territory

17. Develop a voice
• Blog about the topics that
matter to your audience
• Cultivate a voice
• Connect what you offer to the
people who would value it
• Test multiple forms of posts to
see what resonates

18. Calls to action
• “If we only sell a book, then we’ve
failed.”
• Obtain e-mail addresses
• Cultivate new subscribers in a
planned way
• Learn first about interests and
behaviors
• Then, contact audience members
with appropriate offers
• Mine data for insight, ahead of
revenue

19. Nurture your infrastructure
• Make your content shareable
(e.g., “Click to Tweet!”)
• Optimize sharing buttons to
reflect the platforms your
intended audiences use
• Make sure your site loads
quickly
• Make sure your site performs
well on mobile platforms

20. Host a live event
• Not as easy or straightforward,
but in-person can inform your
strategy in unexpected ways
• Your authors are draws. Look
for opportunities to make them
stars.
• Focus on an audience and its
needs, not a format or just
your list
• Example: Harvard Common
Press

21. Let’s take a break for questions before talking
about becoming content partners.

22. Good content partners
• Industries and niches that align with your list
• Distinctive, high-quality content
• Need not focus on the industry itself
• Opportunity for publishers to bring their own DTC
experiences to help a content partner

23. Top 10 content-marketing
challenges
Producing engaging content
Producing content consistently
Producing a variety of content
Budget (lack of)
Measuring content effectiveness
Finding trained professionals
Gaps in knowledge and skills
Management buy-in
Integration
Technology issues
0% 15% 30% 45% 60%
45%
53%
58%
16%
22%
27%
30%
31%
40%
40%

24. Most frequently used
content-marketing tactics
Social media content
Blogs
eNewsletters
Articles on website
Case studies
Videos
In-person events
Illustrations/photos
Online presentations
White papers
Infographics
Webinars/webcasts
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
59%
60%
64%
65%
68%
73%
74%
76%
79%
83%
87%
93%

25. The 12 most effective
content-marketing tactics
eBooks
Webinars
In-person events
Videos
Blogs
eNewsletters
Research reports
Case studies
White papers
Microsites
Online presentations
Infographics
0% 17.5% 35% 52.5% 70%
65%
53%
55%
55%
57%
57%
58%
60%
60%
61%
62%
65%

26. Looking back …
• Direct marketing is already shaping book publishing
• Conversion architectures guide direct-to-consumer
(DTC) marketing
• Publishers are well-positioned for DTC
• Eight things to try now to prepare for DTC sales
• Publishers can be good content partners for other
companies