How to Effectively Market Your EBook

Direct Email Marketing

It still rings true that the most effective way to market an information product is through direct email marketing.

The key to creating an effective email campaign is to target your audience. There’s no point in sending your eBook to unrelated industries as the chances are, it won’t be read. Identify other websites in your niche or industry and take the time to craft an engaging email, promoting your eBook.

If your website is well-established, the chances are, your recipients will have already heard of you and won’t mind being included in your mailshot. If however, you haven’t had any contact with these businesses before, it’s worthwhile sending a more subtle email, asking if they’d be interested in receiving your eBook. Unsolicited emails are normally only welcomed by the recipient if the sender acknowledges that the email is unsolicited but may be of interest.

No-one wants their email campaign to end up in everyone’s spam folder so here’s some tips on how to ensure your email goes straight to your recipient’s inbox:

Use an intriguing subject – if possible, try to avoid using the words ‘free’, ‘sale’, ‘offer’ or anything that may be mistaken as spam.

Try to personalise your email. If you are sending your campaign using a mail client service like mail chimp, choose to automatically upload the recipient’s name to the email, e.g. Dear John.

If you’re sending your campaign from your own email hosting, make sure you use the BCC feature. BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy and allows you to send the same email to multiple recipients without allowing them to see the addresses of the other recipients. Don’t use the CC feature, which stands for Carbon Copy and allows recipients to see everyone’s email address.

Find Sponsorship

Another effective way of marketing your eBook is by finding sponsors. Having other businesses sponsor your product can be a win win for all parties. Your eBook will be seen as more credible, You’ll reap the benefits of your sponsor’s mailing list and marketing resources and all the while, your sponsors will benefit from promotion on the back of your campaign. Make sure you outline exactly what’s involved with the sponsorship – what will you offer them and what do you expect in return? Try to make the exchange as attractive and mutually beneficial as possible.

Tap into Social Media

Create a buzz around your eBook and set a launch date. Begin a countdown on your social media channels several weeks before your eBook is due for release and encourage others to share and retweet your posts. Ask people to take a note in their diary of the release day and once it’s launched, your website will benefit from a surge of visitors downloading your book. You may want to take advantage of the spike in your visitors by signposting them to the sales pages on your website, encouraging them to find out more about the products and services that your business offers.

Guest Posting and Newsletters

Posting small, ‘teaser’ sections of your eBook on other websites can also be a great way to promote your book. By providing an insight into your eBook’s content, readers will be curious to read more and will be more likely to download or buy your eBook on its launch day. Approach similar websites in your industry and ask if you can post a segment of your eBook on their blog. Your eBook will reach more of an audience and the host website will gain some free content. It’s also worthwhile approaching other companies and asking if they’d be interested in mentioning your eBook in their next newsletter.

Send a Press Release

If you’re offering your eBook for free, why not take advantage of other distribution platforms such as press release websites. There’s a whole heap of free and paid websites out there that will publish your press release and send it to relevant channels. This can be a great way of getting your product out there quickly. Similarly, if you have contacts in the media, you can send your press release directly to journalists to form the body of an article promoting your book for publication in newspapers and magazines.

There are a number of other creative ways to market an eBook online. What is your experience of eBook marketing?