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Monday, July 16, 2012

What If Your Business Was a Book?

What If Your Business Was a Book?
July 15, 2012
http://www.SmallBusinessNewz.com
What If Your Business Was a Book?
By: John Jantsch

Let me first state that I think anyone who has figured anything out about a market, industry or innovation has proper reason to write a book. If you've perfected a process of methodology, your process, methodology and your entire world will benefit from the mere act of documenting it in a way that makes it teachable and transferable.

But, that's not what this post is about. (sort of)

For some time now I've been trying to get marketers to approach their educational content plan as a total body of work rather than a daily or weekly event.

If you would actually do that you might have a central theme for your content, specific structure, chapters based on important keywords - perhaps even stories, characters and plots.

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If you were to move away from your business even further you might even see how your entire business could be properly and effectively cast as a book.

If that were so your business would have a value filled title, hook, narrative, backstory and structure.

I've written three books now and I can tell you that the process involved in proposing, outlining and writing a book has powerful applications for building and marketing a business.

A publisher considering your book would need to know who the book was for, why this book was different, what the reader would get from the book and ultimately the topics contained within the chapters.

An author writing a book would start with this framework and then evolve, adapt and learn as the book unfolds in ideas, drafts and edits. Ultimately the book would have to produce value for the reader. It would not have to be a prize winning piece of literature, but it would have to be organized, properly researched and worth reading.

The parallels between what it takes to write a book and what it takes to communicate the essence of a business to an ideal client market are stunning.

So, I guess it's time to start your book.

Let me repeat that I think anyone who has figured anything out about a market, industry or innovation has proper reason to write a book. If you've perfected a process of methodology your process, methodology and your entire world will benefit from the mere act of documenting it in a way that makes it teachable and transferable.

But, even if you don't have any plans to actually write a book your business will benefit from a book like mindset.

Look at your business and pretend that you are writing a book proposal. Your proposal should reflect the core elements of your business, process or methodology that are central to what makes you unique and central to what your ideal client is searching for.

Include:
  • Title - how can you position this book to stand out?
  • Author - what expertise, knowledge or experience do you have that makes you qualified to tell this story?
  • Audience - who specifically must read this book and can they afford to pay for your services?
  • The hook - what tantalizing knowledge will the reader get from this book?
  • Competition - what other books are out there right now that might compete for this reader?
  • Chapters - what are the key concepts and structural elements that make this a body of work?
Do you see how this framework might also apply to more than a book? Do you see how it could also apply to creating a marketing strategy, writing a sales letter or putting together a new service?

In the end, we're all publishers of information of one sort or another. Why not truly embrace this thinking by approaching your content creation, marketing and entire business as though it were a book? And maybe, just maybe, you'll get a book out of it as well.