How to put a fresh spin on a classic business book concept
You’re a consultant who wants to write a book to promote your expertise and to build a prospect stream. Good idea. No better way to impress prospects than to say, “Here’s my book.” To direct marketers, a book is a three-dimensional mailer capable of pushing past the gatekeepers.
But once your book is in prospect hands, how do you get it into prospect heads…. their awareness of added value? In short, your book needs a unique orientation or twist on the existing idea. Consider these options:
New target audience: Specialize in a new, underserved target audience. Look at your client base and identify what concepts work for one size or industry but not for others. By doing so, you can spotlight something the new target prospect will recognize. For example, small family businesses have many negative dynamics that complicate getting things done. John Jantsch wrote Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing. Great title, too.
New process: Which process works best for a specific business audience? Process books use each chapter to walk readers through steps. A process for consulting with a retail store is likely different from advising a small family-owned B2B operation. Identifying a new process is golden. Chip Heath and Dan Heath describe why some ideas survive and others die in Made To Stick, outlining six steps in a new process.
New assumptions about a topic: Legacy assumptions about business issues don’t generate much creative thinking. How long have we told ourselves that working 60 hours a week is the key to success? Tim Ferris said no and wrote The 4-Hour Workweek. Dale Stephens is challenging the notion of traditional college education with his book Hacking Your Education in which he asserts the BA is bunk.
New research: A big advance in marketing is neuromarketing research. We all like to think we buy cars and houses using logical analysis armed with spreadsheets to prove us right. Not so, say neuromarketers Patrick Renvoise and Christophe More of SalesBrain. Instead, our decisions are really more emotional and come from primitive instincts guarded by the animal portion of our brain.
Identifying that new idea requires help from an impartial colleague. The Business Book Ghostwriters can help you write the book you know you need.
Roger S. Peterson
West Coast Editor
THE BUSINESS BOOK GHOSTWRITERS
