At Maven, we’ve had the privilege of working on some great projects, and one of the most recent ones we’re excited about is the publication of the new e-book by Michal Bohm, owner of San Diego replacement window and door company BM Windows.
What makes this e-book special is that it’s the second one for the company, making it a powerful addition to an already-outstanding set of resources available for BM Windows customers. BM Windows prides itself on its dedication to customer service, and the fact that they have gone this extra mile to provide customers with a free, in-depth resource about their process and products shows that they’re the real deal.
Free Downloadable E-books Enhance the Customer Experience
In a previous article, I wrote about the benefits of creating one or more free, short downloadable e-books for your business. While full-length books are great for fostering deeper connections with customers, the time and effort involved in a large book project may be more than many business owners have. A small, visually striking e-book that can be downloaded right from your business’s website is another way to draw customers in without such a big time commitment on your part or theirs.
One of the advantages of creating shorter publications for your customers is that you have a lot of flexibility in how you choose to cover the topics you want to cover.
For example, BM Windows’s first e-book, Investing in Your Home: Replacement Windows and Doors, provides information about the value of installing new windows and doors in your home. This guide is perfect for customers who may not be sure whether this particular home improvement project will bring them a good return on their investment.
The new e-book, A Homeowner’s Guide to Buying Replacement Windows, is all about providing helpful information for homeowners to consider when choosing a replacement window company. This is the e-book for the customers that have already decided to go ahead with replacing windows in their homes, but need help figuring out how to choose the right windows and the right company to install them.
By splitting these topics into two separate publications, BM Windows was able to reach two entirely different groups of customers, some of whom may read both guides, but many of whom likely only need one of the two, especially to start out. Customers appreciate having information that is specifically catered to their needs, and these short e-books are each exactly that.
Endless Options
Once you create one free downloadable e-book and see the response from customers, you’ll probably want to keep going and make more. That’s a good thing! There are (nearly) infinite possibilities as to what you can do with e-books. You can take a larger topic and break it into small parts to create a series, or you can do what BM Windows has done, and cover multiple smaller, specific topics, each with a target customer in mind.
This is incredible from a customer’s perspective. When they see that your company has compiled an entire library of resources just for them, they will be both impressed and grateful. Having a collection of free resources available allows customers to browse and gather information relevant to them, and on their own timetables.
Publishing a collection of materials on your website won’t replace a phone call or a face-to-face interaction with a customer, but it likely will make those in-person conversations more productive. Imagine how much more knowledge customers will have about your company, your industry, and your products and services before going into that first call!
Visual Appeal and Professionalism are Keys For Success
A bunch of PDFs of plain text won’t grab many people’s eyes, and if customers aren’t reading or downloading the information, it’s not helping your business. For free downloadable e-books to capture the attention of potential customers, they need to be visually striking.
The problem is—not all business owners have design experience (particularly with e-books), and those who have the experience may not have time to devote to creating them. That is why we recommend working with a publishing company like Maven that can create professional e-books for you, saving you time, and making sure you end up with something that will truly add value to the customer experience.
Another benefit of working with a publishing company is that they can ensure that any e-books they create for you will have a uniform look, and that each has its own International Standard Book Number (ISBN). These things add to the professionalism of the materials, and they show customers that you’ve put time and care into making sure they have all the information they need about your company, your process, and your products.
Whether you’d like to create one free downloadable e-book for your business’s website, or whether you’re planning to build a collection of resources like Michal from BM Windows has, make sure you work with someone who has the expertise to create materials that help your customers tremendously, and that help your company stand out. If you have questions about how free downloadable e-books could work for your business, contact Maven today! We’d love to help you get started.
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