Sometimes overlooked and often underutilized, eBooks are one of the most effective content marketing tactics. They position brands as thought leaders. They promote sharing and awareness. Oh, and they don’t have to be printed or be produced in a studio, so they’re one of the fastest and most cost-effective content type to produce.

1. HOW TO CREATE
COMPELLING EBOOKS
That People Will Actually Want to Read!
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2. eBooks.Sometimes overlooked and
often underutilized, eBooks
are one of the most effective
content marketing tactics. They position
brands as thought leaders. They promote
sharing and awareness. Oh, and they don’t
have to be printed or be produced in a
studio,sothey’reoneofthefastestandmost
cost-effective content type to produce.
1: STRATEGY
2: DESIGN
3: DISTRIBUTION
4: ANALYTICS

3. AtVisually,weknowathingortwoaboutcreatingkillercontentthat
people want to engage with. By creating successful eBooks around
Video, Content Analytics, and Micro-Content, we’ve uncovered
some best practices for eBooks themselves (how very meta of us!).
Creating a successful eBook can propel your brand to new
heights. eBooks are effective throughout the path to purchase,
simultaneously generating valuable leads and driving
greater consideration.
But creating a top-notch eBook isn’t as easy as just sitting down
and writing it. You need proper strategy, design, distribution and
analytics to make the most of your eBook.
In the pages that follow are Visually’s Best Practices for creating
killer eBooks.
We hope you enjoy!
The Visually Team
(P.S. We’re also here to help you create your own!)
START A PROJECT

4. STRATEGY DESIGN DISTRIBUTION ANALYTICS
Like all other forms of writing, it is imperative
that you plan your strategy before executing
it. Each of these four steps builds into each
other, and success at each stage is crucial for
an eBook to succeed.
Things to keep in mind:
Strategy.
WHAT YOU SHOULD THINK ABOUT BEFORE CREATING YOUR EBOOK

5. Keep it Simple, Stupid.
Yes, the age-old advice applies here too! Even if your
topic is complex, take a simple spin on it and make it as
accessible as possible.
Time it Well.
Pay attention to your industry and see what is happening.
Make sure your eBook hits on the most cutting edge and
suitable industry trends.
Create Something New.
It’s likely that your topic has been written about before, but
this doesn’t mean that your eBook can’t succeed. Do your
research, see what is out there, and make sure you can
either do it better or frame it differently.
Educate First, Sell Second.
The best eBooks can stand alone and aren’t aggressively
promotional. Instead of blindly promoting yourself, instead
inform readers about your industry and empower them to
explore what else is in it.

6. STRATEGY DESIGN DISTRIBUTION ANALYTICS
eBookshaveuniqueconstraintswhenitcomes
to design – they must be optimized for digital,
remain short and succinct, and contain both
copy and graphics compelling enough to keep
readers engaged.
Design.
CONTENT IS KING, DESIGN IS QUEEN.
Don’t treat them like leather-bound
tomes. Make it easy for readers to find
the parts they’re looking for by adding
bullet points, thumbnail images, and
live links throughout.
Make it
Skimmable

7. This advice for aspiring writers
applies to those writing content
for eBooks, too. If an editor’s fresh
eyes dictate a change in direction
throughout your favorite section, it is
probably for the best.
eBooks have evolved alongside
digital media and can include
videos, embedded animation,
and swipeable interactive features.
Most people will read your eBook
on a screen, so choose accessible file
formats and offer options for tablet
and e-readers.
Kill
Your
Darlings
Treat It
Like a Web
Product
Don’t
Underestimate
the Medium

8. Get in the war room and make sure you’ve thought
of every distribution tactic possible and have it
sketched out and ready to go. Here’s what ours looks
like for this eBook:
STRATEGY DISTRIBUTION ANALYTICS
IfaneBookispublishedonlineanditispoorly
distributed, will it make a business impact?
No. So be sure to follow these steps:
Distribution.
YOUR EBOOK IS NOTHING IF NO ONE READS IT.
DESIGN
Create a distribution checklist.1

9. LANDING PAGE
Where do you create a landing page for your eBook?
▪ 1. What should be on the landing page – anatomy of an eBook landing page
• Synopsis/blurb/ value prop of what you’ll learn from downloading it
• Book cover
• Lead cap form (what data should you collect)
▪ 2. How do you go about setting up a landing page?
• Lander app/unbounce, marketo/hubspot, docsend/usedox
▪ 3. Talk about visual content formats for producing associated micro-content to
promo eBook (gif, flat graphic, video, etc.)
MICRO-CONTENT
Different formats – gif, micro-video, static images
Should it have text? CTA? Imagery?
HOW/WHEN/WHERE TO PROMOTE AND DISTRIBUTE YOUR EBOOK
Paid advertising for driving traffic to eBook
▪ • Facebook
▪ • Linkedin
▪ • Twitter – Twitter Lead Cards
How to execute distribution/promotion
▪ Use something like Hootsuite or buffer to schedule posts in advance
Anatomy of a good distribution message (Facebook, twitter, email etc)
▪ • Include visual micro-content as often as possible to accompany your messaging
▪ • Include some type of value proposition – let people know what they will get out of
reading the eBook, how this will make them better at their job, etc.
▪ • Strong CTA
Sharing
▪ • Ask executive team to share on their LinkedIn pages, twitter
▪ • Ask sales to share with their prospects
▪ • Include in your company’s email signature – you can use WiseStamp to do this
automatically for your company and make sure the signature is still on brand.
TRACKING
Different tracking types
▪ • Marketing automation – cookie based (hubspot/marketo) for tracking behavior
with leads
▪ • Traffic tracking – GA, Mixpanel, bitly – helps establish the volume of traffic the
book is getting vs. downloads
▪ • Lead tracking/simple form capture -- marketing automation does this through
their own form functionality but you can also use docsend, doxiq/usedox, wufoo
—helps capture the contact info to be ported to marketing funnel

10. You’re not in the business of selling eBooks. You’re
out to sell your product or promote your brand. So
common sense dictates that you shouldn’t make
the audience pay to learn about it. Charge only an
email address (also like this eBook!) or newsletter
subscription in order to market to readers later.
Make it available for free
—like this eBook!
4
Treat your next eBook like a movie launch. Instead
of teasertrailers, create a teaserblog post. Instead of
the NBC interview, interview an industry insider.
Just make sure the hype is real!
Whet your Audience’s Palate.2
Time to cash in all the favors you’ve been
accumulating – ask your most popular and well-
informed industry friends to share your eBook and
help get the word out.
Leverage your Relationships.3

11. STRATEGY DISTRIBUTION ANALYTICS
Ah, the power of analytics. With them we
can find answers to questions like:
• Which prospects can you attribute to your eBook and
how did these people find it in the first place?
• Which opportunities, and how much were they worth?
• How many people interacted with your eBook in total,
even if you’ll mainly attribute their conversion elsewhere?
• How engaged were they?
Analytics.
TRACK EVERYTHING AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE RESULTS.
DESIGN

12. But without analytics, we have just another
piece of content that may or may be
providing an impact.
There are two main categories of metrics to
think about when considering your analytics
strategy:
Tools like Bizible can fill in gaps with tracking so you can see
information beyond first and last click attribution – and there
are plenty of users who will download your eBook in between.
Prospect’s Marketing Channel(s) +
Converted Lead Attribution
Searched for you on Google Landed on your homepage

13. Set up tracking tools to understand how readers are interacting
with the content:
• What would people be highlighting if they had a printed copy?
• Which sections are the most compelling?
• Who is sharing what via social media?
Total User Engagement with
The Content
Navigated to your eBook
Signedupforthenewsletter
Downloaded the ebook
FoundapostaboutyoureBook
Aweeklatercametoyourblog
Contacted your sales team only after more interaction with your website
Spent 2 months feasting upon
your beautiful work

14. Like this eBook? Please share it with your
friends and colleagues.
Want more great content?
Visit our Resource Hub to download
eBooks, whitepapers and more.
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Visually is your on-demand creative services team. We
engage the world’s top creative talent to tell the world’s most
important stories. From infographics to videos and ebooks,
we’ve got you covered.
Start your next content marketing project with us today.
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