Are You Generating Leads With eBooks & Special Reports? - Vision Financial Marketing

Are You Generating Leads With eBooks & Special Reports?

Posted June 22, 2018 by Gabriel Lewit, Chief Executive Officer

Are you using eBooks & Special Reports in your practice?

If so, are you getting the results that you should be getting, namely, new leads to contact and follow-up with?

There are a lot of different ways that you can market and advertise as a financial professional. Special Reports and eBooks are a terrific option for helping you promote your brand and your company.

I mean it, they are one of my personal favorites! And I’ll tell you why in just a moment…

But how can you use these two types of marketing pieces to their fullest? What is the best way to utilize them? Do you post them on your website? Do you mail them to clients? It can be difficult to know what approach is best.

Perhaps more importantly, where do you get Special Reports and eBooks from in the first place?

Today’s Success Secret is all about getting the most value out of these two great marketing tools. Let’s dive in!

What’s the Difference Between a Special Report and an eBook?

A Special Report and an eBook have their differences, but also share some similarities. Not quite “Tomato” vs. “Tom-ah-to,” which are effectively the same thing just pronounced differently – but they do share some key features.

While some advisors use the terminology interchangeably, I believe its important to distinguish between them – especially when it comes to your marketing.

Instead, Special Reports and eBooks are more like a handheld screwdriver and a power screwdriver. Both are used for projects around the house, but the power screwdriver, in many cases, is far more effective.

First, let’s take a look at the features of Special Reports:

  • Focuses on a single topic that your clients and prospects are interested in
  • Often short – 3-4 pages in length
  • Generally higher-level and fewer details, but some can be in-depth on specific topics
  • Easier and quicker to develop
  • Cheaper to print out and provide to clients
  • Generally used for brand awareness and lead-generation

And now let’s compare those to the features of eBooks:

  • Focuses on a single topic that your clients and prospects are interested in
  • Often much more detailed – 10-20 pages in length
  • Usually much more detailed and in-depth on the chosen topic
  • Longer to research and develop and much more involved to produce
  • More expensive to print and provide to clients
  • Generally used for brand awareness and lead-generation

While both are great tools, the eBook is the better option, if you can take the time or effort to create one. Most importantly, it feels more valuable to clients and prospects due to the extra perceived value of it being longer, more detailed, researched and in-depth

Here’s an example of an eBook below. Notice that it has a number of key features, such as a interesting cover page graphic, a professional design and it doesn’t feel overly jammed with content.

Generating Leads With Special Reports and eBooks

The primary driver of using Special Reports and eBooks in your practice is to generate leads and interest in your company. When used the right way, they can really work great!

Part of why I like Special Reports and eBooks so much is that they help showcase you as a topic expert. By providing great content to your customers, your customers start to view you as a valuable educational resource and someone they can trust to turn to for advice.

So, how do you do it? How do you use these items to generate leads? There are a few key methods that stand apart and are most effective:

    1. Post As a Free Resource On Your Website
      I would encourage you to have a website section that has a “Free Resources” library. You can post your eBook and Reports in this library and keep adding to it regularly. This helps show visitors to your site that you’re continually adding new and fresh content.

 

    1. Post As an Exit Popup Offer On Your Website
      An exit popup can be a great way to capture website visitor information. However, to get them to give you their contact information, you need to offer some sort of valuable consideration in return. An eBook is an excellent offer that many of your site’s visitors will want to download.

 

    1. Offer In Your Email Drip Campaigns
      Even though you already have the emails of everyone on your email list, the power of eBooks lie also in the content itself. The information, when read, can be motivating to someone to take action. Because of this, it’s a great offer to weave in regularly in your email campaigns.

 

    1. Mail To Your Clients/Prospects
      If you’ve got a list of key prospects or clients that you want to keep touch with, sending a Special Report or and eBook is a great personal touch. Even better than email is a physically printed copy. Send it along with a personal note and you’ll get a terrific reaction from your recipient.

 

    1. Place In Your Office Reception Area
      If you’ve got a more robust eBook (not so much a Special Report), you can have these professionally printed and place in your reception area or lobby. In our office, we have a stand that holds 8 different types of collateral, including an eBook, company brochure, PR pieces and more.

 

    1. Use in Your Company Information Kits
      Showcase your expertise as an advisor by including one or two of your best eBooks and Special Reports in your information kit. Again, clients will see that you are an expert and a trusted source of information and guidance. If printed professionally, your brand will also look great.

 

    1. Handout at Client Events
      If you’re hosting a specific event, for example, on rising healthcare costs, you could create (or purchase) a short Special Report on rising healthcare costs. Then, include this as a handout at your event. This will give guests a non-salesy take-home piece that can help motivate appointments.

 

Putting Special Reports and eBooks To Work For You

As a financial advisor or insurance professional, creating great content is one of the best ways to stay in front of prospects and clients. Special Reports and eBooks are one of your go-to tools in your content marketing strategy.

Creating these on your own can be challenging and time consuming. Customizing pre-created content is often a better and quicker approach.

If you’re looking for eBooks or Reports that you can customize, Vision Financial Marketing can help. We have a number of available options for you to use for your own practice. Additionally, if you’re looking for a CRM system that can help you manage and track your clients and keep your marketing campaigns organized, check our platform out. It’s 100% free to use and packed with great features.

As always, if you have any questions, please email me personally at glewit@vfmteam.com.

To Your Marketing Success,


Gabriel Lewit

About the Author

Gabriel Lewit

Chief Executive Officer

With over 14 years of experience, Gabriel provides a powerful, specialized approach for sales development, marketing, practice management, technology and organization. While he focuses on helping advisors develop all elements of a successful business, his core passion lies in developing world-class marketing, branding and technology systems that can help advisors of all levels.