Your book is one of the most powerful tools to land more business and drive ROI. Whether you're a:

• Consultant
• Speaker
• Service Provider
• Entrepreneur

Becoming a published author is a compelling way to promote your business. Books build authority. Books create credibility. Books sell. But there's a problem: Books are great at converting leads, not generating them. As an author-entrepreneur, you need both. A strategy that will simultaneously:

• Keep you top-of-mind

• Promote your business

• Engage savvy prospects

• Drive traffic to your website

• Generate qualified leads

• Get more client referrals
• Increase client retention

• Upsell your products and services

• Offer ongoing value to your audience

If you have any preconceived ideas about content marketing, then it’s time to ditch these 8 myths about content marketing that are holding you back. Here's how content marketing helps author-entrepreneurs promote their business to stay relevant in a competitive market.

1. Keeps You Top-of-Mind and Boosts Your Brand-Awareness

One of marketing's age-old rules is to show up in front of your customers consistently so you stay top of mind. So when your audience starts looking for solutions, they think of you. We call that owning their mind space. Ranking in Google is important, but being ranked number one in someone's mind is more powerful. That way, every time they're thinking about a solution to a problem they have, they think about you. Creating content is like creating surround sound — everywhere customers look, you're there helping them:

• Discover new problems
• Solve their issues
• Teach them something new
• Entertain their curiosities

The point is, when you're the one continually providing valuable content and solutions, your customers are more likely to choose you over your competitor.

2. Engage Savvy Prospects

When you are trying to stay top-of-mind and engage savvy consumers, there are two variables to consider:

1. Your level of brand awareness
2. Your market sophistication

Over time, as the problem that you solve becomes well known with many solutions, customers become more sophisticated.To meet their demands, a content strategy like Flow's, can provide second-order thinking and show real expertise. By teaching your prospects the intricacies, details, and complexities of their problems and solutions, you build the authority that attracts shrewd buyers.

3. Promote Your Business in a Non-Salesy Way

If you're thinking, "How do I promote my business without being salesy or coming off too self-promotional?" Our strategy is to help you talk less about your brand and more about your customers. Because when you position your customer needs as your content’s priority, then you remove the salesy self-promotional language that turns consumers off. In other words, our StoryFlow process helps you create content that empathetically puts your readers at the heart of your brand’s purpose.Related: Content Strategy Mistakes That Are Wasting Your Marketing Dollars

4. Prospects Reach Out To You Directly

Driving traffic to your website is one of the main reasons to adopt a content marketing strategy. No doubt, SEO optimization is important for more exposure and authority. But our client research shows that content drives more traffic straight to you, rather than your website. People get tired of jumping through digital hoops and downloading lead gen content. Many would rather skip the opt-ins, bypass your website, and contact you directly. Content on social media lets your audience do precisely that and DM you instead.

5. Generate Qualified Leads

People get too many unqualified leads because their content is everything to everybody. Broad content isn't focused enough to attract the right consumer and avoid the wrong ones. When you plan around a focused customer persona, then you attract specific buyers. Flow's content strategy helps you nail the following this so you can tailor content to your ideal reader, ensuring it isn’t too broad and captures the right leads:

• Your customer personas
• Your brand's muse

Related: 4 Proven Organic Growth Strategies That Really Work

6. Increase Client Retention

Content is a powerful way to create loyal customers and improve satisfaction. You boost client retention when your content nurtures and fosters deep relationships post-purchase. As your loyal customers create brand buzz, more clients will see you as an expert in your niche, which gives them a sense of pride and reassurance that working with you was the right decision. Thus, more of your clients are happy to continue working with you or buying your products.

7. Get More Upsells and Client Referrals

Most companies rely on upsells and referrals to grow and generate new business. Content creates opportunities to highlight other services and products, giving your customers the chance to say, "Oh, you do these things too?" Even if they don't need or buy immediately, content opens a door for more upsells and keeps your brand top-of-mind. Plus, content is super sharable. Social media is a great platform to build a reliable referral system. When your content is useful and valuable, people like your posts. Their activity shows up in their friend's feed, which expands your reach. Better yet, they say hey, "I know someone that needs to read this article." Boom. They share it with their colleagues, friends, and family who would benefit from your expertise. Next thing you know, you have a new qualified lead waiting in your inbox. The bottom line is that personal referrals, likes, and shares are powerful. And content strategy can help you create more. Related: Our Favorite 5 Companies With a Strong Social Game

Content Marketing Works For Author-Entrepreneurs

As an author-entrepreneur, it's vital that your content marketing strategy is a natural continuation of your book. That way, you can:

• Expand on your expertise
• Create more wisdom for your readers
• Keep you top-of-mind
• Promote your business
• Convert traffic to leads and leads to sales.

Content is the gift that keeps on giving. When anybody talks about attracting people to your business, content is how you do it. A successful content strategy means: You put in minimal amounts of effort creating content but gain maximum levels of exposure. This will generate a ton of new leads and referrals, improve client retention, and creates content that delights your readers and meets your business needs. Over and over again. Questions about how content marketing can help promote your business? Schedule a consultation with us.

No one with talent should ever feel anonymous in their own industry.

Flow helps you differentiate yourself and grow your business.Click to Schedule a Consult