Content marketing productivity is the key to successful personal brand building; here are 3 tips for writing as efficiently as possible.

Your ability to consistently and efficiently prepare compelling content plays a crucial role in your ability to write and market your book and build your business.

In my recent 3 Tips for Increasing Your Content Productivity guest post I prepared for the Content Marketing Institute, I  summarized several categories of writing resources you can explore to increase your ability to use content as a personal brand building tool.

Whether you’re writing content for marketing and promoting your book or building your business, these tips can help you increase your efficiency. Feel free to ask questions, comment, or share your favorite content marketing efficiency tips below, or on the original blog post.

If you frequently hire freelance copywriters, graphic designers, or web marketing consultants, creative briefs can help you get the full value you’re paying for.

Creative briefs, like the one shown at left, are simple one-page forms that save time and eliminate misunderstandings by defining project goals and mutual expectations when working with freelance copywriters, designers, and online consultants.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to my recent Personal Branding Blog article about creative briefs.  The article also contains a link for downloading a sample creative brief.

Other recent guest posts

In case you missed them, here are two other recent guest posts on Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog:

• Storytelling Tips for Personal Brand Building. Learn to tell your story with the help of Raf Stevens’ No Story, No Fans: Build Your Business Through Stories that Resonate.

• 7 Tips for Successfully Raising Capital on Shark Tank. For many authors, publishers, and small business owners, ABC’s Shark Tank is the television highlight of the week. Each week, several entrepreneurs make their pitch to several hardened venture capitalists. This article highlights 7 ways to improve your pitch.

Whether you’re new to hiring freelance copywriters, designers, and web marketing consultants, or you frequently work with freelancers–or you’re looking for funds to finance your book and your growing business–you’ll find these tips will provide a new, helpful perspective. Comment, or ask questions, below.

Discover how to create the endless content you need for content marketing and personal brand building success.

Attend my Content Catalyst Revealed 90-minute webinar, Thursday, May 17, at 7:00 PM ET.

In a small-group format, I’m going to describe a simple, proven 6 step system to jumpstart your writing creativity

It’s a simple, easy-to-use process you can use it over and over again for articles, blog posts, ebooks, podcasts, teleseminars, and videos.

When you sign-up, I’ll also send you a copy of my Content Catalyst, a $99 value.

The Content Catalyst contains over 400 inspiring ideas and examples you can immediately put to work building your platform and attracting online traffic.

Open the Content Catalyst to any page, and find fresh ideas you can apply to your topic!

Internet marketing coach Ryan Lee calls the Content Catalyst:

The best content book I’ve ever purchased!

Learn more and sign-up for this special 90-minute webinar and online coaching session!

Mind mapping is a content strategy tool that helps content marketers analyze competition, plan projects, manage time, and track their progress.

Whether you’re writing a book or creating a content marketing plan for your business, mind mapping belongs in your marketing arsenal.  Here’s how you can benefit:

1. Analyzing

The power of mind maps to simplify complex projects is illustrated by the example, at left, of the second edition of Kristina Halvorson’s Content Strategy for the Web. (Note: download a PDF copy.)

At a glance, you can see how the 12 chapters relate to the 4 sections of the book. Mind maps help you “reverse engineer” books, so you can understand competing books.

Before you start to write a book, take the time to create similar mind maps of the competing books in your field.

You’ll be rewarded with a new perspective on the pros and cons of your competition, helping you add an extra degree of richness and uniqueness to your book.

2. Planning

Content marketing success begins with maps displaying the contents of books, book proposals, blog posts, editorial calendars, and book marketing plans.

Feel free to download a PDF of the Book Proposal Planner map, showing the details associated with each topic. ((The illustration at left shows only the collapsed, or “big picture,” view.) You can use it as the basis for your own book proposal.

3 and 4,  Scheduling & tracking

As shown at left, the the latest version of Mindjet’s MindManager for Windows permits you to add Start Dates and Due Dates to your mind maps.

You can also track the status of individual chapters and assign specific tasks, like chapters or blog posts, to co-authors and editors.

These new project management features make mind mapping an ideal tool an even more powerful tool for scheduling and tracking your content marketing success. Share your mind mapping experiences below, as comments.

Mind mapping & content marketing

For over 10 years, I’ve been helping clients profit from the power of mind mapping as a writing, marketing, and content marketing tool.

Mind maps provide a new way of viewing “the big picture” of your book or content marketing program, as well as explore the details associated with each topic. Most important, mind maps help you break complex projects into simple, easily-accomplished tasks. Learn more in my popular Mind Mapping for Marketers & Writers 4-page, free report.

The 7 keys to a successful book launch for marketing your book while writing it, paving the way for your book’s long-term writing success.

It’s never too early to begin preparing to market and promote your book. A successful book launch creates a powerful momentum that will position your book, establish your brand, and lead to years of success.

Whether you’re working with a large publisher, or writing and publishing a book on your own, i.e., self-publishing, the 7 keys described below will give your book a lasting competitive edge.

And, best of all, you can fit the tasks into your busy planning and writing schedule, and work on the tasks, a little each week.

1. Deadline. Time management plays a crucial role in publishing success. Deadlines are crucial; they convert intention into action! Don’t just schedule a desired publication date for your book. Keep your writing on schedule by creating deadlines for completing each chapter of your book. As always, short, frequent writing sessions are most conducive to keeping your book on schedule. It’s important to establish not only deadline for your book’s publication
2. Media kit. As soon as you have finalized your book’s title and table of contents, add a press release announcing the publication of your book to your online media kit. An early press release will motivate you by making the impending publication of your book “official,” motivating you to keep on schedule. Preparing an early press release will also help you fine-tune your ability to concisely describe your book and help you test the search engine appeal of your title.
3. Sample content. Although you’re probably going to be blogging about your book as you’re writing it, releasing sample chapters as they are available from your blog. But, as soon as possible, you should prepare a PDF which will contain not only a sample chapter, but also a table of contents and an overview of why you’re writing your book and how readers will benefit. This sample download should be frequently updated as cover artwork and pre-publication testimonials become available.
4. Landing page. Get a head start preparing a landing page for your book, even if the page doesn’t immediately go live. Getting a head start preparing your book’s landing page will result in a better page. You’re going to need a landing page for downloading sample content as well as offering a pre-publication incentive for readers to order your book before its available. (You’ll be replacing this pre-publication promotion, of course, as your book’s launch approaches.) You also need a landing page to convince potential marketing partners to support your book launch.
5. Cover quotes. Every book can benefit from pre-publication quotes and testimonials from experts in your field.  It’s never too early to identify and approach experts, like published authors, in your field. The earlier you start, the greater your success. Often, it takes several tries to get through to subject area experts in your field–but, the rewards of a well-known name endorsing your book on the cover can have a “Cinderella effect” on your book.
6. Bonus content. One of the most important keys to a successful book launch is offering bonus content to readers who purchase your book on the day it’s published. Bonus content can take many forms, PDF’s, templates, audios, or videos that supplement the information in your book and help increase reader understanding of your topic. Electronic bonuses, i.e., files, don’t cost anything to distribute, but they do take time to plan, prepare, and post–which is why you should get started as soon as possible.
7. Virtual tour. Until recently, travel to bookstore presentations and signings, often accompanied by local media interviews in distant cities, was a requirement for authors. Today, however, the need to travel has been replaced by virtual tours where authors are interviewed by bloggers with readers likely to be interested in your book. Not only are virtual tours easier on an author’s pocketbook and time, they are often far more effective, because they target those most likely to be interested in your book. Setting up a virtual tour takes time, which is why it’s best to start as early as possible.

The power of an early start

In the past, many authors were surprised to find that they were responsible for book marketing & promotion, even if their book was being published by a large trade publisher. Today, there’s more acceptance of the reality that authors are responsible for marketing and promoting their book.

Unfortunately, many authors still wait until it’s too late to start marketing and promoting their book. They wait until their book’s publication date is just a few weeks away…and, are disappointed to find it’s too late to do the job right.

Don’t let this happen to you. Prepare a book marketing plan as early as possible, and begin to prepare for your book launch as early as possible. None of the tasks above is particularly difficult, but each of the 7 keys requires time and attention. The earlier you start, the more predictable your success.  For more information, see 6 Ways to Promote Your Book While Writing It.

SmartDraw’s Visual Grammar for Business shows how to take your content marketing to the next level by providing genuinely insightful user information.

A lot of what passes for content marketing and white papers is often generic capabilities and benefits, combined with strategy and tactical information based on the vendor’s key product attributes.

That’s not the case, as you’ll see when you download SmartDraw’s Visual Grammar for Business: Bridging the Visual Language Barrier that you can view as a presentation or download as a PDF.

Creating a brand by taking a stand

After discussing the advantages of visual communications, Visual Grammar for Business shows how the unrestrained use of visual tools can confuse, rather than enhance, the message.

Then, on page 7, SmartDraw takes a stand by issuing a 2-rule manifesto that can be universally applied to all types of business graphics, helping authors and business marketers avoid many common problems. In the language of Visual Grammar for Business:

All business graphics, including flowcharts, mind maps, organization charts, and other visuals that involve shapes and lines, must follow these 2 simple rules:

1. The Consistency Rule
2. The 1-Page Rule
   

The remainder of Visual Grammar for Business describes the 2 rules in greater detail, showing how they apply to several different types of graphics. Before and after illustrations drive home the importance of the 2 rules.

When you finish the 17 page report, you not only have a better understanding of what SmartDraw’s software is all about, plus you’re grateful to the brand for providing information you can implement with any software.

Sparking conversation

Equally important, in today’s social media world, something else happens when you issue a manifesto or set of rules: you spark a conversation.

Issuing 2 rules begs a reaction; Who says? Why aren’t there 3 rules? Here’s an exception! etc.

Manifestos and rules build dialog, and dialog builds engagement. So, even if some people take exception to the rules, the content marketer ultimately benefits!

Does your content marketing really educate your users?

The wealth of quality content marketing options on the web are raising the level of customer and prospect expectations. The content bar is constantly being raised. SmartDraw’s Visual Grammar for Business does an excellent of taking content marketing to the next level by sharing valuable, universal principles. What do you think? More important, can you share any other examples of similar content marketing excellence?