by Mark Murphy

If you’re a CEO, you need to publish a book.

I’m not talking about scratching some long-dormant literary itch and penning the next great novel.

No, you need a 100-150 page book that explains how your company uniquely solves a deep pain in the market.

For example, if you’re the CEO of an architecture firm, your book could discuss the evolution of workspace design with the rise of remote workforces, including how traditional office spaces are being repurposed to attract workers back to the office.

If you’re a fashion company CEO, your book might explain how you’re leading an ethical fashion movement, discussing sustainable materials and altering consumer behavior.

Books like that instantly make you the authority in your field.

Why Every CEO Needs To Publish A Book (Right Now)

The goal of your book is not to make you a New York Times bestseller, nor is it to land on the shelves of every airport bookstore. If you’re the CEO of a Fortune 100 company, then sure, those are perfectly acceptable goals. But in those cases, you’re already being pursued by top-tier literary agents and publishing houses.

For CEOs of small and medium businesses, the primary purpose of your book is to cement you as the leading authority on a particular issue in your industry. You want to own a particular idea or solution in your market. Whether your solution is office design to attract workers back to the office or selling ethical fashion, your book tells everyone that you are the most authoritative voice on that topic. After all, you will have literally written the book on that topic.

Once you have your book, here are just a few of the ways you can harness its power to grow your business.

Direct Book Sales To Target Audiences: It’s incredibly ironic that a potential customer could turn you down for a sales presentation but turn around and buy a hundred copies of your book. Why? While people hate being sold, they do love to buy books. And when you’ve got a book that uniquely solves a deep pain in the market, you can open doors to potential customers that might have otherwise been tough to penetrate.

Leverage Your Book For Speaking Engagements: Plenty of conferences, conventions and tradeshows are skeptical of executives, even CEOs, who want to stand on stage to pitch their products and services. But when you’ve got a book, you’re not selling your products directly; you’re selling your thought leadership (which then, of course, turns into sales of your products and services).

Content Marketing Strategy: You’ve undoubtedly got a marketing team. And when you’ve got a book, you’ve got a source of ready-made content to use in all of your marketing. The book can be repurposed through blogs, newsletters, social media, and webinars to attract and engage your target audience.

Generate Business Leads: The most obvious, and classic, use of a book is as a free or discounted resource to potential clients or at industry events. Use this as an opportunity to collect contact information and generate leads for follow-up business development activities. It also becomes a great tool for your salespeople to use for opening doors and starting conversations.

Collaborations And Partnerships: Use the book to establish credibility and open doors for collaborations and partnerships with other industry leaders, organizations, academic institutions, or anyone else.

Perhaps the best part of having a book is that you’ll no longer have to condense your marketing or sales message into a 30-second elevator pitch; people will literally spend an hour reading every word you’ve written.

It’s ironic, but if you’re trying to sell people directly, they’ll often balk. But give them a book, and they’ll spend an hour convincing themselves that you’re awesome.

[Here are two places to submit your proposal or manuscripts as well as discover more information that will help you on this wonderful journey: Kallisti Publishing Inc. and ARIS Books.]

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