How Bootstrapped SaaS Founders Can Repurpose Blog Posts into eBooks for B2B Lead Generation

If you’re a bootstrapped Founder and not using eBooks in your content planning, you’re missing out on an effective lead generation strategy. 51% of today’s B2B businesses use eBooks as a part of their content marketing efforts. And that’s because they work.

They:

• Provide insightful information for potential customers.
• Offer engaging visuals to aid in memory retention.
• Capture lead emails, catapulting leads further down the sales funnel.

In this article, we will share with you 7 simple steps to writing your SaaS eBook: from finding your target audience to designing your layout and publishing it on the right channels.

What is an eBook?

An eBook, an electronic book, is a book presented in a digital format for individuals to read on a computer or mobile device. Unlike physical products you deliver into customers’ hands once they’re purchased, you can distribute eBooks to thousands of readers at once.

As a Founder, you have expert knowledge your audience wants to hear. Your experience provides unique insights into starting, running, and maybe even selling your business.

What are the benefits of an eBook?

Ebooks are popular. In only one week in 2020, more than 10.1 million individuals borrowed digital books around the world. Your audience wants to read digital products.

And there are many other advantages:

1. A proven marketing method — Ebooks are a proven method for marketing and generating leads. And if you want to market your business (who doesn’t?), they work well because they’re easy to produce and distribute. Also, when you ask potential customers to provide their email address in exchange for your eBook, you’re capturing leads you can use for future email marketing campaigns.
2. They’re easy to create — Creating an eBook is easy. First, pick a topic your target market is likely to search for and research your subject thoroughly. After that, create your content following the steps mentioned below.
3. They’re affordable — Producing an eBook isn’t expensive. In fact, there are many free tools that you can use to create your content (Google Docs, Notion, EverNote, and more). You can also look into services that offer comprehensive eBook publishing solutions at a low cost. This means that you don’t have to spend a lot to get your content out there and make some money at the same time.
4. They can be distributed online or through offline channels — You can distribute your eBook through online channels like your company’s website or social media accounts and offline channels such as book distributors, app stores, and more.
5. They can be read on almost any device — Ebooks can be read on nearly any device and converted to nearly any readable format. That includes computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and e-readers.

How to Write an eBook

• Choose the right topic.

The goal of your eBook is lead generation, so how can you present the eBook so that you can collect as many leads as possible? Easy. Pick a topic your potential customers need to know or can benefit from.

You shouldn’t just write about your product and throw some screenshots in there.

As a Founder, you might write about:

• How to grow your business to $1M ARR
• How you started your business by leveraging past experience
• How to evaluate an LOI when selling your SaaS

There are countless topics to write about in the B2B SaaS space and your audience wants to hear them.

At SureSwift, we see every aspect of SaaS companies: what works, what doesn’t, Founder’s pain points, and we address them in blog posts and eBooks.

Take this article on customer happiness as an example. Customer happiness is a strong predictor of brand loyalty. Loyal customers are more likely to remain even when they’re tempted by better offers from other businesses. So, if your customers aren’t happy, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. We know many Founders struggle with this so we not only wrote an article on it but turned the content into an easily digestible eBook on customer happiness.

For another example, you can create an “Ultimate Guide” on [Your industry’s topic]. Or a “How to” on [Your industry’s topic].

Consider your target audience’s needs and challenges. What problems do your readers hope your eBook will solve? What are the biggest challenges your readers face?

Once you pick a topic, you’re ready for the next step.

• Create your outline.

Outline your chapters before you write the content. This helps you review what you want to cover in each chapter and break up your chapters into smaller sections. Each chapter should be about 10–15 pages long. You don’t need to cover every topic related to your SaaS product. Still, you should cover the most common topics, pain points, and issues customers experience while using your product or service.

• Get writing!

Now you’re ready to write your blog post. If you’re struggling to get the words out on the page, just start. You can always edit later.

• Design your eBook.

When you’re designing your SaaS eBook, keep a few things in mind: First, make sure the design of your eBook reflects the design of your product.

For example, if your eBook is about lead generation tactics, use a relevant image to reflect this topic. For example, would an ice cream cone reflect lead generation tactics? It might conjure ice cream dreams but does it best represent the topic at hand? Probably not.

Also, remember that most readers will use their mobile devices to view the eBook, so you need to ensure your book’s design is responsive to different formats. Do this by testing the book on various devices.

Finally, use colors strategically. If you have a brand guide, use this for your eBook. Use the same colors as your company logo and the same fonts as your company fonts. Consistency establishes authority to readers. They’ll always know what they’re getting.

• Incorporate visuals in any capacity.

As you design your SaaS eBook, use visuals to help readers understand your content. Did you know visuals help 35% of readers retain information after 72 hours? Visuals are the most effective way to help readers understand the information you share.

Use images, charts, or graphs to visually highlight quotes or stats that you think are particularly important.

• Add Calls-to-Action throughout your eBook.

You don’t have to push people toward buying your product or signing up for a subscription immediately after reading your SaaS eBook. However, you should include calls-to-action in your content to encourage readers to engage with your product or service further, launching them further down the marketing funnel.

You can include a call-to-action to purchase it if you’re selling your product. You can include a call-to-action to sign up for a free trial if you’re offering a subscription. Keep your call-to-action simple, and don’t use too many words. You don’t want your call-to-action to distract your readers from the main points of your content.

• Design a landing page for your eBook.

Many eBook authors choose to create a dedicated landing page for their SaaS eBook. This way, they can build up links to their landing page, boosting their SEO. You should include links to where your readers can purchase your eBook and sign up for free trials on your landing page. You should also include links to social media pages, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, where you can share updates about your SaaS business.

Conclusion

Ebooks are an effective way to share your expert Founder knowledge with those who want to hear it. And by creating a SaaS eBook, you can benefit from the many advantages including lead generation. So, if you haven’t yet written an eBook to capture leads for your business, now is the time to start.