MarketingProfs

Usually, I use the privilege of this space to tell you a new MarketingProfs product or service, or to talk more generally about marketing trends or developments I’m excited about. But today, I wanted to share a more personal message. Today—Tuesday, November 30—is the official release date of my first book, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

Penned with my friend C.C. Chapman, Content Rules demystifies the notion of businesses as publishers and gives you actionable ideas of how you can make the most of the tremendous opportunity we all have: To speak directly in very human, engaging terms with a broad number of people you want to do business with, with the goal of furthering your relationships with them, and creating momentum for your business.

In the history of business, have you ever had an opportunity to do that? To engage directly? To converse with a unique and honest voice? To tell your story yourself, rather than waiting around for the press to notice your specialness? In a word, no. Which is why I call it an opportunity, and which is why you need to think really deeply about how your content can really rock. (And it can!)

I play a marketer on the Internet, but I’m also a long-time business editor and writer who has been developing content that audiences dig for all of my career. And the ideas in this book are really special to me.

Content Rules. It’s probably the only marketing book that I feel qualified to write, in fact, in part because content is one of the few topics I feel completely versed in. The rest of you probably can run circles around me—metaphorically speaking—in dreaming up and executing the specifics of campaigns and triggering response emails and developing branding strategies and the like. I know enough about those topics to know what’s smart thinking and what’s not, but I also know enough to know what I don’t know.

Content, on the other hand, is something that’s near and dear to my heart. Developing great content that engages audiences and build community is a kind of mission that excites me, and all of that passion and energy is what I’ve poured into this book.

No matter what size your business, I hope you’ll buy a copy of Content Rules. It’s in a few select stores today (my cousin found it in her local Barnes & Noble this past weekend!), and Amazon is now shipping it. You can also get it from Borders or a number of other online retailers. Of course, if you sign up for MarketingProfs University’s Content Crash Course, you’ll also get a copy—FREE! And if you are looking to get your arms around this whole idea of content, that’s your best bet.

Oh—and please come to the virtual book release party on Facebook! You could win a free copy along with other fun prizes!

Tags: ann handley, book launch, C.C. Chapman, Content, Content Marketing, Content Rules