Lately, a lot of my conversations around the office have started with, “So I’m reading this book…” And while I’m a bit of an evangelizer to begin with, I must admit, I’ve been evangelizing the heck out of Michael Stelzner’s new book, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition.

It’s part text book (complete with homework assignments), part self-help book, and part marketing for dummies. And please don’t take that last reference the wrong way. Sometimes we all need things dumbed down a little bit, or stated in a nicer way, simplified.

Keep it Simple, Stupid

What I enjoyed most about this book was how easy it is to digest. First, throughout the book, Stelzner incorporates the analogy of your business as a rocket ship. The entire content of the book can be traced back to Stelzner’s elevation principle:

Good Content + Other People – Marketing Messages = Growth

If you’re a cynic like I sometimes a lot of times can be, you might be thinking, “Rocket ships? Really?” But trust me, it works. Employing this common theme throughout helps the reader connect to the overall message. Describing overt marketing messages as a velocity drag on you rocket ship helps drive home the point that content intended to build your prospect base should sell your ideas, not your product.

In addition to the consistent use of the rocket ship analogy, Stelzner offers up content in easily digestible bites by telling the reader what he is going to say, what he is saying, and what he said. If it was a fiction novel, I might feel that I’m reading below my grade level, but as a business book, I truly appreciate it. In a world where we are bombarded with tweets, posts, and updates, our attention spans are ever shrinking. I read the majority of Launch in fifteen to twenty minute bursts while riding the bus or waiting for the train. It was a treat to consume a quick nugget rather than a struggle to remember what I had previously read and how it related to what I was currently reading.

Setting the Stage

Those with the shortest attention spans might be tempted to jump straight to Chapter 7 to start learning about the types of content that can help build your business. If you did this, you’d be missing out. The first few chapters provide useful tips on how to find experts to help create your content, how to build an editorial calendar, and how to use the power of social proof to engage your audience.

But perhaps most importantly, the first part of the book lays the foundation for creating a vision, defining goals, and finding inspiration. This is where the ‘homework assignments’ came into play asking the reader to ponder who exactly your audience is and what is it you want to say to them. Taking this time to reflect on my goals set the stage for how I would consume the remainder of the book—in a word, thoughtfully.

Food for Thought

A large portion of the book centers on defining, describing, and giving examples of the two types of content you should distribute to build your base. Again, Stelzner relies on the rocket ship example to define these types of content as primary and nuclear fuel. Primary fuel refers to the standard content you should consistently churn out. This includes, how to articles, expert interviews, reviews, case studies, news stories, and contrarian stories. Nuclear fuel is the special content that takes more effort and resources to produce but can quickly propel your rocket ship when you need an extra boost. Types of nuclear fuel include survey reports, white papers, top 10 contests, and micro events.

Stelzner outlines examples of each type of primary and nuclear fuel from a variety of businesses, including his own, SocialMediaExaminer.com. Several full-length content examples are included in the appendices.

One of the biggest takeaways for me was recognizing the difference between primary and nuclear fuel. Seems simple enough, right? Too often, we focus all of our energy on the nuclear fuel; after all, it’s what requires the most resources. But it’s important to remember that while nuclear fuel (or content) can give you a quick and powerful boost, it’s the consistently produced primary fuel that sustains your business over time. Moving forward, I think this will help serve as a gentle reminder of when it’s time to shift gears.

Coming Back for Seconds?

If I had to pick one thing that is missing from Launch, it’s a focus on content targeting more than just the top of the sales funnel. Broad, thought leadership content is great for bringing in new leads and keeping them engaged in the early stages of the sales cycle; however, your prospective buyers will eventually require more specific information on how your product or service can solve their business problem.

Though I guess this would expand the content and theme of the book dramatically. And in its current form, Launch is so easily digestible in small bites. Perhaps looking deeper into the funnel is best served as a separate meal.

Have I convinced you to pick up a copy of Launch? If so, click over here to fill out a quick five question survey on what interests you about this book. One randomly selected participant will win a free copy of Launch.

And as always, please share your comments below.

About Sharon Zaugh

Sharon Zaugh has written 7 post in this blog.

Sharon believes the best method for developing customer engagement (and thus driving sales) is through the careful analysis of contact behavior and preferences. A traditional marketer in the fact that she spends her days in Microsoft Excel, she’s also quick to embrace new forms of media and technology. Sharon is Digital and Database Marketing Manager for Alterian.

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