It’s Day 26 in our Growing Your List challenge and we are still in the Viral Marketing section. Today we'll look at how you can create Info Products that go viral, as a means of building your list.
For Day 25, refer to pages 62-64 in the free
31 Day Guide to Growing Your List
Start with the end goal in mind. Think about what sort of conversations you would like to see take place across blogs and forums in your niche. What will people be talking about after seeing or reading your product? -page 62
Viral Info Product Examples
A couple of examples come to mind. The "death of..." ebooks are a good example. They've been overdone in my opinion, but for good reason (they worked).
An older example is Harvey Segal's SuperTips series. He is one of the original masters of Viral Marketing, offering free rebrandable reports on a variety of topics. He would often charge a small fee for the rebranding option and/or let people rebrand the product with affiliate links to his products. Very nice model.
There was Internet Marketing Sins by Sylvie Fortin, which was free but allowed affiliates to promote it for related sales in her funnel. And SEO Lies by Justin Brooke, which launched for only $1 and offered affiliates 100% commission.
Both were a means of building a list through a viral info product.
And of course we can't forget Jonathan Leger and how he came on the scene by storm with his $7 Secrets method of creating low-cost reports with the 100% commission model as a means of building a highly targeted list - and fast!
Choosing a Topic For Your Viral Info Product
Any content that artfully and successfully includes these elements will increase the chances of your ebook or report going viral: highly useful, entertaining, controversial. Even better: using all three elements. (page 62)
Start by brainstorming "hot topics" in your niche. What gets people riled up, upset, makes them laugh? What is going on in your niche right now? What are people talking about (joking about, or ranting about) on forums, Facebook and blogs?
These are all good starting points for choosing a topic for your viral report.
How To Create the Viral Effect With Your Info Products
You've seen some examples, brainstormed potential topics, now it's time to dig in to the how-to. The technical side of creating viral products is actually quite easy.
A simple option is to create a rebrandable info-product. I use Viral PDF which is only $27 and very easy to use. For more on that, read:
Easily Create Your Own Rebrandable Reports
The goal with rebrandable products is to give them away for free, get a lot of people on board to rebrand and give away your product, and then convert readers into subscribers. The best way to do that is to offer a "Part Two" (also for free) and send them to your landing page to opt-in to receive that second report.
For paid info products you have two options: you can use the 100% commission model, or you can use a pay-per-lead affiliate program. If you pay per lead, you basically set up an affiliate program and pay .50-$1.50 for every subscriber your affiliates send you. This is a serious investment, so you want to make sure you have a strong funnel in place.
The 100% commission model is "safer" as you simply give your affiliates and partners the amount your buyers pay for your product. You're not spending out of pocket, and you're building a list of buyers.
Resources:
- How to Write a Viral Report
- Viral PDF Classic
- Easily Create Your Own Rebrandable Reports
- How Affiliates Use Free Brandable Ebooks
Your Task For Today:
Brainstorm potential topics for your viral info product, decide which viral model you want to use... and start creating!
Best,
p.s. I highly recommend Write That Report! by Jonathan Leger for only $7. It ranks as one of the best investments I've made in my online business over the years. It's the guide that finally got me creating reports & info products - and boy am I ever glad I did! 😉 Grab a copy if you haven't already, or revisit your copy - you could have a new info product written & ready to market this week!
About Lynn Terry
So why the second part? Aren't we giving them the report in exchange for subscribing? It seems to me that you'd get less opt ins if they read the first report then have to go to a page to opt in to get the second one.
That option is ONLY if you create a rebrandable product and let people give it away freely. That being the case, it is "going viral" but not necessarily from your site - and definitely not via opt in.
If they opt-in to get your free report (via affiliates or just raw traffic due to controversy/conversation) then there is no need to create a second free report to encourage them to opt-in to your list.
Sorry that wasn't more clear. 🙂
Amazing post, I didn't know about these models and I'm definitely going to dig deeper into this subject. Thanks.
Brainstorming is the techniques to introduce new techniques and quality work in any specific niche.In your this post the most attractive word for me is "brainstormed potential topics"
This is an area that I am struggling with.
How do you defvelop a viral report or product if your buyers do not sell into the same market? What can you offer that will encourage them to share the product with their competitors?
Example, I sell to folks in the "A" category. They sell to folks in the "B" and "C" category. (Amazing how that worked out, isn't it? A, B and C.) I do not sell to "B" or "C." What could I give folks in the "A" category that would cause them to see it distributed to other folks in the "A" category, when every "A" practitioner out there is totally insecure and afraid to talk to their competitors?
Your market is interesting in that they view each other as competitors and rarely work together or share resources. You might be able to come up with something that targets *their* market instead of your market (ie their competitors). Of course, there will be no incentive if you don't have anything to offer their level of the market...
I have tried it both ways. It seems my target market "hoards" their resources in an effort to gain a competitive advantage. If they have a resource that benefits their clients, they certainly want to take advantage of it before their competitors do, and it seems they rarely want their competitors to know where they got it.
Sigh.
Had an afterthought. since my market is all offline, you think this could be something that is replicated in other offline businesses? They are limited competitively by geography, and by target.
We've had some pretty good luck with affiliates in the past, but I guess it isn't the strategy for everyone.