Guest Post by Janis Pettit
As a small or solo business owner you undoubtedly have a wealth of knowledge and expertise that others need and want — probably more than you realize, even.
You may have purchased downloadable e-books, home study courses or other information products in order to learn about some aspect of business or marketing.
Information products remain a multi-million dollar industry that is growing stronger.
You don’t want to miss out on that, do you?
Creating and selling information products can provide you with a source of passive income that takes you way beyond selling time for dollars. There are some important steps you need to take though, to be assured you are creating something that will sell and that you are marketing it in such a way that you can generate ongoing sales...
Maybe you’ve created something that hasn’t sold. You put in a lot of time and effort only to be disappointed. Keep reading to find out how you can turn that around.
Or you may be afraid that creating an information product is too much work when in reality you can create one in a matter of days.
And information products are not only a source of ongoing income; you can also use them to generate leads for other products and services by using them as a lead-in to get people interested in a higher level product or service.
Top 8 Information Product Success Secrets:
1) Make sure there is a need for what you plan to offer before you create it.
- Do keyword research to see what people are searching for online in your niche.
- You can see what your top competitors are selling successfully.
- You can see what books are selling in your niche
- You can do a survey of your clients and subscribers
2) Be sure you understand and communicate the specific benefits and results your client will get from this product. You will need to be very clear about this in all of your marketing materials, especially your sales page.
3) Pick a killer name for your product that states the biggest product result. People will want to learn about it if the product name grabs them
4) Offer a money back guarantee for your product. This will make people feel comfortable buying who may be a bit unsure because they don’t know you well.
5) Create a detailed marketing plan for your product that includes social media, article marketing, press releases, videos and perhaps a preview teleclass or webinar. Then plan post launch marketing so sales continue after the initial product launch.
6) Find joint venture partners who will promote your product. These are people that have the clients you want but who don’t offer something similar. You’ll need an affiliate program set up for this
7) Plan on 2 months lead time to heavily market your product when you first launch it. Then plan a way to drive traffic to your sales page even after the launch so sales don’t stop. Pay-per-click is a great method to use as well as listing your product on affiliate product marketing sites like Clickbank.com
8) Figure out ways to re-purpose your product for other markets so you can leverage your work.
Once the initial work is done, much of the marketing can be outsourced or automated.
Of course this is just an overview, but as a small business coach, many clients I’ve worked with had great products but no real marketing plan. They just assumed that people would find their product web page. Once we put a detailed strategic marketing plan in place the sales started rolling in.
Information products in some form are becoming crucial for any knowledge or service based business owner who truly wants to create a solid 6-figure income and a reputation as the go-to expert...
Ready to learn more? Join us live today, Wednesday Nov 14th at 4pm Eastern! 😉
About Lynn Terry
"Be sure you understand and communicate the specific benefits"
"What's in it for me?" is what every potential customer wants to know. Taking the time to communicate the benefits that your product delivers will help you make more sales. The deeper you delve into the core benefits that resonate with your target customer, the easier it would be to close the sale.
Brilliant stuff Janis,
I'm in the process of creating a product right now and some of the tips you've offered here an invaluable.
Using a name that actually explains the biggest result of the product is phenomenal as an idea and it's the major mistake I made on a previous product launch. No chance I'm making that mistake again!
Thanks for your wisdom. I've bookmarked this and I'll be referring back to it over the next few months.
James
Any chance there will be a replay of the Webinar
Yes - if you registered you'll get notification when the replay is ready. 😉 Enjoy!
Thank you Janis for a great post. It’s interesting how you talk about info-product success, but you can use these principles in nearly every business. Personally, I like step number 6 the best. That single point alone can leapfrog one from the bottom of their industry to the top. I’m all about leveraging other people’s assets to create a win-win-win situation 🙂
Another good point here is that we are in the information age, and we have been for years (over a decade). Any marketer would be well advised to read this post, follow the steps there-in and attend the webinar (or replay if one is offered).
Thanks again!
Cheers!
Great post. I like the part about making sure you survey your followers to see if its a product they actually want. It's a big mistake to put weeks of work into an info product that nobody needs or wants.
Great points, Obviously it's harder than it looks, but many people can do it now if they put their minds to it! Thanks guys....
Kate
nice tips here selling your own product is better then pay per click program
Yes i think having your own product is definitely a good idea now, especially as Google seems to be penalising some sites with affiliate links now more than it did before.
Thanks for tips Lynn some good info here.
'Pick a killer name for your product that states the biggest product result'
I think a killer name that communicates the benefits (and associated graphics) are essential. People have a short attention span on the net and need to immediately be hooked into reading further. No matter how good your product is people won't consider buying it if you don't grab their attention.
Hi Lynn ,
Your post is very very attractive and helpful.
Yes I agree with plan before to do promote products or service, I always make sure that I plan what I am doing the next step.
Thanks for your point Lynn
Take care
Wow…some great ideas for sure. Will definitely be implementing some for my own clients…just goes to show that there is such a variety of ways to accomplish the same goal.
Perfect timing - planning to launch my first ever info product of my own come the first of the year. I'm in the countdown stage now ... T-minus 34 days!
Thanks for the great info and timely guest post - very appreciated. 🙂
For those of you interested in learning HOW to create a variety of products, and your product funnel, definitely check out: http://www.diyproductpipeline.com This is what I'M studying right now! 😉 *cheers*