March 9th, 2010 by Paul Barrs
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By Paul Barrs
This will probably be the shortest of all the articles in this series. However, I don’t want you to think that that means it’s any less valuable. Let me begin by telling you a story….
I was talking to a fellow at a seminar some time back who was looking for new product ideas to kick-start his business after 6 months away from it. He told me how in the past he’d released a couple of eBooks that enjoyed moderate success and so therefore had a small customer database that he could begin promoting to immediately. After hearing what he had to say I suggested that he repackage his eBooks and add on an up-sell through a joint venture.
Nice idea, but there was one problem – his previous products dealt with the explanation and promotion of specific niche marketplace programs and applications that had “evolved” significantly in recent time, meaning, he could no longer sell his products individually because they were “out of date”! Ouch.
There is one crucial element in ongoing product success that you must… let me say it again, you must… and one more time – you MUST do: You must make sure that your products ARE NOT tied down by time. That means that you must be very aware and very careful not to make references to things outside of ‘the general’ that could possible time-date your product.
Don’t think that can happen? Why don’t’ you try going back through your archives and have a listen to / read some older eProducts from 5 years of more ago. Why don’t you do a search Online and see how many current products you can find that promote fax-blast marketing, or see how many people are still talking about Overtue as the best PPC search engine available. Are we still marketing with bulletin boards or do we go Web 2.0 for better results.
[Sidebar: Even the mention of the term “Web 2.0” can time-date the article.]
The thing is, you’ll never know what technologies and terms are no longer being used until after they are no longer being used. As an illustration, even to use the name Google could restrict your product from being saleable in the future… I mean, once upon a time GM was one of the strongest most reliable companies on the planet, wasn’t it?
So here’s my suggestion: if your product *is* a tech explanation product and there is no way that you can get around not using and referring to current technologies, break your product into two different parts – part (a) is the generalisation part, the explanation of the concepts, ideas and philosophies; part (b) is the tech part, the time dated part, the bit that very likely will change in the years to come.
Then, as you released new and updated versions of your product in the future you’ll no longer have to rewrite / rerecord the entire thing, but rather, just the second part. You’ll save yourself dozens, possibly hundreds of hours over the years and therefore save yourself countless thousands of dollars by taking this approach before you begin.
Finally, let’s not forget to mention the tens of thousands of dollars you could potentially continue to earn in years to come by creating and selling products that don’t have a use-by-date.
Go for it.
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March 8th, 2010 by Paul Barrs
Image via Wikipedia
By Paul Barrs
Just because we’re talking about “product” here doesn’t automatically mean that it’s the type of product that has to be “purchased”, does it? You’re reading these articles aren’t you… where are you reading it, on a website, in a Blog, in an eBook? To gain access to this information you didn’t have to pay anything at all – so it can also be with your product.
The final step before you actually begin creating your product (and I am talking specifically about eProducts at the moment), is for you to determine its purpose.
Are you going to use your product to generate cash or are you going to use it generate leads? While you think that there are more choices than that, if you’re in the business of running a business then there are not. Do not go creating some product just because you want have an ego trip – create it for a purpose.
Income Opportunity – this is the most simplistic purpose of the two and really doesn’t require any explanation at all. You’ve come up with an idea, you’ve done your research to determine its validity – and you’re ready to put it together. Your goal is to have people pay for it. Simple. Easy. Uncomplicated.
But what about the back-end? What about the inbuilt referral program? What about the lead capture and up sell? Before you begin creating / writing / developing your product you must being with the end in mind. You need to ask yourself, *how* will they (your customers) access and consume it (online / downloadable / printable copy). You need to ask what type of platform it will be delivered on (web only / iPod / eBook Reader). You need to ask *what* are your customers going to want to do once they’ve read it / consumed it / used it. You’ll need to ask yourself, “How can I bring them back for repeat business?”
All of these questions should come into play *before* you begin creating your product. In a nutshell, the ‘end’ that you should ‘have in mind’ for your product must push well beyond the consumption of the product and deep into the future. Always seek to create something that delivers more than a once off purpose.
Lead Generation – But what if your purpose it not to create cash, but instead leads or subscribers or traffic or affiliates (or partners or subscribers or clicks or download and so on and so on….). Then similar questions need to be asked as above. The one difference being that you don’t want to have them ‘buy’ but rather “own”.
Here’s the difference… when your customer ‘buys’ something from you, while they may then technically own it, they still know it’s yours. However, when looking at eDelivery of free downloadable products (and I strongly suggest that for free product that you ONLY consider digital download or Online service delivery – don’t let it cost you anything)… and so when looking at these free digital downloads; you MUST find some way of making them Viral. The thing is this – when you still hold some rights of ‘ownership’ your customer is not likely to want to give it away because there is little benefit to his or her business. But if it’s free with options, and they have some part in ‘ownership’ (such as the ability to re-brand or co-brand) then they are *very* likely to want to give it away.
And so it becomes viral and so on and so on; they give it away and they ‘they’ give it away and all the while you still have your name and your purpose attached to it, such as lead generation where in order for people to get their own ‘co-brandable’ copy, they must go to your website first.
Got the idea? And if you’re not sure about it yet, do the maths. Let’s say that only 10 people download it from your website, and then those ten each have ten people download it, and then those 100 each have ten more and those ten more also. Even if that happened only once with each of those ten by ten people in a 12 month period, my calculator tells me that 10,000 people would now have your eProduct in their hands. Now what if only 1 out of 10 decided to get their own co-brandable copy and distribute it – that’s still 1,000 people who could have (if you set things up right and begin with the end in mind) come to your website and joined your list (or fulfilled your purpose whatever it was) and become high quality prospects or partners.
So maybe a ‘purchase purpose’ isn’t quite the right thing for you right now?
These questions are things you must ask and you must KNOW before you even *consider* creating a new product.
Time to get started though, don’t you think?
PS. One last point… if you’re not sure what the best way to go is, how should you determine that? The same way as you determine the concept of the product itself… ask your potential customers.
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