You can't build a business on free products alone. This book is dedicated to helping you expand your business and build your brand far beyond where it is right now. But, you have to have something for people to upgrade to, as I’ve tried to impress upon you. You have to have products that are the best in their class that people in your market will point to time and time again. You can consider these to be your core products.
Ideally, your core products should be evergreen. These are products that are in it for the long haul. These core products can address the most common needs of the people in your market. What does that look like for you? These products can range in price from being affordable to just about everyone to being a little more in depth and higher in price.
As you start to build a relationship with those who have joined your list after receiving something for free, you are going to include sales messages in your autoresponder emails that point to these core products. Again, these products need to be very closely related to the reason people joined your list in the first place.
Addressing All Income Levels
Not everyone can afford to upgrade to coaching and personal help. Since your mission is to help as many people as possible, it's a good idea to have products available for all income levels.
If you've hung around me for a while, then you're probably well aware that I price my products (most of them, at least) so that they are affordable for the vast majority of my audience. This is important to me. The quality of my information is worth many times more than what I charge. But, it's my mission to help change the lives of as many people as possible. So, for my business, it makes the most sense to give people special offers upon release and then to price the products a little closer to what they are actually worth after the launch.
You might have a different business model. Maybe you only want to cater to a higher end type of customer. That's just fine as well. That will act as a filter for those who joined your list for the free product.
It's worth noting that you are building trust over time. They may not be ready to spend $2000 with you right away, but they will be ready to spend $27 with you. You never know who will then upgrade to spend thousands more, either in the near future or over time, once you've proven your worth with your lower end products.
Easy Product Creation
I also want to assure you that it's really not that difficult to create products, if you’ve never done so. I'm not going to go very in depth into product creation in this space, though I do have plenty of material available to help you do that – including how to create a product in a day.
All you have to do is research a specific need in your market. Then, take a look at what the competition is offering on that topic. Read reviews and see what people feel was left out of those products. Address the most common topics as well as the out-of-the-box questions people have related to that topic.
You can create shorter reports of around 4,000 to 5,000 words in as little as a day. You can create audio or video products very quickly. The lower end products need only take a few hours to a few days to create. Your more extensive products can be developed over time. Break your product creation down into chunks of time and simple steps and you'll be done before you know it.
Make it your goal right now to develop around five core products that address the needs of the people who’ve joined your list via your very valuable, free products. You can do one a month or several a month-- whatever you have the time for. The point is that you can very quickly move people from free to paid if you have core products that address their needs.
Simple Little Products People Will Buy Like Crazy
Consider creating simple little products that people will buy like crazy. You've done the research and you know your market. You know what they need and want. You want people to become addicted to your content, so provide a lot of value, even in short spaces. Your core products will always be there and will become classics in your niche. But, you can also create products on a whim that respond to trends in the market and the needs you see by having a list full of people in your niche.
Creating High End Products
It's very important to have high-end products in your product funnel as well. Some of the people who download your free content will immediately see the value that you offer. They'll be in a space where they want more personalized help or one-on-one attention. If you don't have this kind of higher end product or service available, they will turn to someone else.
You also should realize the value it creates. Even if someone never intends to hire you as a coach or a consultant, or to buy your higher end products, having them there creates value. They will see that your time and your content is very valuable. They will then feel like it’s a total bargain when they buy the simple little products or your core products that you come out with.
Specialized, In-Depth Material
Your higher end material should be very specialized and in depth. This material will cover needs no one else is covering, or it will cover those needs in a different way. Nothing should be left out. This content should be so comprehensive that people feel confident in taking action.
It really helps to purchase the higher end material that your competition has put out. Study this and consider what you can do better. Study what they have done well and emulate that and improve upon that.
People will pay more for this content. Not only will you spend a lot more time developing this content, but this is life-changing content that will really take them to the next level. This content can come in the form of really extensive, almost university level courses. They can also come in the form of high end membership sites full of everything they could ever want to know on your topic.
The difference between your core products and your simple little products is you. The more people pay, the more they should have access to you. In my experience, the more access someone has to me, the more likely they are to take action and to go on to succeed. There's a difference in the actions someone is willing and able to take when they buy a $7 product than when they pay for a membership site, coaching, or consulting.
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