Info products are in fashion.
There is a real boom and it is not for less. In front of you, you have an opportunity that can radically change your business.
That is why I have decided to create this mega guide on info products
I’m going to explain to you from A to Z what you have to know about online knowledge businesses, based on digital products.
What are digital products or info products?
Come on, let’s start at the beginning because sometimes we use the terms without being too clear about the meaning of what we say.
An info product is an educational product based on knowledge, on the author’s experience.
As in lifelong learning, the goal is to solve a customer problem or need with valuable content.
However, they have two important peculiarities, regarding traditional educational products:
- Thanks to the democratization of the use of the internet, thousands of different training niches can be covered that until now had no place in traditional training. Now, with the network, there is a window to the open world and the public we are targeting is no longer so limited, even if we hyper-specialize.
- Instead of being distributed through face-to-face training or postal delivery, the infoproduct is a 100% digital product . This facilitates distribution, destroys logistics costs and, therefore, has wider profit margins.
Do you have it clearer now?
What are the benefits of including info products in your online business?
You already know that I am a true lover of info products. I am convinced that they represent a revolution for the training world and that they are the basis of internet business.
Why?
The truth is that I am not short of reasons:
- The path of info products is a real alternative to start a business that does not depend directly on the time you spend with a client. It is the ideal solution for knowledge workers (freelancers, consultants, programmers, writers, etc.) who feel like slaves to their business and need to climb without working longer hours.
- They allow the development of a continuous income system. This means having not only more time flexibility but also economic. And, in the end, that financial freedom is called lifestyle.
- There are no distribution costs for your product, saving you headaches and money. Profit margins are wide.
- The customer immediately enjoys their purchase and you get paid immediately, without having to hunt for bills month after month.
- The production cost of the info products is relatively low. Thanks to that, we can be bootstrapper businesses and that’s something that I love. In other words, we don’t need to go to banks or investors. This business model is powered by its own sales and it will allow you to create a profitable business with little investment.
- There is a huge opportunity in the market for the sale of knowledge. Educational demand is growing at a rate of 17% and in Europe, only 2% of the market is digitized.
- Infoproduct-based businesses have a beautiful purpose: to help others with something we like and enjoy doing.
All these characteristics make digital products the perfect model to set up a 24x7x365 internet business that generates automatic income on a recurring basis.
Successful Info products: What Kinds of Digital Products Can You Create?
Let’s get down to business. After reading all these benefits, I imagine that the question you have in mind right now is what kind of infoproduct can you create …
The truth is that another of the advantages that I could have added above is the enormous variety of formats in which you have the possibility of delivering your content. If your imagination is always running, you are going to enjoy like a child with this.
I’m going to tell you about the most popular types of info products.
# 1 ELECTRONIC BOOKS OR EBOOKS
This is a fairly easy info product to prepare. In fact, I always recommend it to those who are going to start for the first time in this knowledge sale.
You don’t have to do anything too extensive or complex. Think about the main problem your ideal client has and prepare an index with the points that you should try to teach them how to solve it step by step. Then write your guide, include an image or an outline, and you’re done. In less than a week you can have your PDF ready to start selling.
# 2 AUDIOBOOKS
Another type of digital products that we can have are audio books.
The podcast is succeeding because it has the great advantage of being multitasking, so it is a very comfortable format for users to consume while on public transport or doing sports.
You can prepare a course in audio format or even offer an audiobook in addition to your ebook. You will only need a good microphone and record yourself in a quiet environment so that the audio quality is good.
Don’t waste too much time trying to incorporate music or jingles , like radio shows do. People who buy from you are interested in content, so a brief introduction to each episode is more than enough. Then get down to business.
# 3 AUTORESPONDERS
This type of info product is also very simple and suitable for beginners.
These are courses that are delivered in dosages by email. For example, one lesson a day for a month.
The advantage? As the student receives the content little by little, you do not need to wait to have the entire agenda prepared before launching.
# 4 ONLINE COURSES
Here we are complicating the level a bit.
To create an online course you will need to work with videos , either in audio slide format or by putting yourself in front of the camera.
A more interesting type of format would be the one that mixes the videos with the speaker’s slides because it allows you to have more contact with the student and gives the feeling of a face-to-face class, despite the distance. However, this requires some mounting, but you could do it yourself with some software like Camtasia Studio, iMovie, Final Cut or any other mounting program.
The greatest complexity of this type of infoproduct is that you will need an online platform to host the course, either it’s own or from third parties. My recommendation is to ALWAYS use your own platform. If you work with third parties, the content, the data of your customers and the purchase process will no longer be in your hands with the risks that this entails.
-> And the interaction with the students?
Here are several ways to do it. If you have these video formats that I just explained and upload them to your own platform, you can enable the comment thread in each of them and generate conversations.
Another option is to create a forum, a private Facebook group, or simply use email.
At a more advanced level, to get interactivity with students you can also use webinars (here below I tell more details about them).
Or better yet, you can enable all these channels and make the conversation with your customers as easy as possible.
# 5 LIVE WEBINARS
I have told you a lot about webinars and why you need to start using them as soon as possible. These live conferences are a very valuable resource to include in any product launch strategy, as they have a very high conversion rate.
But, in addition, webinars are an info product in itself. Prepare a series of 6 or 8 webinars on a particular topic and sell them as a workshop. If you use a tool like GoToMeeting you will be able to record each session and also send it to the students so they can consult it whenever they want.
# 6 MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTIONS IN PRIVATE COMMUNITIES
This is one of the most difficult types of info products to prepare, but if you do it right it is very interesting economically and is great for creating community among your customers.
Members pay a monthly subscription to a closed community where they receive plenty of quality content.
# 7 SOFTWARE-BASED DIGITAL PRODUCTS
Increasingly, our day to day is becoming more digital, with databases and needs to automate business processes. If you are a developer, you have a great opportunity .
You can create WordPress templates, develop applications or plugins, launch productized web development services … Let your imagination run wild because there are a thousand options to exploit.
# 8 MENTORING
This is one of the most advanced steps and would be the closest thing to traditional consulting. You can do individual or group mentoring and it consists of accompanying your clients to achieve a goal that you have already achieved.
You already have the info product: what next?
It is time to launch it …
Some of the strategies I advise you to start reading about are these:
- The Product Launch Formula Jeff Walker, a strategy based on 4 videos: 3 + 1 value content focused directly on sale.
- The minimum viable funnel to generate sales and recurring subscribers.
- The webinars automated and sales messages.
- The affiliate marketing and distributing third party hearings.
You have doubts?
I will try to answer in a single sentence the 5 questions that I am most asked about info products.
- When is the best time to launch digital products? Now. Go for it and you will perfect it with the experience.
- Can I make an info product if I am not a super expert? Yes. And if you feel the opposite is that you need to overcome the Impostor Syndrome.
- Can I sell services and info products at the same time? Yes, and they are also complementary. Selling services will teach you to be a better professional and trainer with your info products.
- What price should I put on my infoproduct? Set the value based on the transformative value you offer to your customers and not the length or format of the content.
- Why can’t I sell my info products? Surely because you are making one of these 4 deadly mistakes.