Have you ever wanted to create a digital product but didn’t know how, or what kind of product you would create? This is the blog post you need to read then from start to finish. Introducing digital products to my photography business was one of the best time investments I’ve made and I wish I had done it sooner.
The online ecommerce industry is worth trillions of dollars, and you’re going to want to get a piece of that pie. We’re in an age now where traditional education doesn’t have to be a requirement. If you choose to have your own business online, you CAN do it a lot easier now than a decade ago.
Because let me tell you, there ARE people out there who are willing to pay for what you know. Selling what you know isn’t taking advantage of people. And you don’t need to wait until you’re an expert in order to start creating digital products and selling. You just need to be one step ahead of someone else.
Where To Start
I highly recommend to star with some market research. Is there a question you get ALL the time? Let’s look at some examples…
I always get complimented on my photo editing. And people would ask me what app I use to edit my photos. I also know this is a very popular topic as I wrote a blog post about the 6 top editing apps and it’s done really well traffic wise on my website. So it made sense for me to release my Lightroom presets and boy have people responded to them well!
I also knew that a lot of people struggled with email pitching. Including myself. I struggled to wrap my head around where to start, what to include, what not to include….so I came up with an email template, tested it and seemed to get a good response. When I would talk about pitching, my audience would tell me how they KNOW they need to do it, but something is holding them back. Maybe the work involved, maybe confidence…maybe other things.
So I brought out an ebook on How To Pitch Using Instagram giving MY strategy and it’s been received really well.
My point is, listen to your audience. See whaat topics they’re responding to on social media or through email marketing. Pin point their struggle and create the solution.
Create Your Outline and Set A Date
It’s all about breaking down the steps into smaller ones when you’re looking at releasing a digital product. Start with outlining the product. If it’s an ebook or digital course, outline the different chapters or modules you’ll want to cover. You can always then go back to your audience and talk more about what you’re PLANNING on covering and then ask if there’s anything else they’d like to see included.
Or if you’re creating a preset, stock photo collection, a creative template, you might want to plan out what will be in that collection, and put together a PDF thanking your customer for their purchase as well as some instructions on how to use the resource.
Make sure you also set a date! Setting a deadline will stop you from procrastinating. Because the longer you put it off, the more money you are missing out on, and the longer people have to wait.
Start Writing!
Yep, you literally just need to start! This means pulling out a Google doc where you made your outline and beginning to write. Make sure you put away distractions and get into the zone so you can focus. You’ll be surprised just how much you can write and how easily the words can come out when you’re focused.
Usually once I’ve finished writing my first draft, I’ll leave it for a few days so I can come back with fresh eyes. Don’t rush the creative process. There might be something you’ve missed, or something else that inspires you that you want to add in.
If you’re creating a course, preset, any templates, schedule out your creative work. For example if you’re filming for a course, plan dates where you will film specific modules. Keep to a strict timeline and make sure you’ve planned ahead.
Design and Branding
I design my ebooks in Canva. It’s the easiest most user friendly program and is totally free. Sure, you can use Adobe Photoshop or Indesign, but these programs are a little more complex to use.
You’ll want to ensure the design of the product falls in line with your overall branding experience and how you want your customer to feel when they open it up and read it. Pay attention to all the details. If design isn’t quite your forte, I’d highly recommend to outsource the design to someone who is going to do an incredible job for you!
Packaging and look goes a long way in the perceptive value of the product, so it’s important it looks professional and high quality to match your price.
How to Price Your Digital Product
Remember this…you can always INCREASE the price of your digital product. Usually if people are buying it at a certain price point, you probably have room to increase the price a little. There is no real formula for determining a price. You don’t want to make it too cheap or too expensive.
Too cheap, and people may wonder how much value is REALLY in it. Too expensive and they’ll be turned away. Set it at a price that feels good to you, test it upon your launch and then increase the price at a later date.
Really have a think though as to how much value you’ve put into the product. Is it something that is evergreen? How long did it take you to create? How valuable do you think it is to your audience?
You also want your customers to VALUE your product. It’s like when you receive a freebie…do you read it straight away? Do you do the homework tasks included in it? Do you REALLY take in the information? Whereas something you’ve ACTUALLY paid good money for, you’re much more likely to do the work, pay more attention…you place A LOT more value on it because you’re giving over your earned hard money.
I’d also do a little research into the psychology of pricing. For example, it’s better to price something at $29.95 instead of $30. Why? Because we think we’re getting a better deal (which we are, but 5c isn’t a huge jump).
How to Sell Your Digital Product
There are a few options you’ve got here. In the past I used to use Woo Commerce to sell my digital products but I had a lot of issues with website theme compatibility. For example, I’d have a potential customer and my Woo Commerce would crash, disabling them to purchase my products. And sometimes it’s pretty hard to make them return again to purchase!
The easiest platform I’ve found which is 100% reliable and also gives you amazing marketing stats is Sendowl. This platform costs me around $12 per month but I easily make that up in digital product sales.
Basically, you upload your file/s, set your price, how many downloads you want your customer to have, download expiry…it’s all there. If you also happen to update your digital product, Sendowl has a function where it will send that update to all of your past customers. I’ve used this feature already and it has come in VERY handy!
Basically, if you’re looking for something that is hassle free, easy to use, will never crash on you, do yourself a favour, forget the headache and go with Sendowl.
Plan Your Launch Period
DO NOT randomly launch your product…I REPEAT, do not randomly launch your product! When releasing anything, the more hype you build up, the more you talk about it prior to launch, the more your audience is going to be warmed up and ready to buy.
Let’s look at an example…As I’m currently writing this, I’m in the midst of writing up a new digital product on Influencer Marketing in collaboration with one of my girlfriends. We’re probably nearly 2 months out from launching this product and I’ve already began to talk about it on my Instagram and my email list. Here’s what I’m doing:
- Asking my audience to give me their struggles and questions in relation to this topic
- I’m talking about the pain points that come with influencer marketing and how hard it can be to navigate for small businesses
- I’m showing people a brief outline of what I’ve written so far to give them a glance at what the product will be covering and how it’s going to solve their problems
- I’m telling people it’s going to be jam packed full of value and that this is something they NEED in their life
I’m recognising their pain points, offering a solution and getting them amped up for the release…2 months out! I know sometimes we want to keep what we’re working on a secret, but this can seriously hinder how well our product is received when it comes to launch day.
7 days out from the release, it’s time to amp things up even more! Show them more little snippets of the product, show them how many pages they’ll be receiving in their ebook, or any other bonuses they receive by purchasing it.
You might want to even have a special launch price where it’s at a discounted price for only 24-48 hours, causing people to act swiftly on making a decision to purchase. People panic when time is of the essence and you really can use this to your advantage.
Create Your Sales Funnel/Create Your Opt-In
Ok, now that’s it launched, you’ve hyped up your audience, you’ve made a few sales….now what?
You may already have a sales funnel in place but if you don’t, you’ll want to get one going! A sales funnel could be many things. Here’s an example:
Update your email marketing welcome sequence or create a new opt-in. If your digital product is relevant to your already in place welcome sequence, then pop it into the last email (4th or 5th email) of your sequence and give people the sell.
Otherwise, you might want to create an entirely new opt-in sequence that will enable you to set up the sell. This might mean a few things:
- You’ll want to create a new freebie to entice people over to a new opt-in sequence where you will sell your digital product at the end (because you know, you’ve got to build that know, like, and trust factor first)
- Create a blog post that act as the store front to product. Basically, you’re telling people the what and when, and your digital product gives them the how
Get some paid ads going! Make sure your Facebook pixel is all set up on your website and target those who have visited your website already. Pop it onto Instagram Stories, Facebook itself…whatever channel you’d like to go with.
I also like to optimise my blog posts that relate to the digital product. Or, if I don’t have any, I create a cornerstone blog post that will act as the gateway to the digital product. I’ll usually create a graphic that I can then embed into the blog post that will point them towards the product.
Don’t Stop Promoting
Sometimes we can launch a product, get a few sales in the first week and then forget to promote it. If you want consistent sales coming in, I recommend having a sales calendar or timeline so that you consistently promote it to your audience.
Another great little trick is to have promotion section at the bottom of each email you send. Because I send out emails 3 times a week to my email list, they’re constantly seeing the products I’m promoting and I can easily measure click through’s by viewing the email report to see which products are doing better with my audience.
Your Takeaway
Let’s be honest, if you’re reading this you probably should have released a digital product like…yesterday. Don’t let your fear of no one buying it get in the way of you creating it! Your market research stage is the MOST important and if you do the launch right, you’ll have people snapping it up as soon as you release it.
Having digital products can also help you position yourself as an expert in your industry.
Alright girl, what are you waiting for?! Go forth and create the best damn digital product your customers ever did see!
And if you’ve got a question, feel free to pop it into the comments below and I’ll get back to you!
Chat soon,
Amanda xx
