Information Product Marketing

Information products are powerful tools. If E-bay is the “CD” of your business portfolio, then information products are the stocks. They are either hot or they are cold. Information products are powerful tools that simply “create” money. You put together a system that sets you up as the expert. From there, you sell kits, tapes, books, etc about the topic of your business. You do need some good marketing strategy to sell these items though. Here are some critical points about selling information products on-line:

1. The average person sees a product 28 times before buying it on-line.

2. The basis of any advertising program is repetition. One-shot deals don’t work. This is often why flyers and short-term newspaper ads yield bad results.

3. You need to divide the random observers or visitors from qualified and interested buyers. You need to start a mailing list, and send out newsletters. This informs your qualified buyers that you are there and keeps them interested in your program.

4. Open the door to your public. Ask them to give input and discuss the product at length with them. Make your sellers feel that you care about them and that your product IS worthwhile.

5. Make your newsletters personable, don’t give your subscribers the hard sell, sell softly and talk about yourself and your life with your potential clients.

6. Work WITH your clients. You should talk to dissatisfied customers and get their view of your product.

Below is a list of profitable on-line products for information sales:

1. Home Businesses

2. Medical Products

3. Sex Products

4. Testing Products

5. Legal Products

6. Cooking/Food Products

7. Gambling Products

8. Gaming Products


Information marketing is a business that has very clear objectives and steps when it comes to selling. A basic diagram is available below:


The most important point to remember is how to move people from one part of the pyramid to the next and ultimately to the buyer’s area. The mailing list and communication is the method of facilitation for this business. When potential buyers respond to ads, you HAVE to be there to talk to them. Using services like answering services or “virtual offices” simply disguise who you are. You are selling your business, so talk to your customers and sell your product yourself. Most people know it is a small operation. Stop hiding behind your website or advertisement, only large retailers and corporations can do that.

I will list below the most common mistakes information sellers make on the
internet:

1. Selling information products you are not an expert on

2. Refusal to talk to or face customers one-on-one

3. Improper website design

4. Creating a façade to hide behind with 1-800 numbers, and dead phone lines

5. Failure to engage the customer directly and follow-up on leads

You can’t sell information you are not an expert on. It comes across in the information product. Your customers will ask for refunds. Your speech and e-mails will not be convincing. This is a nightmare. Don’t try this!

Refusing to talk to potential customers is a death nail. You are doing this because you are providing a garbage product. A strong product has a good history, low or now returns and you can talk to customers afterwards. If your product is shoddy or you are unsure, give it away first and test the waters. Poor customer feedback will destroy your reputation. It is better to test the market with any market before selling it. This is a critical point you simply must understand.

Improper website design is also a common mistake. Please note customers do not like to make a lot of clicks on websites. This means your newsletter must gather information in what Google calls the “hot zone” of the screen. Users should be able to input their e- mail address without additional clicks. Users should be able to input their addresses, purchase and perform any or other critical business activities with a minimum of additional clicks. Small business owners need to wake up. People will spend 10 minutes on Ford.com figuring this stuff out. They will not do it on simpletesting.com. Let them purchase, sign-up for newsletters and anything almost immediately after visiting your website. You will be more successful, I promise. Let’s recap these items:

1. Put your mailing list sign-up in the Goggle “hot zone” of the screen

2. Put your purchase link in the Google “hot zone” of the screen

3. Always create a mailing list sign-up

Creating a façade to hide behind creates confusion and “space” between yourself and your customers. For instance, customers respond by calling your 800 number with live operators but you e-mail them from a yahoo address! That’s ridiculous. Facades need to be complete in order to work, and they seldom inspired trust. Trust is exactly what you are trying to build. You should simply not do this. Talk to your customers one-on-one and watch the sales come in.
Following up leads and creating a customized response for inquiries is key for sales. Call your people and let them call you. This seems contrary to the big sales mentality. Trust is the cornerstone for internet sales. Open the door to inquiries and you open the door to sales. It is that simple. Once you build this trust, you’ll be able to send out one e-mail to you list at 7pm, and in the morning when you wake up, you’ll have $1000 in your Paypal account. It is that simple.

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