Info Product Coaching
August 11, 2008
If you’re looking for someone to coach you to create and market your own info products, I have some suggestions. There are a lot of people out there who claim they can help you to create, market and sell information products. For those looking for a good coach, this is a problem.
Here are some things to think about if you’re looking for someone to coach you in the field:
1. Find someone competent. This can be a problem. There are people out there who have NO BUSINESS coaching people in this field. Some have no experience. Others have no teaching ability. How do you find the right info product coach?
Ask the people you’re considering if: they have been successful marketing their own info products. If not, you have a problem. Ask them: Have you coached other people to success? If the answer is NO, take a pass. In my case, my most successful client has been Bob Bly.
2. Look for a person with integrity. Ask around. There are a lot of people with bad reputations that you don’t want to get anywhere near. Use Google to look for information about your potential coach. Don’t believe the testimonials that someone puts up. Those can be “massaged.”
Do your due diligence. Ask any and everyone you can find. Ask those people who are posted as their testimonials. Don’t even believe the people who you speak to in person. They can be set up. Ask for their numbers. If they refuse to give them, think again.
3. Find a personality match. No matter how successful an information marketer you work with it’s key that you work with someone you can get along with. If not, the process will be PAINFUL. One of the ways I’ve found to make sure that this doesn’t happen to me with my clients is to require them to attend a Fred Info Bootcamp. After spending a week with someone, both of us will know if we can get along in a longer term arrangement.
If you feel the least bit uncomfortable, it’s probably good to listen to that internal voice. Many people will ignore this important element of selecting a coach. I would NOT suggest you follow their lead.
If you’re interested in accelerating your progress in the field of selling info products, then get a coach. BUT, get a good one. One that is honest, knows their stuff and that you can get along with.
Public Speaking for Info Product Marketers
August 6, 2008
If you’re an information product marketer, then you NEED to know how to speak in front of groups. Unfortunately, 99% of all speaker training is “trapped” in an old model.
The VAST majority of speaker training revolves around teaching people a system. No matter what system you learn, it will be very difficult for you to look natural. The best speaking training revolves around showing people how to be themselves.
Think about it for a minute. The speakers that you have found most interesting and engaging. What did they all have in common? If you’re like most people, the answer is they appeared to be completely THEMSELVES when they were on stage.
The single most important key to learning this skill has to do with improvising. If you learn and understand how to improvise you are well on your way to learning how to speak like a pro. I’ve speaking professionally for almost 25 years. I’ve also been doing improv comedy for about 20 of those years.
Whenever I speak, I always get people asking me: “How to you speak so NATURALLY?” My answer is always: Improv!
I’ve put together a one week program where people, no matter what field they are in can learn to speak like a pro. No taught gestures, no prepared movements, no memorizing a prepared text. Those things just don’t work if you’re trying to look natural.
In a couple of months I’ll be doing my first formal speaker training. It will be held at my house in Las Vegas and limited to a maximum of 6 people.
If you’re serious about learning how to speak like a true speaking professional, you need to attend this event.
The site that explains all about it is: THE SPEAKING SCHOOL.
I look forward to seeing you there!
Taking Care of Your Voice
August 5, 2008
As an information marketing business owner, you’ll need to take care of your voice. If you do seminars or record your own audio programs, your voice will be an integral part of your products.
That being the case, you’ll want to make sure and follow some simple rules to “protect” your voice from harm. I advise you to take care of your voice and follow these rules.
1. Drink water when you speak.
Whether you are speaking to a group or to just one other person in an interview situation, it’s important for you to drink water. Water is to your throat what oil is to a car engine. It’s a lubricant. You’d never want to run your car without oil or your voice without water. Never use HOT or COLD water. Keep it room temperature to properly take care of your voice.
2. Don’t drink alcohol or caffeine.
Drinking alcohol and things like coffee will have a deleterious effect on your voice in both the short and long term. There are a lot of sophisticate medical explanations that I can give you, but in short, just don’t do it.
3. Don’t talk when you don’t need to.
When you are not speaking, try and give your voice plenty of time to rest. There was a time when I was on the road speaking over 100 times a year. During that time it became very important NOT to speak when not on stage. This will give your vocal cords time to rest.
4. Never yell.
It’s one of the worst things you can do for your voice. Never do it. If you like to go to college sporting events, be careful. You may be tempting yourself with your favorite team!
There you have it. Those of are some of the most important things you need to know to take care of your voice. Take care of your voice and your voice will take care of you.
Selling Info Products
August 4, 2008
Selling info products can be fun. To be done correctly, it will require some work on your part. I have always been taught that marketing is everything you do to get the phone to ring. Selling begins when you pick up the phone.
That language is now a bit dated.
In the selling of info products, particularly online we could change the definition to: marketing is everything you do to drive traffic to your site. Selling begins once they land on your site.
Selling info products now is very different than it was 10 years ago. Most intelligent marketers who are selling info products still use both methods, but the bulk of their efforts lie in the online marketing world.
In order to know how well you’re doing in the selling of your info products, you need a means of tracking your efforts. This is best done with Google Analytics. It’s a free service provided by Google to give you some key statistics you’ll want to track to analyze your efforts.
You’ll first want to know how many unique visitors are coming to your site. You’ll also want to know what percentage of those folks you are closing to take ACTION. That can be both the purchasing of a product and the opting in to receive your emails.
Your final element that you’ll want to track is your AVV. Your average visitor value. This will allow you to figure out how much each customer is worth who comes to your site.
This is incredibly valuable as we now live in a PAY PER CLICK world. Knowing how much a customer is worth will allow you to know how much you should be wiling to pay to get them to your site.
I would suggest that you never pay more to get them there than what they are worth. So if the average visitor value to your site is $1, never pay more than a dollar per click.
Big companies may be willing to LOSE money (initially) to get someone to a site, but that should NOT be done with someone like you or me.
Information Product Marketing
August 1, 2008
Just because you have or have created an information product doesn’t mean it’s going to sell. Once it’s done you have to concentrate on how to market your information products. Without marketing, you won’t make any money.
The BIG question is HOW?
The answer is it DEPENDS on what you’re selling AND your own skill sets. Different types of information products will require different types of marketing.
You’ll also NOT want to concentrate on those methods of marketing that are uncomfortable or don’t come easy to you.
There are basically two types of ways to market information products: PAID and UNPAID.
Paid marketing techniques include using Google Adwords and other forms of pay per click advertising.
Unpaid marketing for your information products include writing articles, blogging and giving speeches and seminars.
If you’re not the type to enjoy public speaking then the last two mentioned above probably won’t work for you.
As you accumulate all the possible methods of marketing for your information products, you’ll want to concentrate your efforts where there is a fit between what will work and what works for YOU.
Information Marketing Articles
July 31, 2008
Articles are an excellent way for you to market and promote your own info products. Information marketing articles are a perfect tool for the info product seller who wants to maximize their
There are a ton of information marketing articles out there. Many don’t give you a whole lot. most articles on the topic are geared to help the author accomplish their goals rather than helping the reader get what he or she wants.
I think this is the wrong way to go about things.
Instead, I would have you read information marketing articles that actually give you solid useable content about how to do things.
I have always had the philosophy that if you give people what you promise them and what they truly need, you’re going to get what you need in return. There are very few information marketing articles that provide you with anything but fluff.
That’s the big problem.
I only wish that the search engines could screen out this kind of material and make it difficult or impossible for people to produce a lot of junk and get rated highly in the search engines. At this point in time, that’s not yet possible.
To screen out which information marketing articles you should take seriously, do the following:
1. Read the article and ask yourself: Is this person trying to help ME or THEM?
2. When you’re done, ask yourself: Can I now DO something that I couldn’t before?
3. Ask Yourself: Am I closer to achieving MY goals as a result of reading this article?
The answers you get to those questions will help you figure out whose articles on information marketing you should continue to read in the future. I teach this and other concepts at the Fred Info Bootcamp. I’d love to have you attend!
Sell Information Products
July 30, 2008
To sell information products you’ll have to do a number of things:
1. An offer
When people go to your site, you’ll have to make them an offer to buy something. Many people simply list their products without making a sincere effort to get someone to BUY something. The business of selling info products is all about getting someone to make the purchase, so don’t leave this step out.
2. Something unique to offer
If all you’re offering people is something they have seen before in another info product, then your chances of making a sale are pretty low. Take the aspects of what makes YOUR info product unique and highlight them. This is key to your success.
3. A Fair Price
You’ll need to offer your information product at a reasonable price. It should not be priced either too high OR too low. Whatever price you choose, you’ll want to test it to make sure that you are maximizing your revenue. Any good information product needs to be priced correctly.
4. Testimonials
You’ll need comments from those who have bought your product in the past. Get them to give you comments about the product or service that you’re offering. Make sure that the ones that you pick paint your info product in the best possible light.
5. A Reason to Buy NOW
There is so much clutter out there on the internet that people who come to your site need to be given a compelling reason to make the purchase of your information product now. Why should they do it NOW? Tell them and make your case as strongly as you can. For many, you’ll only have ONE SHOT!
How to Create Info Products
July 29, 2008
How to create info Products? Great question. The answer is a little bit more difficult. Creating great information products requires a number of things to be in place.
Here’s a list:
1. A sincere interest on the part of the person creating the info product. People can smell it when you are creating a product just to make money. Products that are produced for both passion AND profit tend to sell the best.
2. A market that is interested in spending their money to buy your information product.
3. An outline of all the topics that you’ll use to create you info products.
4. A clearly defined marketing plan for continuing to sell your info products.
5. A clear path for creating additional info product to sell to this group once they have purchased the initial product.
How to create info products? Follow the list above and you’ll be on your way!
Free Ebooks
July 27, 2008
Give away your stuff for free? Are you kidding. NO, not at all!
Free Ebooks are a perfect way to get your info products out to your target market and hopefully generate a good bit of buzz.
Most inexperienced info marketers will ask why it makes sense to GIVE STUFF AWAY FOR FREE. A question like that indicates that the person does not understand the concept of “back-end” or lifetime customer value.
You need not make money on the first product that you offer to your market. And, if you are going to give something away it makes sense that it be an ebook. Free ebooks cost you NOTHING.
You don’t have to give something away that has any hard cost so free ebooks are the perfect option for you!
It may not be the best idea in every case, but every info product marketer should at least give serious consideration to a free ebook.
If you do decide to go that route, make sure that you have a few things in place:
1. Get a person’s email address in exchange for the free ebook.
2. Don’t give away crap. Make it a decent ebook. If you don’t everyone will assume that everything else you produce isn’t worth paying for either.
3. Generously sprinkle bounceback offers throughout your ebook.
Creating Your Own Info Products
July 23, 2008
When you get started as an information marketer, you have some choices to make. One of the first will be whether to create your own products or to license or “use” someone else’s.
I suggest you create your own.
Not that there is anything wrong with licensing or affiliating with other people’s products. It’s just that when YOU own your content, you are in greater control of the process and you are building a business that will have some equity value.
The products YOU create will be saleable at some point in the future if you ever decide to sell your business or a portion of it.
Creating your own info products can be intimidating if you have never done it before. When you get started, you are faced with some choices. Should you do a book or ebook? Should you first do an audio or video product? Or, should you do some kind of event like a seminar to get started.
My suggestion for the novice is to do an audio program.
Within the category of audio, you now have some choices. You can do one of three things to create your audio program:
1. Sit in a studio (or somewhere like a studio) and talk into a microphone.
Even if you are a VERY gifted speaker, this is tough to pull off effectively. Even someone like Tony Robbins is tough to listen to doing a “solo” act where he is talking to you via a studio recording.
2. Record a seminar or other event.
This is a good option provided you make sure that you repeat the questions when asked and to have good recording equipment set up that will allow the listener to clearly hear the audience questions.
3. Record an interview.
This is my suggestion for what MOST people should do first. Although many people aren’t expert interviewers (if you want to learn HOW to interview people like a pro go to: http://www.ExpertInterviewer.com), it’s a good place to start. You can either do it in person or over the phone and you can ask someone a list of questions that you have pre-prepared.
-
Subscribe to RSS
