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Digital product marketing: the basics

Working out how to do digital product marketing

Digital product marketing is the same as any other kind of marketing, but it has its own quirks. I won’t be talking about getting to know your audience here; hopefully, you’ve done that already. Analysing your customer base and thinking about the type of products they need helps you ensure you create the right digital products.

Here are a few things to think about when you’re marketing your digital products:

Create a compelling product description

Good product descriptions help your customers understand what they’re buying and what they’ll get out of it. They’re typically relatively short and are designed for people with a good idea of what they’re looking for and need to know if your product fits the bill. You can offer technical information if relevant but put most of the effort into telling your customer what your product is and helping them imagine using it.

Write a landing page

A landing page is a standalone page on your website focusing on one product. They’re great for digital products as they allow you to expand on the information you provide in your product description for people who might not be sure whether your product is for them. Where product descriptions are for people who know roughly what they want, landing pages help people who know what problem they need to solve but not how to do it.

Plan your launch

Even if you think big launches are too stressful (I agree), setting a target for getting your digital product out into the world is a good idea. It stops you from faffing over whether your product is perfect (there’s no such thing). Even if you choose a random date, it helps you work backwards to build up excitement before it becomes available. You can plan your marketing around your product to educate your audience and build excitement by sharing what’s going on behind the scenes.

Tell a story

Storytelling is a great way to market anything because it helps your audience engage with what you want to tell them. It shows them you understand what it’s like to be in their shoes. For example, a post that tells a story about the lowest point in your business journey and the revelation that helped you solve it is far more powerful than “I’ve got this brilliant new product, and you need it”. You can use storytelling everywhere: your product descriptions, sales pages, posts and emails. Highlight the pain points and benefits but make it fun.

Think about platforms

If you want to sell products, you need to make it easy for your customers to buy. You can send them to your website or create a shop on Facebook (unfortunately, Instagram only lets you sell physical products just now). You might want to go to a third-party site such as Amazon or Etsy.

The platforms you choose will influence the type of marketing you can do. You’ll have more freedom on your website, but each third-party site has its own rules.

If you plan to add digital products to your business, I can help you create and market them too. I’ll write blogs, emails and product descriptions and repurpose them to make your content go further. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

If you want to add digital products to your Christmas shop, sign up for festive marketing emails here. You can also sign up to receive my monthly emails packed with helpful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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Does your business need digital products?

If you, like me, have a service-based business or even if you sell physical products, you might wonder whether digital products are worth the effort. After all, you offer your service because you want to do the work rather than because you want to create an online shop. I used to feel the same until the pandemic when my business was hit by homeschooling and customers who wanted to conserve their funds for essentials like keeping the lights on.

Here’s what I learned from giving digital products a try.

Digital products are cheap to create

Depending on how you go about things, digital products are incredibly cheap to create. The main cost is your time in creating the content. If you already write a blog, you can repurpose it and turn it into an eBook.

You can use free graphic design apps like Canva to make everything look good, although if you’re going to use video, you might want to invest in some kit.

You don’t have to deal with handling or delivery

When you’re first getting started with digital products, you’ll need to work out how to create an online shop. I use a WooCommerce plugin and Stripe to take payments for mine. Once you’ve sorted that, your shop can send your products by email without you being involved. No packaging costs or trips to the Post Office.

Best of all, people can buy your products and start using them when you’re asleep.

You can share your expertise

If you already offer brochures or eBooks as lead magnets, digital products can be the next step up. They help you to share your expertise and earn you some money at the same time. You can offer helpful information that goes further than the stuff you give away for free and help your customers get results.

Your products can be a marketing tool as well as an income stream.

Digital products are great for beginners

Sometimes, people will sign up for your email list or follow you on social media because they know they’ll need you eventually, but they’re not ready yet. They might need to make money first or to learn what works for them.  You can create digital products to help them get started with ideas and techniques, like my eBook ’50 blog post ideas for your business’.

It can also help you in the long run by giving you customers who know what they want when they come to you.

Your earnings aren’t limited by time

When you work with clients one to one, your work is limited by the number of hours available. When my kids were small, I could only work when I had childcare, or they were asleep. (Not ideal when you’re exhausted and still begging your tiny humans to go to bed.)

You can create digital products when you’re ready and send them automatically. You can also create courses that you deliver to a group at a time to suit you. That means your work stops being one-to-one.

Myth: you won’t have to work

I have one caveat: creating and selling digital products is still work. It’s just a different structure that can work around your life if you need it to. You’ll still need to work at creating products, building an audience and understanding what they need so you can make the right things.

If you want to share your knowledge in eBooks, checklists and guides, I’m here to help. I’ll help you to repurpose your existing content or write the words to create brand-new products to help your customers.

If you want to add digital products to your business, I can help. I’ll write new eBooks and repurpose your existing content to turn it into digital products that your customers will love. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with helpful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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5 ways to turn your blog into digital products

Digital products - creation in progress.
Photo by ANTONI SHKRABA from Pexels

I resisted creating digital products for ages, mainly because I’m a service-based business and I love working with people one to one. There are many business gurus who will tell me it’s inefficient, but it makes me happy. At the same time, I realise that there are people who need something different. Who aren’t ready to work with me yet but might be one day. Lockdown changed my view too. I realised that there was very little point in me talking about staying visible if I didn’t give people tools to help them. It prompted me to create an eBook that people could buy, even if money was tight, that would help them to DIY their content.

If you’re ready to create some digital products but don’t know where to start, here’s my quick rundown of some products you can create from information that’s already hanging around in your blog.

Turn it into an eBook

Your blog posts share your expertise and helps your audience and an eBook does the same. You might wonder why anyone would pay for an eBook when they can read your blog for free. The answer is that it’s more convenient; all the information is in one place. I created my blog topics eBook using several different posts and adding new content. I’m turning a series of blogging tips into a book too – sign up for my email list and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Create a course

I know everyone seems to have a course these days, but your audience will buy from you because they know you. They’ll also pay for the benefit of being able to ask you questions (without feeling silly) and get guidance that’s tailored to them. It’s just like an eBook except you can help them put the knowledge into practice. You can create an online version, offer face to face training or both, it’s up to you.

Make some checklists

You might feel awkward about charging people for these, but they can be helpful. Turn a blog post with a step-by-step process into a checklist, then people can follow the steps and tick them off as they go. It’ll help them to stay organised and avoid overwhelm. You could sell them alongside other products, like a course or eBook, or even use them as a freebie for your email list and make them paid later.

Put together a template

Templates are brilliant for people who are trying something new and want a bit of help. Sometimes turning a blog post into a template is easy. If you’re talking about what to put in an email newsletter you can create a template that shows people how that might look. You might need to be more creative; if you’re talking about creating something decorative, could you make a template or pattern to give other crafters a guide?

Create a bundle

You might end up creating several products that help your customers to achieve one result, in different ways. People could sign up for a course and get a checklist and template as part of their materials. You could add them to an eBook as a bonus or a thank you to VIP customers. Alternatively, you could just advertise them as one big bundle; you only have to make one sale, but you earn more from it.

Are you ready to create digital products or start a blog? I can help with that. Take a look at my blog writing packages or book a call here and let’s have a chat about how I can help you.

Would you love to get more content writing and marketing tips like these straight to your inbox? Would you like to know when my book for blogging beginners is ready? You would? Then sign up to my mailing list using the form below. I hate spam and you can unsubscribe any time. You’ll even get a free copy of my eBook ‘Stop hiding your business’ as a thank you from me.