I’m sorry if this sound like bad news, but the best time to start marketing your products is some months ago.
But all is not lost. Let’s see how you can market your digital products.
Promoting digital products is easier these days. Look, everyone and their toddlers are online doing one thing or another. It means the internet is more active now than ten years ago. But people have many things to see, and your products need a lot of attention to get sales. In this post, I will explain how to do it.
If you want a quick answer and solution to how to market your product, this is it:
Paid ads.
That’s it. How you go about it will determine the results you will get.
Ads are expensive
Ads are annoying. I hate when they pop up on YouTube videos.
Ads are fickle. They only last for the period you pay for them.
There are better strategies, and you will read all of them in this post. In fact, you can start with nothing except internet connection and the desire to read and act on the recommeded tips in this posts.
How to Promote Digital Products
So, to begin to sell these internet people, let’s get a few details down
You should have all or most of these things
- A landing page
- A method to get people’s attention to your product even when you’re asleep.
- Products or the idea of the product
- A marketing funnel or free content
Let’s talk about each of these things
#1. A landing page
In layperson’s terms, this is like your store in a city. If you tell me about your product and at the time, I’m in Yankari, you, on the other hand, are in London. If you send me a link to your product and I click, it will take me to a landing page. Or, if I search for your product online, I will see a link to your page to find your product. This place is called a landing page or sales page.
There are many guides on creating a landing page, but this post is not about that.
So, step one, you need a landing page.
Your landing page can be a simple WordPress page. You can use Wix or even Gumroad.
Before you learn how to promote a digital product, you need a place where direct people, a place where the sales will happen.
#2. A method to get people’s attention
Well, I just use a long phrase to describe ‘marketing.’
Now that you have a landing page, how do you plan to get people to see it?
There are many ways to do it.
- Advertising
- Content marketing
If you use ads, you will pick a medium and pay a certain amount. You can do Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Google ads. Each has its dynamics and costs. They are expensive but faster ways to get people to notice your product. This doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn how to advertise digital products.
With content, you’re introducing your products gradually. It’s like shooting a hundred or thousand videos on youtube about a specific topic and subtly telling them about what you sell. Look at this blog, for instance. You might have seen me talking about my SEO services. Scroll down, and you will see my books. If you’re a fan of thrillers, you might be tempted to click on the page. That’s an example of using consent to sell. But you have to be strategic. Don’t talk too much about your product or people will leave. Let them find check it out if they’re interested. Don’t beat them hard to do it.
Using content is slower and takes time. How many people will see this in a day? How many people will click on the books I have written? However, this is passive. I don’t need to come back to edit unless something is wrong. Some of this post’s readers will return to it and bookmark it. Some will know I understand the topic and be curious about my sample.
A good example I used to show people is television and blogs like Hubspot. Let’s say you’re watching a TV show such as Love Island. You can watch it for free, but they will take a commercial break every thirty minutes. In other words, they will entertain you for 80 -90 percent and sell you 10 -20% of the time.
It’s a win-win. You keep returning for the entertainment (or lessons), and they keep selling to you.
How to Promote a Digital Product Using Content
These are the medium you can use
- Videos, such as TikTok, youtube
- Blog
- Audio such as radio or Podcast
- Written content such as guest blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Newsletter
For more details, read the other post on how to market a product for startup
Read: How to increase sales online
The main work is how to get people to go to your page on those platforms, which is the purpose of this post: How to market digital products
#3. Product or an idea for a product
You see, I haven’t even mentioned the product yet, which is deliberate. Some people think they must have a product before marketing or creating content. The answer is no. You can start marketing or selling the idea before releasing the product.
I have seen this many times. Creators will put a link out for preorders and they get sales.
Start creating content or marketing your product before your product is ready.
Think like people who make careers out of this by becoming content creators and offering advertising opportunities to startups or product owners like you. This is part of influencer marketing.
The idea is to have many interested audiences before you launch a product. If you have many followers or influence, you can get people to pay for your product. It all depends on how much they trust you. You can read up on my beginner’s guide to content marketing.
You need a product. This is pretty straightforward.
If all you have is an idea for the product, you can get people to preorder. But before you can get them to put their money into something you haven’t created, you need to build that trust. And that requires sales skills, honesty, and a convincing product/idea.
Free platforms to sell digital products
Thinking platforms you can use to sell your products
- Patreon
- Gumroad
- Amazon
- Buy Me A Coffee
- Selar.co
- Shopify
- Thinkific
- Draft2digital
- DeviantArt
#4. A sales funnel or free content
Learn how to promote your digital product by answering this question:
If you go on vacation for a month, will your product sell?
It’s a digital product. It can be put online. You’re probably not doing it right if you can’t sell it without constant monitoring.
Look at this blog, for instance. Will the blog sells thing if I am away?
Yes, I don’t need to be there every time someone checks out and buys my book.
So far, this blog has about a hundred posts. They are all free. Whether they sell my product or not, they will be free. Do you have a medium or channel like that?
The best part of promoting digital products using this method is that it doesn’t cost too much once you’ve started. I’m not spending more than last week on this blog.
How to market digital products: General tips
You have already understood all the basic things about marketing your product successfully. However, it’s important to tell you some things you should know. The tips come from someone who has been trying to sell on the internet for years.
You can ignore them if they don’t apply to you.
Use Stories
Stories sell if they are done well.
- Nike isn’t selling shoes. They are selling you inspiration. Be inspired. Just do it. You can see this in their ads, banners, and pictures.
- Apple says, be different. Apple product users always feel like they are in a class of their own. It’s in the ads, slogan, and design.
Joe Sugarman said it better when he said, sell with emotion, not logic.
Example: buy my book. I wrote with hundred of experience as a ghostwriter. It’s the best thing I have written.
Meh.
Example 2: Read the story of Natalie, an ambitious woman whose first mistake is jumping into a relationship with a man who is as pretentious as a green snake.
This might be interesting to someone who reads this type of fiction.
Hire Professionals
Hire people to create your landing page, sales pitch, ads, or newsletter.
If you want to start a blog or website, hire people to website designers and Search Engine Optimization professionals to help.
It saves time and cost. Unless you don’t have the money, you shouldn’t cut costs here.
You might be tempted to do these things on your own.
Doing it yourself is just like investing in the skill. It might work, or it might not. Either way, you will waste time or learn. It’s usually not both. You might waste time but fail to get it the second or third time.
Create free content
Contrary to your belief, people will survive without your products. They don’t care about what you have to sell until they’re really convinced. There are probably a hundred and a half competitors for that same product. So you need attention, and it should be organic to ensure people will trust you.
This is how you win in a competitive and volatile market like the internet. If you want to play long-term games, the best thing you can do is create free content.
Whatever medium you choose, stick at it for the long run. Whether it’s YouTube, Podcast, or other social media, continue to give free content. This is the way to create loyal subscribers who would spread the word about your products, depending on the quality and how well they trust you.
Start A Blog
It’s easy to begin. If done right, you can do Search Engine Optimization. If you’re not sure, you can reach out to me using the service page at the top or the contact form.
A blog is easy to manage. Many people can share it or come around to spend time on it. There is no distraction on your blog expcet the ones you add on it. When someone is on your page, they don’t get to see your competitor in the same view unlike social media.
I wrote about the benefits of blogging. You should check it out.
So, that’s how to market your digital products.
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