Is it taking TOO LONG for you to get to market?-
Could this be the real problem:
Just getting online to earn extra money can be confusing and complicated. There are many directions you can go in. Most people start out being an affiliate and recommending other people’s products.
But eventually, if have something that you are interested in or have a special talent for you might consider creating your own products. However, doing so will create a different set of issues.
Some Get too Caught up in Comparison to Others I
And while some of that is Healthy it can also cause you to lose sight of your original goal.
Sometimes the fact that we compare ourselves to others is enough to cause defeat in our mindset and prevent us from moving forward with our product creation. We glance around and see what everyone else is doing and immediately feel inadequate.
In doing so you’re not giving yourself a chance to see if you can compete, and you’ve already quit the race before itís even begun. You never know if you might be able to do things better than your competition.
What happens if you fall short? Does the world come crashing to an end? No. You find ways along the road where you can make improvements. You don’t have to hit it out of the ballpark each and every time. The key is to work on serving others with your knowledge or creative spirit.
Don’t waste time and work yourself up into a panic by looking at someone else’s launch and think things like, oh, their graphics look way more professional than mine, or, ìI wish I’d thought of that topic now mine seems stupid or, look how many followers they have. Now nobody will care what I have to say.
Everyone started out where you are now. As long as you get going and improve over time, that’s all that matters. You have to believe in your ability to earn your place in the market.
How can you do this?
By creating a product that fills a gap in the marketplace. Is there a topic everyoneís asking about but nobody has created a comprehensive guide to yet? Is the stuff already out there outdated or different from the way you do things?
Provide a unique slant on things and your audience will love you for it. Just brainstorm a list of topics or ideas for your niche and then compare it to whatís out there. Analyze what others did and then look at ways to set yourself apart.
Are there good courses or are they all text eBooks? If so perhaps you can create a video course or membership that people log into and get more inspiration. Find the people who promoted the other courses and let them know you have something new and different!
Don’t worry About the Volume or Competition
One thing that always causes self-doubt among people just trying to get started online is looking solely at who else is doing what you want to do and, how many other people are competing in a niche. Now to be clear there are certain areas of a niche that some gurus will warn you to steer clear of too much competition.
But that is not the whole story! If a topic is selling, that means there’ s a hungry audience for it. That’s all you need to consider. The you need to put blinders on when it comes to counting up how many products are on the market, or how many websites are already discussing the exact same topic.
Consumers love learning from more than just one person. Today because it is so easy to do today they are always searching for something new, a new slant to an old process and a new take on an old practice. Think about yourself, for instance. You’re learning online marketing, right? Do you just learn from one person and then stop? Probably not.
In fact, there are probably dozens of other marketers you learn from on a regular basis. Maybe you learn copywriting from one person, and paid ads from another. Or perhaps you have one specialty you like learning about (such as blogging) and you devour tidbits from a dozen or more marketers who all have something to offer you!
This is true in every niche, not just marketing. For example, a pregnant woman will buy several books on pregnancy, not just one comprehensive book. They might buy What to Expect When Youíre Expecting.
But then they also might buy a book on nutrition for pregnancy, one on keeping the romance alive during your pregnancy and another on how to babyproof your house. And these all might come from different authors in the niche!
It ís not just about information, either. Sometimes people like to learn from a variety of others with different teaching styles. Maybe your product will directly compete with someone else’s, but you’re offering video and they only have text or vice versa and the customer wants to read, not watch a video.
Learning styles are a big reason why people develop a preference for one marketer’s product over another. Maybe you teach everything step-by-step, but another marketer generalizes and gives more theory than specific information.
The right thing to do is to worry if there’s not a lot of competition in the marketplace for your niche topic. It might (rarely) mean that you’ve scouted out an untapped resource ñ a goldmine of opportunity.
More often than not, it will mean it’s not a buyer’s market. People simply aren’t spending money to learn this particular topic. If that’s the case, youíre better off going into a highly competitive market online.
With billions of prospective customers on the ënet, itís easy to find your target audience and develop a brand with loyal followers. If your concentration is on helping others, youíll set yourself apart just for the quality you provide, alone!
Even Consider Partnering Up?
One thing that might help you ease your self-doubt is to consider not taking the solo route, but partnering up with other marketers, instead. You’ll want to do this carefully, but it could take a lot of the pressure off of both of you.
You need to find someone who has skills to bring to the table and make sure they’ll are the opposite of whatever skills you have to offer in the product creation process. For example, you might have very good writing skills while the other person excels at graphics and video.
Thatís the perfect pairing for a joint venture. Or maybe you are capable of creating a product, but you donít know anything about launches. You could partner up with someone who has the right connections, knows what a sales letter should include, and has a large list of ready buyers.
You can sometimes find someone in your niche who is willing to take you on and mentor you for a cut of the profits. It means you do the work, but they guide you in it. You share the revenue with them upon the launch.
Strong joint venture partners are going to be very blunt about what you do and donít need to do to make this a success. Instead of getting offended when theyíre blunt, be appreciative that theyíre not wasting your time trying to coddle you and prevent hurt feelings.
Time is money on the ënet, and nobody has time to waste softening the blow. If they come back and say, ìYour sales copy isnít professional,î then thank them and implement any ideas they have, along with researching how to write better copy to level up your game.
If you go the partnership route, make sure you donít get taken advantage of in the process. You have to ensure that whoever youíre connected with has ethics intact and doesnít have a reputation for treating customers, affiliates or partners poorly.
Don’t rely on a partner for every launch you do but use the concept just long enough to get your bearings and discover the right process for product creation through the launch process.
That way, youíll feel confident from that point on, tackling whatever issues come up. Try learning during the process. Donít just let them handle things. Ask why and how ñ to get an idea of how it all works.
While they may not spend time teaching you everything, they might point you in the right direction. For example, if you say you’re impressed with the videos they created, they might say, Thanks! I used Camtasia to do that.
That would then spark you to download Camtasia (or the freeware version – Camstudio) and start learning how to do that yourself for future launches. This is how people learn and improve their skills over time.
Elements of a Product Creation That Oozes Success
There are some products that knock people’s socks off and some that leave people scratching their heads about how it got launched in the first place. The first place to start is in hiring someone to create professional graphics.
Since our eyes see things before we can read anything, you want everything from the product to the sales copy graphics to the affiliate tools to look good. You can invest in a professional graphics person or even find a quality provider on Fiverr.
Another thing you want to do is make sure youíre using an affiliate-friendly platform. One that allows instant commissions, like JVZoo or Warrior Plus, is always welcomed by affiliates.
Put your mind at ease about potential profits by creating a product funnel instead of just a front-end only product. A funnel not only gives you ample opportunities to make money, but it helps affiliates earn commissions, too!
As you dig into the product creation process, take time to conduct thorough research. You donít want to put something out there with misinformation or information that is outdated.
See if you can find a new twist on it to entice both buyers and affiliates alike. That might mean coming up with a new slant ñ or pairing it with another topic. For example, instead of just creating a course on eating healthy, you could pair it with the stress niche ñ eating healthy in times of stress.
What this does is opens your product up to sales from marketers in two different niches ñ dieting and stress. This is a good way of putting to rest your fears that there wonít be enough buyers for all of your hard work ñ and youíll be able to recruit more affiliates for promotion.
Have a sales copy strategy in place. If you’ve never written copy before, it can be intimidating. Emulate others who do it with a lot of success, and buy copywriting books that can help you learn how to get inside the mind of your customer.
One way you can create products with more confidence is to make it a multimedia product. While it might sound intimidating at first, using a mix of text, audio and video is a great way to ensure more affiliates sign up to promote you.
During the creation of the product, be careful not to plagiarize anyone elseís work. Don’t rewrite things or create a knock-off of other people’s work because it can only come back to bite you if you do.
Let your personality shine through. Don’t be afraid to personalize your product so that people remember how much they enjoyed taking your course. This sets you up for more sales the next time around.
To alleviate any worry about dealing with customers, make it your motto that youíll deliver superb customer support both before and after the sale. There are many marketers who donít do this, and itís one reason why so many people feel theyíve been burned.
Timing Your Product Launch to Minimize Competition
If youíre worried about all of the other products that get released, and how yours wonít even have a fighting chance, just make sure you time it right. First, check launch calendars like those on MunchEye.com to see whatís releasing on what date.
Schedule your launch far enough in advance that you maximize affiliate recruitment. They need time to create bonuses, but they also book up their promo calendars weeks in advance ñ and many will only promote one item per email to their list.
Give yourself plenty of time to create the product without rushing through it. You don’t want to schedule a launch for a week from now if itíll be a tight race for you to finish in time. Factor in the product creation, but also the editing, affiliate recruitment, sales copy, technical launch setup, and more.
Make sure you price your product competitively so that youíre balance between giving yourself a fighting chance ñ and allowing yourself room to grow. You don’t want to undercut yourself too much, but you might not be able to price your product the same as someone more established with a proven track record.
The best way to alleviate self-doubt in product creation is to not only give it your all but to go above and beyond with every step. Deliver more than whatís expected of you. Be better than everyone else when it comes to taking care of your customers.
