How Infoproducts Help Your Customers - A Different Information Marketing Perspective 

by Marcia Yudkin

By not having an information product to sell, are you letting down your followers?

A few weeks ago, I read an article about money management in a business journal that made more sense to me than anything else I'd run across on the topic. I visited the author's web site and liked the additional articles I read there. Next I clicked on the author's "Products" link, but at that point frustration set in. 

Aside from two little ebooks, whose topics didn't fit my interests, there was nothing I could buy to get a deeper understanding of this expert's perspective. Nothing that connected the dots of his tantalizing comments. Nothing that helped me go from a feeble grasp of certain important issues in my life to a firmer, more confident way of sorting out my thoughts.

I wanted to learn and was prepared to buy, but I found a void instead of product choices. Most of the time we hear about information products as beneficial to a business owner, but in this instance, I probably feel the loss from their non-existence more keenly than the expert does.

So let's take a look at the advantages that information products have for customers.

1)As in the example above, they enable interested people to benefit relatively systematically from what's in your head. Without the money coach’s course, I am not sure what questions to ask, which priorities to put first and whose guidelines to trust. After buying and studying his course, I’d be better oriented in his sphere of knowledge.

2)With downloadable products, people can learn what you know immediately, without having to set up an appointment and wait for it. If they’re worried about a problem in the middle of the night, they can buy a downloadable product with answers that allow them to calm down and sleep.

3)People can learn from you in private, which may be especially important for introverts or for anyone where a sensitive topic is involved. Years ago a local TV anchor attended an adult education class I taught in Boston. She sat in the back row, slouched with a hat partly over her face, and when we went around the room at the start of the class, introduced herself with just her first name and that she worked “in the media business.” I’m sure she would have preferred buying the home-study version of my course, had it been available then, to avoid this exposure to the curiosity of others.

4)Information products eliminate the impact of time zones and distance. From the U.S. East Coast to Western Australia, for example, it can be difficult for expert and learner to find a time to consult on the phone or participate in a teleclass.

5)People can follow the steps you lay out in the learning mode that works best for them. Those who learn best by watching buy videos; those who learn best by listening prefer audios; those who learn best by reading purchase PDFs.

6)Infoproducts offer a lower-cost, lower-risk way to learn from you than by signing up for one-on-one coaching or consulting. The money coach who frustrated me offered 
coaching for $895 an hour. Perhaps I'd end up working with him on that basis, but logically, learning from his products made sense first.

Don't make prospective customers find someone else with information products when they'd rather buy your perspectives and guidance. Instead, learn how to create a systematic plan for products and services at a range of price points, thus helping both your customers and yourself.

Copyright 2012 Marcia Yudkin.  All rights reserved.

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