This is the first in a series of 10 podcast episodes/blog posts all about digital products. Check out the other posts in this series below.
1. How to Create Digital Products That People Actually Want
2. 8 Digital Product Ideas for Your Service-Based Business
3. When is the Right Time to Create Digital Products?
4. How to Find the Time to Create Digital Products
5. 5 Ways to Validate Your Idea for Your Digital Product
6. 5 Limiting Beliefs Keeping You From Creating Your Digital Product
7. The Tools You Need to Sell Digital Products
8. Digital Products vs Courses – Which Should You Create?
9. Your Digital Product Launch Questions Answered
10. Digital Products Not Selling? Here’s What to do
In the first episode of the series, I share with you how you can ensure that you’re creating digital products that people actually want.
First, let’s take a quick look at what I mean when I say digital products. A digital product is a product that a customer can purchase and use online. Examples of digital products are ebooks, templates, courses and memberships. Essentially a digital product is something that you create once and sell multiple times.
I fully believe that digital products are a great addition to done-for-you service-based businesses because there will come a time when you can’t take on any more clients and in order to scale, you need to think about what else you can do. Ultimately you have two options – build an agency model or create digital products. There is of course also the third option of doing both.
I actually don’t recommend waiting until you’re fully booked with 1:1 clients before building digital products into your business model. The problem with waiting until you’re fully booked is that it’s then hard to find the time to create digital products. Whereas if you start building digital products into your business earlier on in your journey, you can scale both aspects side by side.
So, how do you create digital products that people actually want? The answer… market research.
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There are so many different ways that you can conduct market research in your business and I go into this in a lot more detail inside of Expand Your Brand but today I want to share with you two ways to find out what your audience are looking for so that you can create digital products that will sell.
First of all, let’s look at who digital products are usually aimed at. Digital products are usually designed to support people who are in the earlier stages of business. Now this isn’t always the case, especially if you run a solely educational-based business and digital products are your only offers but in this case I’m talking to done-for-you service providers who still want to work with clients on a 1:1 basis.
It may be that you’d like your hybrid business model to have a 50/50 split so that 50% of your income comes from digital products and the other 50% comes from services. Perhaps you’d like to spend 40% of your time working 1:1 with clients and the other 60% spent creating and marketing digital products. A hybrid business model looks different for all businesses.
Think about discovery calls that you have had and enquiries you have received
The first way to find out how you can create digital products that will actually sell is to think about discovery calls that you have had and enquiries you have received.
As a service provider already working with clients, you have the advantage of already knowing what your audience are asking for. For example, we’ve all had discovery calls where we’ve then be told that our services are out of budget. Or we’ve received an enquiry from a new business owner who we know isn’t quite ready for our 1:1 services just yet.
Rather than have these enquiries not lead to anything or for them to go elsewhere, wouldn’t it be great if you had something to offer them that could support them in where they are right now.
Let’s take a look at an example from one of my clients who is a brand and website designer. She came to me wanting to create digital products after this exact same scenario. She was having to turn away potential clients who were not ready to invest thousands of dollars into custom branding. We then worked together to create semi-custom branding kits that she could offer to clients who were in the earlier stages of business. So now when she receives an enquiry from a client who isn’t the right fit for custom branding just yet, she has something else to offer them that is going to meet their needs right now. By doing this, she is also able to build a customer pathway into her custom branding so that when they are ready, they will likely enquire with her to work together 1:1. Not only that but these semi-custom branding kits are also available on her website for people to purchase straight away meaning she is able to expand her impact and her income.
Ask your audience by conducting market research
The second way to find out how you can create digital products that people actually want is to go out and ask your audience. I absolutely love conducting market research and it’s something that I do at least twice a year but especially when creating a new product.
- What is the biggest thing you’re struggling with when it comes to XYZ?
- What would you like to learn about XYZ?
- What are your goals for your business right now?
- What do you think is the biggest thing stopping you from doing that?
For each of these questions, you have the option to leave it open-ended for people to give their own answers or you can provide options for them to choose from. There are pros and cons to each. Leaving the question open-ended may result in fewer responses depending on how engaged your audience is and how connected you are with them. However, by leaving it open-ended, you are able to see their exact problems instead of giving them fewer choices to choose from.
Providing options means you will likely get more responses if it means someone has to simply click on something to answer however, you may not be getting down to the true response. A way to get around this is to then reach out further to people who have chosen one of the options and ask if they would be willing to talk more about it either via a market research call or voice notes in the DMs.
But what if you don’t yet have an audience of people to ask? If this is the case, then there are plenty of ways to find out what people are asking for. Facebook group is a great example. There are so many Facebook groups where people are asking questions every day. Seek out these groups and use the search functionality to find out what people are asking for. See what questions they are asking and then brainstorm ideas for digital products that will provide a solution.
So there you have it, two ways to find out what exactly your audience are looking for that will help you create a digital product that they actually want and need.
Please, please, please don’t try to skip market research in your business because you think it’s time-consuming or you think no one will answer your questions. Please also don’t skip it because you think you already know your clients well enough already.
Be sure to check out the other posts in this series. Here’s a reminder of them again.
1. How to Create Digital Products That People Actually Want
2. 8 Digital Product Ideas for Your Service-Based Business
3. When is the Right Time to Create Digital Products?
4. How to Find the Time to Create Digital Products
5. 5 Ways to Validate Your Idea for Your Digital Product
6. 5 Limiting Beliefs Keeping You From Creating Your Digital Product
7. The Tools You Need to Sell Digital Products
8. Digital Products vs Courses – Which Should You Create?
9. Your Digital Product Launch Questions Answered
10. Digital Products Not Selling? Here’s What to do
If you’re looking for support, accountability and guidance in building digital products into your business, be sure to check out Expand Your Brand, my 12-month high-touch group program for online service providers who want to grow their audience, launch their digital product and make consistent sales.
