A Simple Two-Step Process for Profitable Product Creation

Guest post by Kathleen Gage.

If you’ve been online for any length of time, you’ve likely heard how profitable information products can be.

There is no shortage of experts who claim they make hundreds, even thousands of dollar a day selling information products.

It may seem too good to be true, but further investigation will show you that experts in virtually any industry make great money with product creation – when they know what they are doing.

Beyond the money, there are ample benefits to packaging your knowledge into various products.

• Increased perceived expert status
• Ability to service clients who can’t (or won’t) invest in your higher end services
• Sustainable revenue
• Increased market reach
• A product allows you to be selective about who you work one-on-one with
• Scalability of your business
• Increased client base

However, before you jump into the game of product creation you must have a clear understanding of exactly what your market needs, wants and is willing to pay for.

The fact is, not all clients are created equal. Some are a great fit for your higher end products and services while others will be great candidates for various levels of lower priced product offerings.

To optimize your product creation efforts you have to identify two areas:

1. Problem
2. Solution

The more you know about the problem, the easier it will be to create a solution.

A few ways to identify the problem are:

• Surveys
• Forums
• Social networks
• Media trends
• Books
• Competition

Surveys

A simple survey can produce incredible results. With a few strategice questions you can find out exactly what challenges your market has.

For example, imagine if you were a relationship expert whose market is primarily professional women. Here’s one question you could ask:

“What is the greatest challenge you and your spouse have with intimacy?”

If 80% respond with, “I’m too tired to feel the desire for intimacy,” you are in a great position to create a product addressing this very issue.

Forums

Check out the online forums your potential clients and customers frequent. Pay attention to discussions and postings.

Spend time reviewing the conversations taking place. This is one of the best ways to see what the greatest challenges your market has.

Social Networks

As with forums, social networks can produce a great deal of information. Notice the threads that are started, which ones get the greatest involvement and exactly what is being posted.

A very underutilized process is actually posting a question that triggers discussion. If you are a nutritionist you could start a discussion like:

“What is your greatest challenge when it comes to eating healthy?”

Strategically posting this type of question will provide you with ample information for a product.

Media trends

There is more than enough information available in the media. Subscribe to top publications, blogs and online magazines that target your market.

Spend a few minutes every day researching the latest trends.

Books

Keeping a finger on the pulse of Amazon.com and BN.com can give you a great deal of information on what the market is currently interested in.

Read the reviews on books to give you even more insight as to what your market is interested in.

Competition

Knowing what your competition is up to is a great way to see what the market wants. The fact is, as market demand for something grows, so do offerings by your competitors.

Pay attention to articles and blog posts from your competitors as well as their social media activity.

Notice when they introduce a new product to market. If your competition is well positioned, you can save a lot of time and effort by watching their activity. You may even be able to partner with them on future offerings.

Conclusion

Having a deep understanding of your market’s problem puts you in a great position to create a viable solution that they need, want and are willing to pay for.

Join Kathleen Gage and me on Thursday, April 4th for a free webinar, Profitable Product Creation.