Unlocking the Secrets to Confidently Sell Your First Digital Product
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As a content creator, you have various options to generate income: Collaborating with brands, running advertisements on platforms like YouTube, seeking donations through services like Patreon, or placing your content behind a paywall (such as Medium), or engaging in sales.
While many creators lean towards the first three options—advertisements, donations, and paywalls—I prefer the road less traveled: sales.
Selling digital products is particularly appealing to me, as it allows me to have complete control over the results. When offering a digital product, you take on several responsibilities:
- Crafting an exceptional product
- Building an audience, ideally an email list, that is eager for your offering
- Designing an impactful sales page
- Composing persuasive content
- And much more
After navigating these steps repeatedly, you may find enjoyment in the process. However, if you’re creating a digital product like an eBook or an online course for the first time, the selling aspect can feel intimidating.
When I launched my first product in 2018, I loathed every moment of that experience. Today, however, I cherish the journey and eagerly anticipate my next launch to refine my skills further.
Here’s how I learned to conquer the fear of selling my initial digital product:
Clarify the Value You Offer
First and foremost, this article does not aim to assist you in peddling inferior products or services. Instead, it focuses on empowering you to share your valuable knowledge, skills, and experiences through outstanding digital products.
The initial step in overcoming the fear of selling is to evaluate whether your offering is genuinely valuable.
If you believe your product can make a positive difference in your customers' lives, sending out sales messages will feel natural and exciting.
I invest my full intellect and passion into my online courses, only promoting products I would enthusiastically purchase myself. Before developing a digital product, I dedicate several days to analyzing competitors and comparing existing options to ensure I can deliver something far superior.
The simplest way to gauge your product's value is to consult your audience.
Inquire about their challenges, questions, and pain points, and what type of information or guidance they feel is missing.
Conduct surveys, hold interviews, and invite your community to participate in the creation process with you.
When you know that your audience needs your help, sending out sales messages becomes significantly easier.
If you’re uncertain about your product's ability to deliver on its promises, consider offering a money-back guarantee. This way, you can ensure that you'll profit only if customers love what they receive.
For first-time sellers, consider offering your product for free to a select group and solicit their honest feedback.
Being confident in the value you provide will naturally enhance your confidence during the sales process.
Grasp the Psychological Triggers Behind Purchases
One of the most daunting thoughts during your first product launch might be: What if no one buys?!
The hard truth is that you won’t know if people are willing to pay for your offering unless you give it a shot.
The silver lining is that you can strive to understand why people make purchases in the first place. According to copywriting expert Jim Edwards, there are ten primary reasons people buy:
- To earn money
- To save money
- To save time
- To avoid effort
- To escape mental or physical discomfort
- To gain additional comfort
- To achieve better hygiene or health
- To receive recognition
- To feel more loved
- To enhance popularity
Most digital products claim to address at least one of these issues. The more problems you can solve, the better.
Of course, some products may tackle different challenges or none at all.
For instance, a comedian doesn't promise to help you earn more money or achieve better hygiene, yet can still sell thousands of tickets to a show.
In the realm of online business, however, most digital products offer solutions to one of these issues.
By understanding which problems your product addresses, you can create a persuasive sales message that makes potential buyers eager to swipe their credit cards.
Ask yourself if your product can aid your audience in solving any of these ten issues and how that process unfolds.
Familiarity with these psychological factors is also crucial for crafting compelling sales copy, which is essential if you want to sell digital products.
Become a Consumer (or Seek Mentorship)
You cannot craft an engaging online course experience if you have never invested in one yourself.
Before attempting to sell a digital product, ensure you first consume offerings from other creators, particularly those who are more advanced than you.
Examine their courses and try to comprehend why they make specific choices. Observe their welcome sequences, the delivery and structure of the product, and the type of information they provide.
Studying other creators' paid products will help you align with their standards and ultimately create something even better.
If possible, connect with someone who has already developed a similar product and seek their guidance. There’s nothing more powerful than support from someone who has been there and done that.
You could read countless books on online sales and still struggle to grasp why certain approaches are necessary. Someone with experience can help you save significant time, effort, and potentially money.
Avoid Comparing Yourself to Industry Leaders
Exploring the offerings of other creators can be beneficial; however, feeling intimidated is not.
Do not attempt to match their quality during your first attempt. Perfection in lighting or background is unnecessary when you record your initial online course.
Begin with what you have and move quickly. Your skills and equipment will improve over time, naturally. In our fast-paced world, completing a project is often better than striving for perfection. Ultimately, a flawlessly produced online course is worthless if you can't sell it.
Learn from those with more experience, but do your utmost with the resources you currently possess.
Remember, you can always update a digital product, so act swiftly, sell promptly, and enhance your offerings along the way.
You're a Creative Individual, Not a Charity
If you've been producing free content for years without ever marketing a product, you might face backlash when you finally attempt to sell something.
Many creators I know received disheartening messages when they made their first sales pitch, as their audiences had grown accustomed to receiving free value, making it seem audacious when creators sought to sell a paid product.
Yet here’s the truth: as a content creator, you are a creative individual, not a charity.
You may need to provide some free value to attract an audience and build trust, but you absolutely do not need to give away all your knowledge and insights for free.
If someone isn’t willing to pay for my products or is upset by a sales pitch, I will gladly remove them from my email list.
Just because some individuals do not recognize the value you offer does not imply your ideas and products lack worth.
As a creator, you do not need to rely solely on ad revenue or paywalls. You can transform your creativity into a primary asset and a source of income.
You deserve to be compensated for your efforts.
Do not be discouraged by those who express frustration. Concentrate on delivering your best work, mastering the art of online selling, and serving those who are ready to pay for your contributions.
The Cave You Fear to Enter Holds the Treasure You Seek
As content creators, we all aspire for the same thing: freedom.
We yearn to pursue our passions. We desire independence, the ability to share our thoughts and experiences openly, and to explore the myriad opportunities available to us.
Yet, many creators fail to achieve that level of freedom because they lack the knowledge of how to monetize their expertise or passions.
They find themselves completing projects for clients, creating content for platforms with paywalls, and unable to scale their income without working additional hours.
Numerous creators leave their day jobs to follow their passions but inadvertently create their own cycle of struggle.
If you wish to avoid spending the majority of your time hustling, you will need to discover ways to scale your income regardless of the content you produce. The most effective method to achieve this is by selling digital products.
This approach will enable you to amplify both your income and your impact.
Free content will never possess the same level of influence as paid products. Generally, we do not take free content seriously and attribute greater value to paid offerings.
I can hardly recall a YouTube video or an article that changed my life, whereas paid online courses have been instrumental in building my business.
The next time you feel apprehensive about creating and selling your first digital product, remember the wise words of Joseph Campbell:
> “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
If you are seeking financial and mental freedom as a creator in the modern age, there is no viable path that does not involve selling your own products. The sooner you start, the better your chances for success.
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