Now that you've learned how to create products, and you have a way to sell them, it's time to discover how to promote your business so that you are able to reach your sales and marketing goals.
The goal is to become the go to resource in your niche, without coming across as salesy and spammy. You've probably seen and experienced business owners who are using ineffective methods to sell their products. Methods like running down friends and family, selling one product to one person at a time, sending direct messages to complete strangers and wasting money on ads without the proper training.
These methods can be frustrating and ineffective in helping you to reach your income goals. This lesson will show you a method that's easy to implement that allows you to be helpful, educating your target audience helping them learn about your business at each stage of the buying journey. We've also included some amazing tools in the Resources section to help you attract more people to your business and spread the word about your products and services.
Creating Guides for Every Stage of the Buying Process
It's important to meet potential buyers where they are in the buying process. It's possible for people in your target audience to find your products, fall in love with them, but just not be quite ready to buy.
It's important to give people who fall into this category, (the awareness stage) a way to engage with your business so that you can keep in touch and be front and center when they are ready to make a purchase.
It's important to have important elements on your platform, whether it's Etsy, another marketplace or your own self hosted platform. These elements include lead magnets, landing pages, sales pages, and opt in forms that allow you to collect email addresses. Guides to these elements are in the Resources Section.
When someone signs up to get your email, you're beginning the process of building a relationship with them. You will set up automated email series that provides information that will let the person know who you are, what you do and how you can help the person reach their goals. You give them a healthy dose of what's in it for them.
These emails will provide you with the ability to build connections that will last, following up with potential customers, adding value, educating, answering questions, and handling objections until they are ready to buy from you.
Making the Case for Helpful Guides
The goal is to meet potential customers when they are, starting with the awareness stage through the actual purchase. It's important to help anyone who is considering your products as an option that helps them reach a goal.
For example, you may have a parent who has a child's birthday approaching in a few months. This potential customer knows they want to buy a product like yours for their child's birthday, but they have a while to look at a variety of different products.
What can you offer this person that will make your product stand out from the crowd and allow this potential customer to learn about the products you offer that might be a good match? A lead magnet that allows you to get your ideal customer's email address, can be a win for you and the potential customer.
If you can get an email address, this presents you with an opportunity to offer your potential customer things like deals, coupons, buy one get one, discounts and more. These kinds of deals can be used to handle any objections about price. In your welcome series, you can highlight a specific benefit that your potential customer will get when they purchase from you over the competition.
Your emails, in addition to the lead magnet, can take the potential customer through the buying journey, and even offer a discount if they act within a certain time period. This is also known as a scarcity offer.
Guides That Help to Seal the Deal
Looking at your business as a resource and a way to help potential customers reach their goals, shifts the focus off selling and places it on becoming that "go-to" resource we talked about earlier.
Creating guides like the ones in this lesson are a great way to build your brand while being helpful to your target audience. By providing helpful resources, you can sell without coming off as a salesperson. This simple change in perspective can actually help you sell more products and services, versus the traditional selling model that focuses on pushy tactics.
Resource guides are powerful tools that can also serve as highly effective lead magnets for businesses. These guides, which can include how-to manuals, industry insights, and practical tips, provide immediate value to potential customers, incentivizing them to share their contact information in exchange for the resource.
By offering a well-crafted, informative guide, your business can capture your leads' attention, establish authority, and build trust, laying the foundation for a long-term customer relationship.
This strategic approach not only enhances brand visibility but also drives qualified leads into your sales funnel, increasing the chances of conversions.
Bundling with Other Products
In addition to their role as lead magnets, digital resource guides add substantial value when bundled with other products, both digital and physical. Including a resource guide with a product purchase enriches the customer experience, providing added context, care and usage tips, and expert advice that can enhance the product’s perceived value.
For example, a fitness equipment seller could include a digital workout guide, offering customers curated routines and tips, with links to video workouts and diet tips, thereby increasing the perceived value of the purchase.
Similarly, combining a physical product with a relevant digital guide can differentiate a business from competitors by providing a comprehensive solution that addresses customer needs holistically.
Digital resource guides can be a pivotal component of value-added bundles, offering customers more for their money and driving up sales.
Bundles that include these guides along with other products can create a more attractive offer, encouraging customers to make larger purchases.
This not only boosts immediate sales but also enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty, as they receive more utility and information from their purchase.
In summary, digital resource guides are versatile assets that can effectively attract leads, enhance product value, and drive sales growth, making them an indispensable part of a modern business strategy.