Why you’re not marketing your product and what to do about it

[00:00:00] Rene: Hey everyone. Welcome to Your First Digital Product, a show that helps maxed-out service providers create their first digital product so they can gain an additional income stream, grow their impact without increasing one-on-one work and experience more time freedom. On the show, I talk to business owners who have launched digital products and dig deep into how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. I’m your host, Rene Morozowich. Let’s go.

[00:00:28] Hey friends. Today we’re here to talk about why you’re not marketing your digital product. And what to do about it. So have four reasons today and a lot of these reasons overlap. So there’s no one definite area that you may fall into. So I encourage you to listen to all of them and the ideas and pick and choose what works for you and see if you can identify yourself in any of these areas.

[00:00:54] So the four reasons are you don’t know how, you don’t have time, you don’t want to bother people and you’re scared. So I think that you might initially identify with some of the first reasons, but I do encourage you to listen to the last reason, because I think it is much more common than we think.

[00:01:14] So let’s talk about the first reason that being, you don’t know how. So as a service provider, you are probably used to marketing your services. Maybe? And maybe you don’t even have to market your services. So digital products and products in general are way different than services. So your services, you might be accustomed to word of mouth or referrals. Uh, basically just like you do a really good job. You have good clients and they’re referring you to their friends and colleagues and that is how you typically get business. So you can have some word of mouth with your products, but because the price point is probably much lower, you will need to get much more word of mouth in order to make more sales in order to make more money. So there are some differences [00:02:00] here. You’re not there at the same time to do that selling. So you have to let your copywriting and your design, your product itself, your social posts, any of your appearances, everything has to do the selling for you and answer all of those questions that people are going to have proactively because you’re not there at that time.

[00:02:18] So this is both a good thing and a bad thing about products. Hopefully, if you do that marketing correctly, the product will sell. And otherwise you may have some difficulties. So you may also have questions like, Hey, do I just come right out and say, Hey, buy my product? Do I have to like, hint at that I have a product? Do I have to mention it sometimes, but not other times? Where do I even mention it? What platforms do I use? Uh, when do I mention it? What’s the frequency? How often should I be mentioning it? You may really just have no idea how to market a digital product and that’s totally fine. So just real quick, before we dive into this, um, I’m going to assume that the problem you’re having is with ongoing marketing. Typically launch marketing and ongoing marketing are really different. And launch marketing is a little bit more straightforward, right? So you have a day that you’re going to launch the product.

[00:03:08] Maybe it’s like a soft launch, a beta launch or a friend’s launch, and you’re going to, you know, let your friends know or let some people know. Maybe get some feedback and then later you will come in and do your, your big launch. Like, Hey world, my product is here. Maybe you’ll send some emails, you have some social posts.

[00:03:24] It’s much easier to kind of conceptualize this thing because it kind of centers around a start date, maybe an end date, or, you know, the launch date itself. Ongoing marketing on the other hand is a little bit more difficult. So a couple things about ongoing marketing. Maybe you’re not sure what will be the most effective or where will be the most effective. Um, and the problem is here I think that we think that there’s a definitive answer. We think that there’s somebody out there, maybe you think it’s me. Um, it’s not.

[00:03:53] Um, who’s going to say, Hey, do this exact thing and this is how your product will sell. Like post on Instagram four times a [00:04:00] week at this time and say these things, and then your product will be successful. Um, I don’t think that that’s actually a thing. Um, I don’t think that there’s one answer that applies to every person, that applies to every product, that applies to every audience.

[00:04:15] So you have to find what works for you and what works for your product and what works for your audience. Now I can give you ideas and you can gather ideas from different places. But really it’s up to you to try some things out. And I love experimentation, uh, but more so I love experimentation with a timeframe. So pick something doable. 90 days, I think 90 days is a great amount of time. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. I wouldn’t go too much longer.

[00:04:41] Um, but really just like make a plan. You know, if you like Instagram, try Instagram. If you think you can do three posts a week, try three posts a week. Just come up with something that you think you can do. Execute the plan. And then at the end of those 90 days, 60 days, or whatever you decided, just evaluate, like, how did that go? Did I like that? Uh, was it doable? Did it do anything for me? Did I make any sales? So I think it is up to you to come up with a plan. Um, but getting input from other people and what works for them and kind of just picking and choosing what might work for you.

[00:05:15] Now, there are a couple of things that you can do as well. Having some variety and trying different things with your own content. So I love things like blog posts and videos. Content that directly leads to your product. So let’s say you have a blog post that addresses a specific problem and you go through and you talk about this problem, and maybe you give some answers or, you know, some small answers to the problem. And then the big answer at the end is your product. So I love this because of SEO and because of search engines and people are looking for answers to their problems. And when they come upon your blog posts, they’re reading it. They decide how much time they want to spend. Maybe they dig into a video or something. And they’re seeing that call to action at the end to buy the [00:06:00] product. You may have some existing blog posts or videos or something that you can revamp so that the call to action is the product at the end.

[00:06:09] Or you can create new ones. So whatever you think might work for you. You could also kind of slowly lead people in as well. So maybe your blog posts leads into a lead magnet. And from there, once they’re on your list, you can nurture them to buy the product after that. So a couple options there. Um, you can do the same thing with social posts and emails. You can lead people in slowly. You can lead people in directly. Um, it really just mix it up and try some different things and you’ll be able to see what works for you.

[00:06:37] Now also other people’s audiences. So all the things that I just mentioned are relying on your audience. So they’re your blog posts or your social posts or your emails, all that good stuff. Uh, but using other people’s audiences is great as well. So guesting on podcasts, getting on other people’s newsletters, doing any kind of swaps. Um, now here, you probably can’t mention your product directly or as directly, right? Because I think a lot of people don’t like if somebody comes on their podcast and really just talks all about their products. But what I would do more so is talk about the problems and the solutions. So the problems that people are having and the solutions to those problems, and then people will find you, if it really resonates with them, they will connect with you and then maybe get on your list and see that you have answers to those problems that they have.

[00:07:24] Also groups where people gather, who have that problem. Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups, Slack groups, any places like that. Conferences, online groups, masterminds, all that good stuff. If you can get in there and be helpful, people will start to know that you have the answers to those problems, you know, and like I mentioned, follow you and dig in a little bit more and see that you have more answers than you’ve already shared in these groups. Okay, second thing is that you don’t have time. So you have client work, you have other priorities, um, and really you just don’t want to waste the time that you might have. You don’t want to share things that aren’t going to get any traction and you really just want the most bang for your [00:08:00] buck.

[00:08:00] So I would think about first, is this a priority for you? Is this something that you really do want to commit to? If so, how much time can you commit and how often? I read a book a couple of years ago called the Revenue Growth Habit. Really loved that book. The gist of it being that taking 15 minutes a day at the beginning and the end of the day, um, or even just one of those, um, and executing a couple of different steps every day would lead you to increase revenue later on.

[00:08:27] So I would think about how can you make it easy? Are there platforms you’re already using, um, are there things that you like to do? Don’t create a marketing plan, uh, that is a video if you hate video. Don’t force yourself to do LinkedIn if you’re like LinkedIn is the worst thing ever. Pick something that works for you. Someplace, you’re going to enjoy going.

[00:08:46] Because if it doesn’t work for you, you’re not going to do it. Also make it part of your routine. So it’s kind of a thing like you haven’t been going to the gym and you’re just going to recommit and say like, oh, I’m going to go six days a week for two hours a day. That’s too much. Uh, that’s not gonna work.

[00:09:01] Um, at least I don’t think so. And it’s not sustainable. Maybe it’ll work for a while and work at first, but it’s not sustainable. And I do believe more in these sustainable, doable marketing practices that you can keep up with and continue going forward. And you’re really just not going to know what works for you until you try some things.

[00:09:17] I think about, um, you know, budgeting and personal finance. And there are so many different platforms and theories and, and books and great options out there, but you don’t know which one is going to work for you until you try a couple of different things.

[00:09:32] Third reason is that you don’t want to bother people. Maybe you don’t want to lose subscribers or friends because you’re talking about it too much, or you think you’re talking about it too much and maybe you feel like you’ve already shared it so many times. Oh my goodness. People have to just know already, because you’ve been talking about it so much or you think you’ve been talking about it so much.

[00:09:50] So a couple ideas here. First you can give people the opportunity to opt out. So if they’re on your main list, they may also be part of a nurture sequence, [00:10:00] maybe some sort of set of emails that’s specifically promoting the product. You can give people a way to opt out of that without opting out completely.

[00:10:09] So maybe they still want to stay connected to you. They still want to stay on your list. They just are not interested in this product at this time. So give people a way to opt out. And depending on the email platform, you know, you could do this with a tag or some kind of segment based on something that happens, you can say, okay, just leave these people alone. Don’t send them any sales emails, but they still want to receive other emails.

[00:10:29] And it’s also okay if people unsubscribe or unfollow, because you really want people around you who your message resonates with them and they are engaged. Because the unsubscribes actually do you a favor because you’ll have better open rates, better engagement rates. And eventually like you won’t be paying for people who are not opening and are not consuming your message and are just not interested in it.

[00:10:51] Um, so give people the opportunity to opt out and be okay if people actually do opt out.

[00:10:56] Another thing is that you don’t wanna bother people due to repetition. I actually have to hear this message a couple of times, um, repeatedly for it to sink in for me personally. Uh, but I’m going to say it back to you. I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. People need to hear things more than once.

[00:11:10] They are missing things. Uh, they’re not seeing them. Maybe they’re on your email list, but they just skimmed that one email where you mentioned your product. Um, maybe they are on social media, but they miss those posts where you talk about it. Um, and also maybe people haven’t been in your orbit. So if you mentioned something on Monday and they don’t come into your orbit on Wednesday and you’re like, oh, I already mentioned it on Monday.

[00:11:31] They’re not going to know because you haven’t mentioned it when they have been in your orbit. Also as you repeat things you will become known for the thing. And then when people think of the thing, they will think of you, they can refer you. That’s how that word of mouth works. Super great.

[00:11:47] And I think that repetition is really important. So I’ve mentioned the 12 Week Year. You’re like, Rene, why don’t you just call this podcast the 12 Week Year podcast? Um, but anyway, so I’ve been doing it for a number of years and I created a [00:12:00] product around it, which may be my next solo episode.

[00:12:03] And each week as I was working through my 12 week year, I decided I was going to share on social media, my results for the week. So part of the 12 week year strategy is scoring your week. Scoring how you did on the tasks that you decided you were going to do for the week. So each week I would share my results.

[00:12:21] And, you know, kind of just a little comment of like, um, oh, I’ll have to pick that back up next week or, oh, you know, that one I’m just not going to do it. Just didn’t get to, or, you know, whatever comment I had about it. And each week I was so surprised that people would engage with me. People were like, oh, Hey, what’s the 12 week year.

[00:12:37] And, you know, I’m thinking like, I’ve been talking about this forever, you know, how did you not know about it? Um, but it just wasn’t something that was on their radar. Maybe we weren’t connected at that time or maybe they heard me, but they really just didn’t understand what it was. So each week that I would talk about it, I would be able to refer people to my blog posts.

[00:12:55] I have a video. Uh, get people on my list. So it was surprising to me and okay that I had that repetition.

[00:13:03] Last reason is that you’re scared. You’re scared of people aren’t going to buy. Which really is you thinking that the product isn’t good enough, which I think really is you thinking that you’re not good enough. And I think this happens more than you’d like to admit it. So maybe initially you would think like, oh, my problem is I don’t have enough time.

[00:13:21] Uh, but really I think that this might be the actual problem. So I have lots to say on this. So hopefully you stick around for everything I have to say on being scared about marketing your digital product. Okay. First thing I want you to do is remember. So I think a lot of times when we create a product time passes and then we forget. We forget how awesome that product is. Um, not directly related, but a little bit. I have been writing to my email list since 2017 on my own personal site. And about two years ago, I was really just not seeing what I was writing. [00:14:00] I kind of lost my way. I needed to go back through, read my old emails and see, okay, what am I really talking about here? Like, what are people signing up for? What are they going to get?

[00:14:08] And as I went back through and read about 60 emails. Um, I was sending monthly emails for a number of years. I realized that the old ones were pretty good. Even those first ones. I was really kind of touched, um, and not to like toot my own horn, but I was really kind of amazed that, um, I knew what I was talking about. I was authentic. I was showing up. Um, and they weren’t as terrible as I thought they were. So I think that sometimes we just have to remember that our product is probably a lot better than we remember that it is. I had a boss, my first boss out of college and she mentioned to keep a file of all the times that people thanked me or praise me for something.

[00:14:50] Because when you’re feeling down or you’re feeling like, oh, nothing is working, going back to that and seeing that you really are helping people, you really did help people. People really did appreciate you. And I think that this is also great to use for your product. So looking through that feedback that you’ve received.

[00:15:05] Um, any reviews or ratings or kind of just like words or thoughts that people have shared with you about your product. If hopefully you’ve gotten some of that. I think it is really helpful to kind of just take a look at okay. Like this actually is a good product. It does help people. Um, I remember now.

[00:15:22] And really remind yourself why it’s valuable. So if you did this during the product creation process, like at the beginning, you might have written down, okay. Why is this product valuable? What problem does it solve? And how does it actually work? If you didn’t do that, then go back and do that now. Kind of go through your product again and really think about why it’s valuable and what problem it solves. And then you’ll be able to reference that too. You’ll be able to say like, okay, Hey.

[00:15:47] Uh, this actually does solve this problem. It’s an important problem. People care about it. Um, don’t be scared. Just remember the product is awesome. Also think about confidence. Think about as a service provider, maybe early [00:16:00] in your journey as you weren’t so confident and maybe you didn’t present yourself as very confident. People can see right through that. And think about you as a consumer. If you take your car to the mechanic or, you know, I mentioned, I recently had surgery. If I had gone in and the doctor was like, well, I think I can fix it.

[00:16:20] Like, I, I don’t think I would’ve gone with them. Right. I want somebody who knows that they understand this specific problem I have and they can help me. So think about your confidence. Think about how you’re presenting yourself. And once you know that once, you know, and can be confident in yourself and your product.

[00:16:40] I think it’ll be a lot easier to market that product.

[00:16:43] So, what do you think? Do any of these resonate with you? Does one resonate more than another one? I’d love to hear from you. I would love to do a deep dive maybe into one of these, if it is something that you would enjoy and something that we could really kind of, you know, dig into much deeper. Send me a voice message at yfdp.show/share. You can also leave a comment on YouTube or you can send me an email. I have a contact form on my website or reply to one of the emails I’ve sent you if you’re on my list already. I’d love to hear from you and see what you think.

[00:17:14] Hey, thanks for listening. I’d love to continue the conversation in your inbox. Email SUBSCRIBE to hey at yfdp.show or sign up in the show notes to get bimonthly emails about how you can create, launch, and market your first digital product. Can’t wait to see you there.