Selling digital products online is a great business model with a lot of benefits.
We discussed a bunch of them here, but essentially, the low barrier to entry and the fact that once you have created a digital product there are very few overheads or inventory concerns, it is no small wonder so many entrepreneurs are beginning to explore this area of online sales.
The two major negatives stem from the same issue. Competition is fierce. To stand out from the crowd and market your wares in a way that might gain traction is not easy.
In fact, successful online digital retailers all have one thing in common, they are fantastic at marketing (or can afford to pay someone that is).
We won’t let that put us off though. Competition just means you might need to think outside the box when it comes to your marketing.
And that’s what we are going to look into today. Here are 5 completely actionable marketing tips you can take to help increase your digital product sales.
So if you are ready, let’s jump to it.
Table of Contents
Tips on how to promote your digital products for higher sales
1. Talk About the Products, (Any Chance You Get)
Selling online makes you a salesperson. That means you need to talk about your digital products so that your audience knows they exist.
If you have any social media channels, make sure you use them to make it known that you have a product out there, ready to purchase.
If there are some major players in your niche (and your product doesn’t conflict with their own interests), send them a freebie and ask them for their opinion. You may get a review or a shoutout.
Comment on relevant forums, Facebook groups and engage with your potential customers. Be helpful and provide valuable content and where appropriate mention that you have a product that might be able to help.
Here, is where the art of subtly is important. Online users can smell a charlatan immediately, so be careful not to come across as a person who is there just to sell.
Another, less judgmental location for you to share your knowledge (and details of a product) are online events and summits.
Covid has seen many industry meet-ups turn to the virtual world in order to continue during the lockdown. If you have the relevant background, you could signup to be a speaker at one of these conferences.
Attendees are able to watch expert interviews and presentations both via live streaming and after the event. These provide ample opportunity to make it known that you have digital products available.
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2. The Power of the Email List
Trying to reach an audience for your product can be difficult, but with a bit of forethought, not impossible.
If you have an established website, or eCommerce store and are moving into digital products you could already have a massive head start by leveraging your email list.
These are the email addresses (you should’ve been collecting) throughout the life of your business.
Addresses from previous customers and/or those that have subscribed to your site, can all be contacted while you promote the new products, (assuming they didn’t tick the box to say that you can’t).
All of this can help generate brand awareness. You can also use this method of communication as a way to show potential customers the benefits of your product.
Furthermore, an email marketing plan can be initiated while your product is in development.
You can promote the upcoming product and in some cases even engage with your audience to find out what they might want from the product in terms of its content. (ebooks and courses are especially suited to this open dialogue during development).
This pre-launch marketing can lead to a real buzz by the time you are ready to release the product, resulting in superior sales from day one.
Of course, if you haven’t built an email list, you have no means to do any of the above. This means, what are you waiting for?
Start collecting emails now, using at least one of the proven methods available.
3. Organize Promotions & Giveaways
Buyers cannot resist the offer of a freebie or a massive discount on items.
Leveraging this when releasing a new product can really help boost sales.
For instance, do you have current products that could be packaged at a discount (or even given away for free) alongside the new release?
The beauty of digital products is that this will not cost very much to do as there are no physical items that are being given away.
Not only will this encourage new customers to explore your brand, assuming the quality is good, but that’s also a lot of top reviews that may well come your way.
The power of word of mouth and user-review referrals can not be underestimated.
Where you choose to advertise these offers can be tricky. As with the previous tips, if you have an established audience, great. You start there.
If you don’t, it could be time to hit up influencers (they will love giving their audience a free offer or discount opportunity if the product is a right fit), or offer discount voucher websites, etc.
Essentially, think about where your audience hangs out and attempt to get details of your short-term offer or giveaway to them.
4. Think About the Visuals (Invest in Graphic Design)
The thing about non-tangible products that are sold online is that visually, they can be hard to grasp.
What is the core marketing image behind a course for example? The visual element of an ebook isn’t much outside a front cover.
Because of this, it can be beneficial to invest in graphic design to promote digital products.
This can then be displayed on your website or wherever you are promoting your product.
Essentially, you need an extra way of grabbing the customer’s eye in the absence of a physical product. Good graphic design can achieve this.
Not only will it help with your marketing, but it can also help differentiate you from other similar types of products as well as enhance your overall branding.
Furthermore, due to decreased attention spans online, a recent study by Xerox showed that colorful designs can increase attention span and recall by up to 82%.
Superior graphic design will help you tap into all of these conversion-increasing benefits.
- Related Content: Podia Review [Is this the Digital Sales Platform to Use in 2021?]
Use a ‘Freemium’ Model
Another approach you might decide to take is the Freemium model.
This can be used to introduce your products to customers in a low-risk environment. They can sign up for free, (meaning you have their email address), and access your products in a preview mode.
If the quality is good enough, this can tempt them into purchasing the full versions or paying a subscription to access everything.
Many digital product businesses use this approach, (courses and software for instance), and large brands use it too.
I’m thinking Spotify here, or mega products such as Fortnite that allow access for free and make millions on in-game purchases.
Essentially, the freemium strategy means that you can get across the benefits of the product via the trial/free access which can be enough to then encourage the customer to be a full access user.
Starting your online digital sales journey
As I described at the beginning of the article, now is a great time to turn your idea for a digital product into a reality.
Once you have explored what you might want to sell online, there are now many excellent platforms that allow you to set up a webstore and begin making sales.
Whatsmore, many of them have features that help facilitate all of the tips we have mentioned above. From harnessing an email list to creating a freemium sales funnel these platforms can make it happen.
So once you have created the product, launch time can definitely be a success.
