How to Make Your Digital Products Stand Out
When I first started creating digital products over 10 years ago, it didn’t take much to stand out. There were so few people creating content that anything you created was sought after because you were most likely the only one creating immediate digital downloads in your niche. Today, standing out is essential and yes you need to learn how to make your digital products stand out but don’t let that hold you back either.
Do the Best You Can For Now
The most important step is taking any action steps at all. Content creators can get bogged down by the next latest and greatest way to promote or publish your products causing us to spin our wheels while we dream about what we can create. Just do the best you can … for now. That doesn’t mean offer your customers or readers, poor products, it means to do the best you can in the time frame you have. Just start gathering the information you need to create your digital products.
Even if there is real competition in your niche, realize that ninety-percent of those who produce content for it will go through the motions. They won’t really take the time to do thorough research. The result? Their stuff will be generic. Oh, people may buy it, especially if they have a snazzy sales page and pitch. But the LAST thing you ever want to do is disappoint people who put their trust in you enough to buy. And that’s exactly what the generic copycats are going to do to their own audience: Disappoint, if they haven’t taken the time to do their homework.
Fortunately, it is not that difficult to do the research about how to make your digital products stand out. You just have to dig deep within the information that you currently have at your fingertips (or Google analytics and social media stats to be exact). You can set yourself up for successful digital sales from the start.
When Is It Your Turn to Make Your Digital Products Stand Out?
When your competitor’s customers are ripe for turning to check out your content and getting exactly the help they need is the perfect time to make your digital products stand out.
Focus on your ideal customer. Get into the habit of thinking about helping him or her every time you sit down to do anything with content. If you are someone that your followers can trust to provide what they are looking for – and especially if they buy something from you, or even downloads your sign-up gift, and you deliver with a capital “D” – they will come back for more. And that’s what you ultimately will make your digital products stand out.
Where to Start
Start out with what worked for you in the past. Which content resulted in:
- Discussion
- Comments
- Shares
- Testimonials (a.k.a. particularly nice, specific comments)
- Arguments
- Any interaction at all
That’s where you start.
Tap into Your Golden Information
And if you’ve made actual sales, that’s golden information. Your sales are proof of what sells for you. Do more of what sells! For example, I create digital products to help children and families to grow through play (Growing Play). At first, I created printables to encourage pretend play in children. Then I added puzzle packs. One day I created a Unicorn pack and the rest is history. After looking at my actual sales, I quickly realized unicorn lovers are buyers. I created more unicorn products to cross-promote and upsell to increase each sale.
To really stand out in any niche or sub-niche, go the extra mile to provide the quality content they actually need. Do that by focusing on listening to them, and providing the help they need, when they need it.
Sometimes it might not always be what you personally want to create but it will help make you profitable. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn.
Once you’ve taken the time to listen and identify your ideal client or customer then it will be time to look through your content collection, and repurpose content that you know is going to be useful—all without writing tons of new material.
How do you settle on a specialty?
This can be tricky if you don’t have much information to go on before creating your digital products. Like I mentioned above, I had created many digital products before I literally stumbled upon my sub-niche of unicorns on Growing Play.
Your specialty should be driven by your passion to create and determined by your sub-niche … and vice versa. (The two are totally inter-related.) When choosing a specialty/sub-niche, take note of what works for your competitors, but take your cues from content that you have created: The content that has given you the most response (especially sharing!)
To determine this, take a day (or even just a morning) and check out actions or comments in the following:
o Your actual sales history
o Your blog
o Your social platforms and groups
o Reviews of your book, if you have one
o Testimonials people have given (formal and informal)
Looking for More Action Steps for What Digital Content to Create to Make Your Digital Products Stand Out?
If you want an insanely easy way to set yourself up for successful digital sales from the start, then check out the 7 Quick Steps to Plan Digital Products. This workbook will help walk you through the steps of what content you should be looking for on your website to determine exactly what digital products will sell to your customer base.
