The Current IM Trend: Back to Digital
March 30th, 2010
If you happen to follow closely the so-called Internet Marketing gurus, you might have noticed a trend emerge in the first quarter of 2010.
This trend has been around, but is getting a new spin put on it
Many of the top marketers in the IM field are foregoing physical products and returning to the world of digital creations. In particular, online digital courses that contain everything you’d expect in a high ticket physical product, without the costs and logistical nightmares of fulfillment.
To name just a few who are going back to digital are Frank Kern with “List Control,” Bob Serling with “Million Dollar Licensing 2.0,” Andy Jenkins with “Video Boss,” and John Reese with “Traffic Secrets 2.0″ re-release and the upcoming “Traffic Secrets 2.5.”
The products they’re creating are like a mini-membership site with a one-time payment instead of monthly billing.
This sends a completely different message than what has been touted the last 3-4 years.
Go physical was the cry as many of the top Internet marketers were coming out with newsletters, DVDs, CDs, and big box products and courses.
The message now is go digital.
Why?
Easy. It’s cheaper and the profit margins way higher.
The economy is still in a down mode, albeit not as bad as it was a year ago, but still down nonetheless. With a struggling economy comes lower response rates, lower response rates equal less orders, and less orders means less profit.
Add the cost of fulfillment and some of the gurus were probably just breaking even or losing money on their high ticket physical products. Of course they don’t want you to know that.
I’ve always been a proponent of digital products and continuity income through online means. The costs are practically nil. All you need is a domain name and a hosting account. With Amazon S3, you don’t have to worry about huge bandwidth costs either.
You’re talking about 90-95% pure profit on every sale you make. With those figures, why in the hell wouldn’t you stick to digital?
The are reasons to go physical.
The only drawbacks to digital are the absence of the human connection and the price factor.
People like to touch things. They like to get stuff in the mail. The tactile sensation of holding a print newsletter in your hand has more appeal than reading a digital version, which can easily get lost and gather dust on your hard drive.
The price factor is the biggest drawback to digital only, because unless you’re a superior marketer, physical products can be priced much higher than digital ones.
Some marketers can pull off selling digital only creations for top dollar, but they are few and far between.
The best solution if you sell information is to play it safe and close to the vest. Make the majority of your products digital only and then ask your customers if they would like a physical version instead, at a higher price of course.
Give them the choice. Some will pay the higher price just to have that tactile, human connection. Then and only then, do you give them the physical component.
Categories: Internet Marketing |
