If you’ve put all the time and energy into creating an information product – and then it didn’t sell, you know that it can be a really frustrating experience.
I’ve been there. I invested almost 2 months and a little bit of money into creating a product from scratch once. And I really did a good job with it. I made sure the infos are top-notch, I made sure the presentation really helped people to “get it” easier. So, with lots of excitement I put it all up online, opened a clickbank account and was ready to see the sales rolling in…
And guess what: it didn’t happen.
But this “flop” later turned into a huge advantage for me. Because I learned a very valuable lesson. I just couldn’t accept that all of this work should have been wasted. So, I tried for ways to make it work. Tweaked the copy. Got PPC campaigns ramped up. Lots of SEO and article marketing. To no avail. Now I know what the problem was: the kind of product. It just didn’t push any hot buttons in the clients mind. There was no urgent problem to be solved, no pain to be stopped – it was about making something that’s already good great. So I didn’t do my market research beforehand.
But – and that’s the good thing. There are LOTS of ways to profit from “dead products”.
SELLING RIGHTS
You can always try to sell the resale rights, or even private label rights to other marketers. Although I don’t want to get your hopes to high on that one. Because experienced marketers will instinctively know whether they can sell a product or not. But for some, it might just be worth to bundle the product up in some way with other products and sell that. So, while I wouldn’t invest too much stock in finding rights buyers, you definitely should give it a try. Maybe make an offer in the Warrior Forum in the special offers section. Or contact other marketers who sell products that are related to your product and offering your rights to them.
USE AS BONUS
You can always use your product as a bonus to another product. Specially if the contents really are good, with a bit of copywriting chops you can usually tie it in so that it enhances the perceived value of the product a lot.
LET OTHERS USE AS BONUS
If you weren’t successful with selling the rights to your product, ask other marketers in related markets if they want to give your product as an additional bonus to their customers. And make clear that you will give them the right to do so free of charge. What’s the benefit in that, you may ask? Easy: You get exposure to proven buyers in your market. And if your product really is good, they will check out your website. Specially if you tell them to do so in your product repeatedly and offer them more good stuff on their website and send them to an opt-in-form. I can’t stress enough the importance of building a list of proven buyers, and if you can get some big dog to add your product as a bonus to theirs, then this can be a really great way to get access to very valuable clients.
USE AS OPT-IN-INCENTIVE
You can also give your product away for free, just for having people opt-in. Listbuilding is extremely important when it comes to internetmarketing, and if you can give them something of real value, they will start to trust you and you will be able to build a relationship with them – which will ultimately lead to sales. But – even when it’s “free” you have to sell it to them. They have to see the value in it. And if you couldn’t sell it for money, then it might not be easy to make it work as an incentive for opting in free either. But give it a try. Test.
GIVEAWAYS
In every market, there are “giveaway events”, where all kinds of people are giving something away for free. Participate. Give your product away for free there and make them opt-in to get it. If in your market, there isn’t a giveaway event, that’s a great opportunity because you can create one and become a “celebrity” in your market that way.
JOINT VENTURE
You can approach other businesses that have a product in your market and offer them to combine your products and sell them as one bundle. And you split the profits. Very simple, but powerful idea.
CONTEST
Make it a contest and give your product away to the winners. For example – have people submit an article for you on ezinearticles, or just ask them for the three most important things they want to learn about the subject your product is about. Or have them create a video that promotes your product. Or make it a quiz, and if they answer all the questions right, they get a price. There are MANY ways to create contests, and contests can really work gangbusters.
GO BIG
You can also approach big businesses and offer your product to them at “wholesale prices”. You can even offer them to handle the fulfillment for you. They can use it as a lead generation tool.
EBAY
Put it up on ebay for a low price and see if it sells. Selling 100 products on ebay for $19.95 is still a lot better than selling nothing. You might be surprised to find that for some reason, on ebay you can sell it. Or you can auction it with a low start-price and see how high it goes.
For me and my product, back then, I actually used several of these strategies (I did not just pick one), and it worked out really, really well. Besides from the money I made and the subscribers I won, I also made friends with other people in the industry, and that’s where you get real leverage from in the future.
