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Are
You Ignoring Your Customers' Requests?
by Willie Crawford
Many Internet marketing experts will tell you that the best way
to find out what your customers want from you is to ask them.
While that may be true, I believe that an even more accurate way
is to just listen to what they're telling you, and to what
they're asking you for.
To illustrate my point, I'll use a couple of examples from one
of my own niches... the recipe and cookbook niche. If you
already have even a minor foothold in any niche, my experience
should be somewhat instructive.
In-case you're unfamiliar with my background, I earn six-figures
from a soul food cookbook that I wrote and self-published. I
wrote that cookbook because my site visitors asked for it.
The full story behind my first cookbook is that, when I first
came online in 1996, I was told that I should focus on a niche.
After building your typical "Internet marketing" site, which
didn't really take off immediately, I eventually decided to
build a site around the "soul food" recipes that I learned
while growing up on a farm in North Carolina. I posted a few of
my favorite recipes online as search engine bait, and then
advertised affiliate products around the site ... usually with
banners.
I was also told that I needed a mailing list to bring visitors
back to the site, and to stay in touch with potential customers.
With a recipe site, it made perfect sense to me to create a list
where people could trade recipes. That list was an immediate hit,
and has been going strong for over 8 years.
While the recipes sent out through the list were primarily from
site visitors, list members grew to associate me with great
recipes. They eventually started asking me if I had a cookbook.
I told them "no" but that I would write one if they would buy
it. I also announced that I was taking advance orders (to verify
the demand). I had over 100 orders before I wrote the first
word. That cookbook has provided me, and my family, with a
comfortable living for YEARS!
Over the years, I tried to sell those site visitors, and list
members, a variety of different backend products, but nothing
sold as well as my cookbook.
For the last six years, list members have regularly told me what
my next few products should be, but I wasn't really listening.
List members regularly emailed me saying that they loved my
recipes, but that they were on restricted diets. They often asked
if I had diabetic, low-fat or low-carb recipes. They also often
wrote to tell me that they'd been diagnosed with high blood
pressure, and asked if I had any recipes for people with
hypertension.
When I finally started listening, I knew exactly what my next 4-5
products should be. They should be versions of my cookbook
featuring diabetic, low-fat and low-carb recipes. I also needed
to write a cookbook for those with high blood pressure. All of
those cookbooks will be rolled out to my list and sites within
the next 2 months!
What's also instructive is that over the years I built up this
HUGE asset... people who have bought cookbooks from me and then
asked if I had more. They were telling me what to sell them.
They were telling me that if I just offered them what they WANTED
they would buy it.
The above is just applying basic common sense and a little bit of
marketing know-how ...which most Internet marketers already
possess. Let me share with you a few more insights that you
probably already have but are not using.
1) The easiest way in the world to make more money from a proven,
profitable niche is to "go deep." Produce multiple episodes or
versions of the product. That's what movie producers do.
That's what traditional book publishers do. Look at the
"Chicken Soup For The Soul" series! That told me that if I
produced additional versions of my cookbook, it would sell. My
list members also "told" me that.
The way that I will apply this is by re-labeling my first
cookbook "Volume 1" during the next printing. Then, I will
introduce "Volume 2" and as many volumes as the market will
bear over the years. Labeling the original "Volume 1" tells my
customers to look for additional volumes. It sets up collectors
to collect the complete series.
Speaking of collectors, another version of your product that you
can release is a limited collectors' edition... if appropriate
for your marketplace. The co-producer and host of the television
cooking show that I'll tell you about later is doing just that.
At my prompting, he's released a "Limited Edition Autographed
Version" of his cookbook, "The Devotional Cookbook." You can
see how he did that with my help at:
http://Chitterlings.com/devotionalcookbook.html
What will make the limited editon of the cookbook, in the example
above, sell out really fast is the fact that it really is only
being released in a very limited quantity, and that a television
personality is autographing copies. Ask yourself how you can
apply a similar idea to your product. I'll admit that this idea
isn't something that I dreamed up... it's somethings that I
heard a speaker use as an example at a seminar. All I did was
have my client APPLY the idea!
2) Go deep by offering more versions of your basic product. For
example, with my cookbook, I offer it in PDF, print, and on CD.
In a few months many of my recipes will be available on DVD since
I will share them on a television cooking show that I'll be
co-producing.
My mentors long ago told me that I needed not only a cooking
show, but a full line of spices and sauces. Instead of listening
to them, I went off in search of more exotic markets... largely
ignoring the hungry market that I already had (pun intended).
It took one of my clients, coming to me with an idea for a
cooking show that he had, to get me into the television business.
When you really think about it though, producing a cooking show
is just repackaging the information that I already have into a
different format.
Listening to my market, will not only allow me to triple my book
sales, it will also generate millions when the show is nationally
syndicated. The show is just beginning production now, but will
grow rapidly. You can follow our progress, and learn from the
process, by frequenting our blog at:
http://TheDevotionalChef.com/blog
You can also see how I develop and market a full line of
cookbooks and related products by visiting my cooking site at:
http://Chitterlings.com Go ahead and
join the mailing list, as
this is where I announce new products and site news.
A few people may ask why I share so much of what I'm doing in my
cooking niche with you here. You may wonder if I'm not afraid of
competition. The fact is that there are MILLIONS of webpages out
there offering free recipes, yet I earn six-figures selling them.
The fact is that there are thousands of people who have written
cookbooks and are having difficulty selling them. I don't have
to worry about competition because by studying Internet marketing
I have learned how to dominate my niche.
What should you do with the information that I've just shared
with you? Ask yourself how you can apply it in your niche. Ask
yourself if your site visitors and subscribers aren't already
telling you what they want to buy!
Once you discover that your product is a hit with the
marketplace, listen to them as they tell you how to improve the
product, and how to sell more things to them. Instead of going
off looking for new and more glamorous markets, serve the one
that you've already mastered. Apply the many marketing
techniques you already know to your existing niche. It will pay
off handsomely!
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Willie Crawford has been teaching Internet marketing
for over 9 years. Take advantage of his insights and
experiences by subscribing to his free, very popular
newsletter at
http://WillieCrawford.com/ezine.html
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