signature products

Build your Online Business through Signature Information Products

August 30, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Being in business is about helping people accomplish something – feel better, do better, be better. And that often means educating them. An information product may offer good information about your products and services. It may teach your target community some new technique they can use or it may inspire them to think bigger. There is some form of teaching involved with every business. And it often takes the form of signature information products.

As a teacher, or knowledge holder, you have an opportunity to share what you know with other people. When you put them in the form of an ebook, teleclass, radio show, or blog, they are called information products – signature products, actually, for they bear your name and express your views. And through them people get to know you for the knowledgeable, thoughtful, wise person you are – an expert in your field. And they’ll turn to you when they need what you have to offer.

Your first information product

Your first information product will probably be your opt in offer – the giveaway that you create to encourage people to give you their email address so you can bring them into your target community. The form of your opt in might be a “how to’ “list. It might be an audio or video, it might be a small ebook. Whatever you create you want to give them something of value that creates recognizable results so they know you can produce results and are eager to learn more from you.

Leverage your ideas

Let’s say you start out with a list of five steps that get a specific result. Each of those steps may become an article or blog post that details more of one of those particular steps. Those five steps might turn into a radio show, or a talk on the topic, or the foundation for a five week telecourse. You get the picture. One idea can dress up in many costumes to play many roles.

A lot of my radio shows on www.blogtalkradio.com/passionatelyonpurpose start out as posts. Then I expand them for the half hour show. Some of the material from my telecourses has become an ebook. And I’m certain I could create some strong keynote talks from any of the topics I address in my work.

Pick your medium

Be like an artist – work in whatever medium suits you best. Audios, videos, articles, blog posts, ebooks, audio books, telecourses, radio show, live courses, talks, and webinars.

And pick a medium that works for your target community. For instance, young people are more technically savvy than seniors so they may be more attracted to videos. There are visual learners and audio learners to be considered. And one idea can be presented in several mediums – a transcript of a radio show, a home study course from a telecourse. Consider your skill set and the manner in which your target community consumes information when you choose your medium.

Keep a beginner’s mind

We forget how much we know and how much someone new to what we are teaching does not know. Break your material down into small sections and teach them in an order that builds on the previous topic. My favorite way to start writing any article or ebook or radio show is to write down the answer to “Students leave with an understanding of…” That helps me clarify the purpose of that particular information product.

Passive Income

The great thing about signature information products is that when they are on your web site people can buy it whenever they want to whether you are around or not. I do find that it helps to keep promoting your signature products in some sort of regular cycle to interest new people and remind people they exist. Well-promoted signature products definitely create passive income. You can refer to a product in a blog post, expand a point from a product and mention they’ll find more on the topic in the original product. Tell the story of how the product came into existence and why. Talk about your products in a friendly, casual, open manner that invites people to check them out but do keep talking about them – not selling them – simply mentioning them.

Expand your expert status

When you have written at length on a specific topic you are seen as an expert – which you are since you are the only one interpreting things the way you do. Signature products let people know what you know, how you think, what you can do for them. And over time signature information products build the trust you need to inspire others to pick up the phone and engage you to help them.

The purpose of your signature products

Your signature products may be used to educate your target community about why they need what you have to offer, They may be the tool by which you teach a particular topic that will grow a business or change a life. They may be products that inspire and motivate. Put signature products to work for you to attract and serve your chosen community.

What Can You Teach That People Will Pay You For?

July 28, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

I maintain that the one thing people will continue to buy in today’s economy is knowledge. Knowledge is empowering, knowledge increases in value over time, and it keeps working forever! What do you know that you can teach others and get paid for?

What you already know

Chris Brogan recently wrote a post about his typing skills – how he was a really fast typist and as a blogger that put him hours ahead of others. He suggested we look at what skills we need to strengthen or add in order to make life easier or faster or better or more productive. And it got me thinking about what skills I might need to add. And if I need to learn stuff, others do too and I started thinking about what I knew that I might teach others.

I am a natural organizer of ideas and I can help thoughtful leaders effectively organize their ideas so they can educate and inspire their chosen community. That can mean a business idea or an information product. That can be effective blog content. But the bottom line is I know how to organize and in my coaching and my information products I teach others to organize their thoughts and ideas and set up systems that fit with their learning and working style to keep them focused and productive.

So if I can teach people how to organize their ideas, what can you teach?

It may be as specific as “10 different ways to combine 8 food ingredients to make 7 meals for your family. “ It could be “Best resources for auto parts for your antique automobile.” It could be “How to teach your old dog new tricks.” What is your passion? What do you love to do? What can you teach? That’s the gift you have to give.

What does your target community need from you?

To create a successful information product it has to be on the topic your target community wants and needs from you. Who have you been targeting? What are their current needs? What can you offer them?

When I look at my target community I think they want to be empowered to take control of their future. So I’m offering them ways to learn to create their own signature information products and to improve their writing and idea organizing skills as they do. With a range of signature products I can offer different price points of information and meet the needs of anyone who wants to learn what I have to teach.

How will yours be different?

Here’s the deal. There is a ton of information out there for free – if you have the time and energy and willingness to wade through it. But what if someone did that wading for you and offered you a focused summary with action steps you could read in 20 minutes. Would you pay for that???

Your job is to take your years of expertise wrapped in your unique spin and experience and put it in an information product that makes it simple to consume. You will research new information; you will absorb it, sort it, compare it, update it and turn it into a product specifically for those who want to learn it. You will teach others what you know and get paid for it. How does that sound?

Information products create passive income

The fabulous benefit of information products is that once you create them people can buy them for years to come while you are off doing something else. They also increase your expert status. The more you write the more people understand how much you know. And they are drawn to you to learn more.

One idea can be leveraged into a multitude of products

Some time ago I was scheduled to give a talk in a course I was taking and even as I prepared the outline I knew it had to be an ebook. Later parts of it went into my radio show Passionately On Purpose. Your ideas may end up as blog posts, article submissions, or part of a teleclass or a home study course. You may take one idea and break it into little chunks or you may combine it into a big product. If you have a list of 10 ways to…. you also have ten articles – one on each of those ten ways. Once you start creating information products you’ll be kept busy with the new ideas they generate.

Your job as teacher

We are all teachers in our own way. We teach by example – the kind of life we lead, the words we speak, the actions we take. We teach our children. We exchange ideas with our friends. We lead our group. For me teaching is about learning as well as sharing. Every time I prepare a new course or ebook I learn a tremendous amount. As I organize the material and select the order in which it needs to be taught I learn what is important. As I create exercises that help me own the work I adjust them to help others do the work. Even if you don’t look upon yourself as a teacher, you can see yourself as someone with something of value to share. Whether you tell it to someone, or write an article on it, or create a course around it, you are giving others the gift of your knowledge.

What can you teach? And when will you do it?

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March 1, 2010 By Cara Lumen

Passionately On Purpose Radio with Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, who keeps you passionately on purpose while you make a difference in your world. As a Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator she talks about how to uncover your passion, define your purpose, identify your path, make money from what you already know and attract the people you are meant to serve. But most of all, she’ll help you believe you can!!! Join her Mondays at 10 AM Central to stay Passionately On Purpose

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