Inside the Marketing Machine - Scientific Marketing
By Jason Mangrum, Editor
www.InsidetheMarketingMachine.com
Copyright (C) 2004 All Rights Reserved.


Welcome to another edition of Inside the Marketing Machine... In a previous lesson, I introduced you to the concept of outsourcing the creation of your product so you can HAVE a product without writing a word. Today, we're going to continue this lesson by focusing on *other* methods you can employ to get your product created without writing it yourself. But here's an interesting twist...

I'm going to show you how to create a product - without writing - and without PAYING for it!

Yep. Free, powerful, extremely effective product creation tactics - EXPOSED!

Let's begin.

As there are many ways to "skin a dog" (I like cats) -- there are just as many ways to create a solid information product that SELLS. Here's a quick overview of the methods we'll cover:

1. Product Creation with a Partner
2. Product Creation with Contributors
3. Product Creation with Audio
4. Product Creation with Video

Okay, so you know absolutely nothing about the information you want to provide to your target market. You could:

a) research and study the information
b) find someone who already HAS the information!

It's a relatively simple process, and makes so much sense.

Let's say there's already an "expert" out there who knows just about everything there is to know about your chosen topic of interest...

All you have to do is approach the "expert" and tell them you're creating a product that relates directly to their area of expertise. You could either offer to have them answer the problems and questions you found the market wanted in exchange for 50% of product sales, OR you may even be able to get away with offering to interview them in exchange for extra credibility and exposure! Believe it or not, money is NOT the only motivating factor that will cause experts to write your information product.

Unless you're in the "how to make money" market -- (NOT recommended) you may find the experts you approach for an interview will accept just because it puts their name out there even further, gives them extra credibility and provides extra exposure for their name and expertise. You could simply interview them over the phone with questions that directly relate to the research data you collected, and then have that interview transcribed into a written document. And there's your product!

But what if you don't have a decent amount of questions to answer? -- Again, there is a relatively simple solution.

Head over to http://groups.google.com/ and do the following...

In the search bar, try these variations:

1. keyword +"how do i"
2. keyword +"how do you"
3. keyword +"how can i"
4. keyword +"how can you"
5. keyword +"how could i"
6. keyword +"how could you"
7. keyword +"question"
8. keyword +"problem"
9. keyword +"i wish"
10. keyword +"is there"
11. keyword +"do i"
12. keyword +"do you"
13. keyword +"can i"
14. keyword +"can you"
15. keyword +"could i"
16. keyword +"could you"
17. keyword +"how to" -- (keyword = YOUR keyword relating to your market)

Doing this will reveal the exact questions, problems and even desires of your target market!

And if you're lucky, you may even find that some of the questions have already been answered for you!

You COULD simply take these questions and answers, and create a solid information product all on your own. BUT -- here's the advantage of getting an interview with an expert...

Chances are that the expert you interview will actually market the product FOR YOU. Why wouldn't they? It's all about THEM. In their mind, they've basically just received a brand new "tool" to give them extra credibility, exposure, and (if you're splitting the profits) extra money!

But what if there are SEVERAL "experts" within your target market? -- Why not multiply your exposure, credibility and SALES by having each of them contribute to your product?

This is MUCH easier than you may think.

Do a search in google.com for your target market, but also add the following terms to the search...

1. keyword +"professional"
2. keyword +"expert"
3. keyword +"specialist
"4. keyword +"author"

You can also search in groups.google.com for the same terms, but doing all this will expose the perceived experts within your target market!

Make a list of each expert you discover, and type their name into google.com (in quotes) to most likely reveal more about them, and possibly even their website and contact information. If you find their website but no contact information, head over to http://www.betterwhois.com/ and type in the domain name of the expert's website...

You'll have to enter a security code, but once you're in, you'll have the direct contact information (sometimes including the full name, mailing address, email address and even phone number) of the expert whom you wish to make contact.

Contact them via email or phone (recommended) and tell them you'd like to interview them to be included in your upcoming product. In return, they can mention their website to give them extra traffic and exposure. Multiply your results by contacting several experts in the exact same way, and offer the same benefits.

Some may refuse, but others will most likely jump at the chance to have their website placed inside a product directed toward their target market! And you could take it even further by allowing each contributor to place a recommendation or endorsement for the product on their website, in exchange for a percentage of sales that come from their affiliate link... INSTANT SALES.

This is called "Joint Venture marketing" and is one of the most powerful, easiest and FASTEST ways to make it BIG on the internet. We'll talk more about Joint Ventures and Affiliates in another lesson, but for now -- let's talk about two other methods of super-quick product creation...

1. Audio
2. Video

Some of us learn better by reading, others learn visually and yet others learn by hearing. So it's safe to say that you can appeal to your market simply by creating an information product based on reading, audio, video -- or all three!

Of course the sky's the limit on this one, but let's get into a little about how to create a product with audio and video...

This is a *very* simple, yet powerful technique of product creation. Do an interview with an expert (as before) except instead of hiring a transcriptionist to create a written document, put up the recorded audio itself!

You could also do live or recorded teleseminars where you basically interview a different expert every week and create a monthly membership site where people pay YOU each month to hear the next interview!

Getting your audio from phone-to-PC-to-Internet may seem like a daunting task. It used to be a pain in the neck to record your phone conversation, transfer it to your PC and have it encoded and uploaded to the internet. However, my good friend and marketing genius, Rick Raddatz has created a solution for ANYONE wanting to take advantage of the power of audio. You may want to check out "Instant Audio" at:
http://instantaudio.howtoinformationonline.com

Let's move along to product creation with video...

Depending on your type of product and target market, you might want to create a video that actually shows the customer what to do, step-by-step. This isn't near as difficult or expensive as it may sound -- in fact, you don't even need a camera!

Let's say you wanted to create a product that helps people learn Photoshop, a powerful drawing program. You could simply record a "Camtasia Video" of yourself creating various illustrations, drawings, etc. and offer your recording AS your information product...

You may be wondering what the heck a "Camtasia Video" is, well -- Camtasia is a very popular software program that allows you to literally record anything you want right on your desktop! There's even a free version that'll do everything you want it to, and then some. It's pretty amazing software. You can download your free copy at: http://www.techsmith.com/download/studiodefault.asp

But what if you wanted to create a video product that didn't have anything to do with recording the actions on your PC? You get a webcam, and you use Video on Demand! (Check it out here!) As you can see, ultra-quick product creation doesn't nessecarily require you to have to write a single word -- and yet, you could create a fantastic solution for your target market, relating directly to what they're asking for! Who could ask for more? ;-)

Stay tuned for the next lesson, when we'll cover the few ' technical' aspects you must have in order to start selling your product on the internet. This is a *very* important lesson, and one that you simply can't miss. In fact, you may have a hard time selling ANYTHING without it. (Coming soon!)