outsourceeasilycom Blog

What is the best way to Market Digital Products

Sep 14, 2023

It's been a long time since you've had the opportunity to develop your first (or newest) digital product, congrats! Next obviously is to promote the product and put it in the hands the users you made the product to serve.

Promoting digital goods and making sales can be difficult, but there are some tactics you can employ to reach as many prospective customers and make a good income. In this post we'll teach you some marketing techniques you can use in order to kick off the process.

skip ahead:

What are digital products?

Considering how many people consume information online -- 5.18 billion people in fact -- Many entrepreneurs put their skills, whatever it may be to create digital goods that they are able to sell to individuals. The digital goods comprise:

  • eBooks
  • Video courses
  • Music files, audio files
  • Website and graphic templates
  • Stock photos and videos
  • Software programs
  • Mobile applications
  • Coaching tools
  • Podcasts
  • Memberships

12 ways to promote digital goods and generate sales

To promote your digital product and generate sales, here are some steps to take:

    Build an online retail store, or website    

The initial step in promoting your digital product is to build a virtual storefront or website that will direct customers to where they can buy from you.

There are many ways to do this. You can use online store builders like Shopify or Gumroad. The platforms have many features that permit you to create online stores completely from scratch, without any technical knowledge required. With these store builders, you are able to sell all sorts of digital items, which include:

  • eBooks
  • Online video courses
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
  • Audio and music files
  • Memberships
  • Digital art
  • Photos and videos from Stock
  • Website templates
  • Event tickets, etc.

Gumroad caters to complete beginners, as shown by their slogan, "Go from zero to $1". Shopify, on the other hand, caters to people with varying levels of expertise.

The two tools provide a broad range of online store templates and a drag-and-drop website editor that lets you modify templates to fit the requirements of your brand. Additionally, they offer tools that can help you increase customers to your site. Shopify is a good example. It permits you to download extra applications to improve store functionality as well as integrate with third party apps to streamline processes.

Some other platforms which you could use to create a website or online storefront are:

In contrast to Shopify Gumroad, Shopify, and  other platforms, they are free to use. They're hosted by self and you'll be required to buy:

  • Domain names ($10-20/year)
  • Hosting for Web ($3-30/month, depending on the platform and plan)
  • Premium Theme ($100-200 one-time payment)

They allow you to create any kind of website you want, and you can add eCommerce functionality by downloading plugins like WooCommerce, EasyDigitalDownloads, and MemberPress.

    Join an online marketplace    

If you're new to making and selling digital goods You might wish to first join a marketplace before creating your own website or store. Some online marketplaces you can join are:

  • Amazon - for eBooks as well as audiobooks
  • eBay to sell various digital items
  • iTunes - for songs, podcasts and videos
  • Envato - for website and graphic templates video and stock images and royalty-free songs
  • Udemy - for online courses, mostly
  • Creative Market  Fonts as well as graphics and templates for your creative endeavors

The downsides, however, of marketplaces are:

  • They usually receive a percentage of every purchase you create
  • They put your products against similar offerings from other creators. It reduces the chances of selling as many units as you want to.

    Create a compelling sales page for your product    

This is a factual aspect of selling digital items In the beginning the customers will not know the name of your company, and they're less likely to buy from you until you explain to the reasons what they can expect from you. This is the case especially if you sell eBooks and online classes.

Contrary to what the majority of people think, you don't need to be an expert copywriter to craft a compelling selling page. What you need to do is address this question in relation to your prospective customers: Is the product right for me?

There is no need to list every detail about the digital item. You should instead focus on

  • What can your product do to assist them in solving their issues
  • Why should they choose it (instead of other similar products available)

Here's a sample sale page designed to promote an instructional design course. Notice how the copy above the fold clearly defines the audience that the creator of the course would like to target, i.e. educators looking to utilize their teaching skills in high-level institutions.

Showing potential customers that real people have tried the product and gained from it is one of the most powerful ways for them to become buyers.

Why? Because you're not the only one telling them of your product's value and value; others are also confirming it, too. They believe: "If this can work for others, it can also work for me".

    Make your site more optimized to be search engine friendly    

If you're trying to implement a marketing strategy which is so effective that you'll selling on autopilot for months ( or perhaps even years) after implementing it Try search engines optimization (SEO)

There are three different types of SEO: on-page, off-page and technical.

On-page SEO involves the use of niche- or product-related keywords within web copy. In order to determine the best keywords to use in your pages for sales or product Consider: If someone wanted to find my product then what term(s) should they type into Google?

These terms are your keyword. You can use keyword or SEO tools such Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Ubersuggest to identify relevant keywords as well as their volume of searches. Once you have your keyword phrases, you can use them in your titles, subheadings, body copy and URL, meta description, image alt texts as well as other. When Google's crawlers index that webpage, they'll be able to determine the content of the webpage and rank it appropriately.

Lastly, technical SEO means optimizing a website or server so that search engines are able to index and crawl your website effectively. It involves increasing the speed of your website as well as improving the user experience and structuring the data of your website.

    Design a content marketing funnel    

If you're selling a digital product on a site (as as opposed to market place) it is possible to create blogs video, blog posts, or social media posts that educate people about your area of expertise and your product(s).

Like the product pages you have You can also optimize your blog content for search engines and also include keywords. Even if your product pages don't rank the way you want them to, your audience will still find you through your blog post that is ranked.

Alongside creating leads and driving traffic to your site, relevant content also helps you build credibility and make yourself appear as an authority within your field.

    Develop an organic media presence    

"You can just press record in TikTok but it does not need to be perfect," she says "It's real and raw People know me to be a transparent and authentic person."

For the purpose of growing your presence on social media make and publish content (images carsousels, images, short videos, longer videos, infographics and so on.) which educate the public about your industry/niche, explain the reasons behind why you started creating products within that area and highlight the advantages of those items. If you have reviews from customers that you have shared, make sure to share them on your social media platforms.

Growth might seem slow at first, but if you publish content consistently the people will begin to come to your website. While they are there, you can interact with them, and establish relationships by liking and replying to their messages as well as sharing posts and giving shoutouts to people who purchased your item.

    Run pay-per-click ads    

Building an organic social media presence requires a long time before you start reaping the benefits. However, if you're trying to have your business noticed by a large number of people within a brief time you can try paying-per-click (PPC) ads. Like you may have guessed, the pay-per-click (PPC) is a marketing system that requires the user to pay only to advertise on websites that people are likely to click.

There are two kinds of PPC advertisements that include paid social media advertisements and search-related ads paid for.

With paid social media ads it is possible to run ad campaigns using the platforms your intended audience is using. Before you begin your campaign, you'll specify the behavior that, the demographics and preferences of your audience, so your ads will appear in the feeds of users who are likely to buy from you.

Paid-search ads, on the other hand permit your advertisements to be displayed on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) when your target users conducts commercial searches- meaning they're looking for something they can purchase.

For a greater chance of your PPC ads being clickable, follow these steps:

  • Use high-quality and visually attractive images in your ads
  • Make sure you use compelling but brief copy to present the benefits of your product
  • Make clear a call-to-action which explains the next step to take following viewing of the ad

    Create an email list    

SEO, content marketing and paid ads are all great promotion methods for digital products But what happens when Google and all social media platforms become obsolete (or even crash)?

The idea may sound a little flimsy, however, look at what has happened to popular platforms such as MySpace, Friendster, Tumblr and Vine. It's likely that you've not been thinking about any of these sites in the past few years. If this happens to the major networks you use for promoting your products the business you run will soon become outdated, as well. Your audience will be lost and you'll have to start from scratch in order to re-build your client base.

Things don't stop after individuals give them their email addresses. It's important to keep up with relationships with your customers and keep your business top of mind by regularly emailing relevant, useful messages to your customers. For this to be easier, you can use email marketing software like MailerLite, ConvertKit, and ActiveCampaign to automate your emails. Additionally, you can segment your email list based on subscribers' behaviors as well as their interests and preferences -- and send personalized mailers to every group.

These emails that are automated should:

  • Inform your customers on the reasons you choose to do the things you do.
  • Show them what your product can do to aid them with their problems
  • Help them learn more about the industry you work in.
  • Inform them of any special offers, discounts or other special deals they may be able to benefit from.

    Use an influencer as a partner    

Since influencers already have established audiences using their influence, working with them may make a fantastic marketing strategy to promote your brand. It all depends on the type of influencer as well as their size as well as the result you're looking for, you can pay monetarily or offer freebies in exchange to have your products featured on their posts.

Another option is to set an affiliate program that influencers can sign up to help promote your products to their audiences in exchange for a commission for purchases they make through the affiliate link they have created.

Whichever route you decide to pursue -- whether direct marketer marketing via influencers or affiliate marketing- working with reputable influencers in your niche can help you tap into the audiences that you may not have access to otherwise. This also positively impacts the image of your brand, and improves the likelihood of conversions and sales.

    Build and execute a pre-launch promotion strategy    

Do you know anything more powerful than marketing the digital item after you have launched it?

Promoting your digital product before launching it!

Planning and conducting an initial campaign can help you build buzz around the product prior to it hitting the market. By doing this it will help you build an online community of potential buyers that are eager to buy your item the moment it goes on sale. This not only helps to avoid the dreadful feeling of no sales in the first few days however, it will also teach the basics of promotion and the entire process becomes easier as you continue promoting your item.

There are several ways to generate interest in your products prior to launch. These are some of them:

  • Provide clues via social media regarding the type of product you'll be launching
  • Post posters and images of your upcoming product on your site so that people can be informed you have a new product on the way
  • If the product is an eBook then you may send your email subscribers a hyperlink to go through the first couple of pages
  • Organise a contest online with the winner's prize being early access to your new product once it is launched.

Pre-launch campaign help you promote your product, but it also provides you with an estimate about the number of sales to be expecting from customers who've stated their desire to purchase your product post-launch. You'll also establish an existing customer base who you'll be able promote new products easily.

    Offer discounts as well as freebies    

Like physical items, providing discounts and freebies when you market your digital item could attract potential customers and make them more likely to purchase.

In the case of digital items, discounts could come as $X off on the first purchase and X% off for Black Friday, while freebies could include a no-cost email course, extended content, or bonus chapters. Additionally, you can include smaller digital items that can be purchased in bulk for you to sell more the units you sell of your digital item.

In addition to encouraging customers to take a look at your products Discounts, freebies, and discounts also help you build credibility and trust with your customers, increasing the likelihood of word-of-mouth marketing as well as repeat purchases. It is also possible to utilize discounts and freebies to boost sales on other digital items you sell.

    Host a contest online    

Hosting challenges and contests online isn't only a wonderful method to connect with existing customers, but they're excellent at preparing prospective buyers to buy your digital product provided that the contest can help them reach a target they have

One great illustration for this would be Avocadu's 21 days of fat-loss challenge, posted prominently on its website.

Avocadu offers recipe eBooks and a weight loss program dubbed The Yoga Fat Loss Bible. Although Avocadu boasts a lot of favorable customer reviews on its web pages for sales however, they know that consumers will be more receptive to paying for products when they experience it at no cost. It's the reason why the challenge to lose fat will be used for.

Any person who takes on the challenge for free and loses weight is more likely to buy the Fat Loss Bible program than someone who just read reviews of it.

For a successful contest or challenge, you must ensure three elements:

  • People participate in it for a certain amount of time. In the case of Avocadu, that's 21 days. In your case, it could be as low as five.
  • The players play by engaging in (or being encouraged to utilize) your digital products or lead magnets.
  • The challenge gives you an opportunity to increase the price of your digital product (or your complete version of the lead-generating product) at the end.

Market your digital products and increase sales

Making digital goods could be a very lucrative side hustle. Your product will not simply sell itself by a new. You have to make an intentional effort to market the product to your intended audience.

These strategies to promote your product in this article can help to sell your product however you'll have to be willing. You don't have to try all the 12 strategies at once Choose a couple initially and then experiment. There may be a long time before you see results, but if you're consistent then you'll benefit as you figure out the advertising techniques that will work for your particular product.

Download our free strategy guide below for more tips!