Yesterday, in a tiny little postage stamp article in the business paper, I noticed what seemed like an innocent headline ..
“Amazon Says E-Book Sales Now Outpacing Physical Books”
The article went on to say that for the first time ever, the number of digital books being downloaded and purchased has exceeded the number of physical books being bought. As an entrepreneur, do you have ANY idea how fundamental a shift this is in the marketplace? It’s easy for authors and publishers to see why this is so profound, but I want YOU to think about what this move towards digital information means for YOUR business. If you think about it, this idea of people paying to download digital information is actually kind of crazy. Never before have we all had MORE access to information at our fingertips than ever — Google indexes trillions of web pages and a dizzying array of information and data. Yet, sales of electronic information products and packages are skyrocketing.
This is the SAME reason why the Apple iPad (and the iPhones) have been among the single most successful products introduced to the world — EVER.
It’s because even though we all have a TON of information at our fingertips, most of us have NO idea on how to find, sort and organize this information into meaningful VALUE.
The irony is that because most people are completely overwhelmed by the QUANTITY of information they have access to, they actually are paralyzed and unable to USE the information.
It sounds crazy, but the value of information is actually skyrocketing right now .. as long as you can understand how to organize and package that information in a way that your prospects and clients appreciate.
And here’s the Big Idea that you MUST grasp if you’re an entrepreneur:
Information Is The New Currency ..
What do I mean by this? Regardless of what business you’re in right now, what your prospects and clients are seeking MOST is the right information to solve their problem or challenge. The Internet is literally changing the way that we solve problems in our lives. Think about it — when you are looking to buy something, or do some research, you’re likely turning to the Internet first, before anything else.- Stats show that more than 80% of ALL home buyers start their home search online (not by calling real estate agents, or looking in the paper).
- Classified ads revenue from major newspapers are down by more than 70% in the last 5 years .. and the reason given is because of the growth of free classified sites like Craigslist.
- If you were going to plan a trip, where would you go first to get the information you need to make a decision? If you’re like 75% of travellers, you’d start on the Internet.
- You get paid before you do the work .. You’re able to generate sales revenue before you even have the product created! For example, if you’re going to hold a 6 week teleseminar series for $197, you can market and sell the program (and collect the sales revenue) long before you actually have to spend the time creating the program and delivering it. Most businesses have to invest a lot of money and time into the product BEFORE they can sell it .. this is a HUGE paradign shift when you see the power of this!
- Only create products and programs that you know will sell .. Another cool thing about marketing information is that if you offer a program to the market, and it doesn’t sell .. you haven’t wasted a bunch of time on something that will never generate you revenue. You can quickly test the market WITHOUT spending a bunch of money and wasting time! Think about the typical business out there.. they have to spend a lot of money and time building a product to “see” if someone will buy it. The Knowledge Product business turns the entire model on its head!
- Profit margins unlike any other business .. Because you’re taking ‘knowledge’ and ‘information’ (which have a cost of ZERO) and packaging it, your cost to create your products is VERY low. I mean, think about it — if you’re creating an Ebook from information you already know, and then selling it for $47, the profit margin on each sale is crazy .. because the cost of production and manufacturing is almost nothing. This is because your prospects and clients base their perspective of value on what the information DOES for them .. not on what it cost you to produce it. There is NO correlation between what you charge for a Knowledge Product, and what it costs you to create! Just THINK about that for a minute. Very powerful!
18 Responses
Love this post Greg. Information products is revolutionazing even the way we think and perceive value and adds to the bottomn line of those who are capitalizing regardless of global market conditions. Done electronicaly, “priceless” – We’re building passive-income-empires.
Greg I saw that point about eBooks but did not take the time to expand the thought out to realize the potential. People will always pay to have their problems solved when they can see there is a viable solution.
Great article! This is why educational marketing is so powerful and why this blog post is so effective… you just helped me. Thanks!
Thank-you for another great post Greg! Certainly food for thought (and fuel for the idle) for all the internet marketers out there who are now jumping on this new bandwagon saying ebooks are now DEAD.
Just as you referenced to Amazon’z latest sales stats…
ebooks are definitely NOT dead! Which also brings forth another good point- as much as we like to think we do, us internet marketers do NOT drive the markets and trends…
The online MARKETS themselves drive the trends, NOT us marketers!
Thank-you for giving us great clarity and insight into this widely believed ‘dead & obsolete’ topic/subject-matter.
Fantastic post Greg, thanks for pointing out eBooks are STILL largely on the upward trend.
I’m sure that comes as a huge relief to many of your readers; does for me!
I have been in the information business for many years but only realised quite recently the potential of the internet for passing on information/offering solutions for people’s problems. This is because I started my business at a time that old fashioned advertising was the vogue and I did alright but not brilliantly. Anyway long story short I was converted to using the internet, came across the engagedentrepreneur site, amongst a couple of others, and just want to say thank you because I am learning so much from your site.
Great article. I discovered the power of internet marketing a couple of years ago and have spent more time than I can spare on learning more and more about its value, and how to use it to market. I am absolutely convinced that business as I knew it 20 years ago has changed. Your article about how people “reference” material has convinced me that I should put my 30 years of experience in travel to use with articles about exotic and unique destinations. The most exciting aspect is that the internet is a 24/7 world. What could be more valuable? Thanks for the “nudge”.
Thanks for the article!
I just discovered that I can read books (by way of kindle) on my Android. I think Amazon started this revolution, and it’s just the beginning. It will be very interesting to see how it turns out.
As far as the environment goes… I love my books, but less paper, shipping, and messing around is a good thing.
I am on board.
This is profound. I am in the higher education industry, and I write about online learning and distance education. The Amazon story confirms what I have long believed … we are now in the “Digital Age”. You no longer need to go to brick and mortar colleges to earn your college degree, just like you no longer need to log all those physical papers and books around to read and study. All the books my students use in my college courses are all in digital format. Just a few short years ago when I was a college student myself, ebooks did not exist. This is nothing short of a revolution.
In this business you are creating a system for people to follow. I learned this when I read the E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber. When I saw the video clip of him at the Engaged Entrepreneur I bought his book and was a guest on his radio show a few weeks later. Thank you for your wisdom and sharing the people you surround yourself with.
The article is great and I love to download information we want things in the most convenient way possible. I have set my business to deliver interviews the same way with a download of the MP3 file.
Hi
I am impressed in this development.
How do you get started?
Ron
I love the idea that an ordinary layman who is a professional in his/her field of expertise can take it upon themselves to actually self publish online. I took advantage of these methods myself back in 2007 & haven’t looked back since.
Thank you Greg for all your information that you share with myself & others.
Thanks Greg.
From business strategy stand point this is no brainer, specially when you look at how much money most people lost on developing and marketing a “product” whether that’s a real estate or a consumer product. What’s interesting and neat is that technology now allows you to market any idea in a very cost effective way with a lot of details to satisfy the consumer curiosity. Just to give you an example not many years ago doing 3D modeling of a product or a building/house would have costed you a fortune, now you can do that at the fraction of the cost and you can “walk” the consumer through a visual model before they commit, you also get instant feedback to improve on the product without spending any capital.
Cheers!
Ben
Greg:
Thank you for the teachings for me is a new view. I am a dentist and I Know nothing about marketing.
I think that your article is very helpful to understand how the things are going . When you say that they have low cost, I agree, in some way,but I think that what they are selling is time and time is money. You spent a lot of your time doing your programs, and what you sell is your Know how, but your time of life too,and that is very important when I buy something that save my lifetime, it gives me the opportunity to live more or to do other things.
That’s the power of marketing information — if you do it properly, you create it once and then it gives you massive leverage, because it can be marketed and sold without having to take more of your time up. It’s a way to avoid exchanging time for money. There’s the work up front, but once it’s completed then it can generate the income and lifestyle, without having to put more hours into creating that income. Very powerful!
I am a Certified Dream Coach from Dream University of marcia Wieder and graduated from Jack’s Canfield Train The Trainer. I am based in Paris and i am encountering some difficulties to market myself. I do not have a great network but one thing that i am certain I am a very good coach. I have all this knowledge and cannot use it as I wish, make that shift into people’s life. My target market is Corporate Executuves and I am willing to work Internationally. Any suggestions or help is welcome. Thank you. Love and gratitude.
I am a Certified Dream Coach from Dream University of marcia Wieder and graduated from Jack’s Canfield Train The Trainer. I am based in Paris and i am encountering some difficulties to market myself. I do not have a great network but one thing that i am certain I am a very good coach. I have all this knowledge and cannot use it as I wish, make that shift into people’s life. My target market is Corporate Executuves and I am willing to work Internationally. Any suggestions or help is welcome. Thank you. Love and gratitude.