BRAND/ PRODUCT TRACK

Quick Overview of the Brand/Product Track

Detailed Overview of the Brand/Product Track

Being a product based blog can be one of the easiest or hardest tracks.  The level of difficulty will depend on you!   

If you already have a product or a product idea, then your biggest challenge will be not allowing yourself to get off track while you build your customer base. 

It's really easy to look around at what other bloggers are doing or read posts like "How to find your target audience" and be convinced to spend 20+ hours per week managing your social media profiles.  

But let me ask you a question: when you think about your favorite store or your favorite brand of shoes, does their social media profile make or break a sale for you?  Of course not. 

They likely have a profile but they aren't completely dependent on it for marketing their products and you shouldn't be either.   

HOW TO MAKE MONEY ON THE BRAND/PRODUCT TRACK

Making money on this track can be extremely simple OR extremely difficult depending on the tatics you use.  

Before you even begin to market your product, you need to HAVE a product.  This could be as easy as selling Usborne Books or as difficult as writing an eBook.  

If you are creating multiple small products (ie t-shirts or printables) you'll also need to research platforms and shopping cart systems. 

Once you've set up your product(s), it's time to start marketing.  If you have an advertising budget (even a small one) you will find that this step will be much easier.  

If you want to market to your audience for free, you will have to take a step back from the product track and essentially spend some time on the sponsorship track, creating an audience to sponsor your own product.

The one major difference when you are taking this route is that you won't be focused on building a massive audience but rather a targeted audience.   This means that you want every follower and email subscriber to have a specific interest in your product. 

Create content that features your product. In order to start promoting your own product for free or at a low cost, you will want to create valuable content for your customers.   Think about the problems that your product solves and write content that features your product as the solution.

The important thing to remember here is that you want to provide value your specific audience and no one else.  This doesn't necessarily mean that every social media story or blog post should have your product as the star of the show but it does mean that your product's audience should overlap with the posts audience.

Build your email list.  When you being building your site, your number one priority is creating email opt-ins.    Then work to build several pieces of content around that opt-in. This is a win for both your email list and your SEO authority!

Whether or not you read the sales emails that come into your inbox, trust me when I say, this will be the place where you will make the most sales.   People who have subscribed to your email list get to know your brand. They begin to trust you which leads to increased desire for your product!

Market, market, market.   Truly marketing a product requires more effort than simply throwing up a few blog posts.   If you have a budget for it, start using paid advertising to promote your freebies.  

Remember, your email list is your golden ticket. If your current freebies aren't regularly bringing in new clients then consider revamping your lead magnet.a

If possible, you'll also want to create advertisements featuring your product.   Although it's unlikely that these ads will result in immediate sales, getting your name in front of your targeted client is a long term strategy that will eventually help give your products "brand" status.

If you have no marketing budget, then it's time to get creative.  Consider offering your product for free in exchange for a review or setting up an affiliate program.

Nurture your email list.
Once you HAVE an email list, the question most people ask is "What do I say to them?"  Aside from an awesome welcome series, you should be broadcasting to your list pretty regularly.  

You can share anything from tips for using your products to "the story behind" your product.   If you are creating regular content for your website, you will likely include that in your emails as well!

These email broadcasts are intended to build trust with your audience and keep them engaged and interested in reading.

At least one time each quarter (or more frequently if you prefer) run a 3-4 day sales sequence.  If you'v built up a proper foundation.  These sequences can bring in a huge chunk of income very quickly.

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