Quick tip to all of you who are considering packaging information into your own e-book, book or information product – don’t underestimate what you already know or will know through research.
I’ve talked with a few of my new coaching clients yesterday and today, all of who have some good knowledge on their target markets, or at least have a passion that I know will lead them to a good knowledge base in the coming weeks – but they were about to make one FATAL mistake…
They assumed that everyone knew what they know.
Simply put, they had forgotten the day BEFORE they were knowledgeable about their topic.
When you are trying to put a price on your knowledge when packaging information products ask yourself this question:
"How long (in terms of hours) did it take me to learn what I know about X" Now take the number of hours and multiply that by at least $50 (putting a value on your time should often be more around $150 – but we’ll be conservative here)
"How much did I invest in learning what I know – books, advice, attending training, magazines, etc…?"
"What unique experiences have I been through in my life that would be difficult or unlikely that others could repeat?"
In some cases you will be able to put a price on such an experience (ex. A travel vacation, a seminar, etc…)
"If I take the sum total of all that I know (or will learn) about X and package it into a simple formula that others can apply – what money could my readers save or make with this approach?"
Do you see where I’m going with this? When you are considering the potential profit or a specific price for your knowledge, consider all that went into acquiring that knowledge, how likely it would be for someone else to gain the same knowledge, how many others are unlikely to go through the same trouble and what advantage you could be giving to your reader as a result of your packaging of that knowledge.
Suddenly a $7 report can be worth $47 or more…
An e-book can be re-packaged into a course that is worth $197 or more rather than the $17 you were planning to charge for it.
In the Ultimate Information Entrepreneur’s Success Package we cover several techniques for increasing the perceived value, price and profit from your knowledge, but all of this starts with an inner belief that what you know is highly valuable to your readers.
Here’s a good example, over at this Wine Blog the author shares with us his plans to write a book in 2008 – even telling us exactly the research he performed to find a gap in the existing information she plans to fill (great to see this effective research technique by the way) – but then she mentions he will give away the digital version and maybe charge a small fee for the printed version….
What!!!
Reading over this fascinating blog, and acknowledging the fact that he actually works in Napa Valley at a wine maker, he has the opportunity to become an information marketing guru online, dominating the space and building an information marketing enterprise if he so desires.
Sure, there are certain circumstances where giving away quality information makes sense – if you are deploying a sales funnel where you hope to generate a great number of leads to which you will later market higher-priced, back-end products, but in most cases you want to charge fair price for your knowledge.
In this particular case, there certainly may be other reasons why the blog publisher wishes to give away their knowledge, my only point is that you need to understand the value you have with knowledge – the ability to improve people’s lives, their enjoyment level or improve a painful situation in their lives – that sort of accomplishment is worthy of substantial payment.
Hopefully the questions above will help you think outside of the box when it comes to the opportunity for packaging your knowledge as a business.
