Lessons on selling information products - from Eben Pagan
You may not like what Eben Pagan sells. But it’s hard to argue with what he does. He makes a lot of money, and he does so by delivering a uniquely valuable service to the people who buy into him.
His most successful venture to date, Double Your Dating, is crass, simplistic, and lacks substance to affect any real change to your love life. But.... it sells. Regardless of subject matter, if you're open to learning, there is always something to be gleaned, and applied to our own areas of business. These were my take aways.
Aim for Attractive Niches
Eben states publically that there are three primary needs that drives most people to act;
1. Money and wealth creation
2. Health, fitness and looking good
3. Love and relationships
Notably, pitching services around these areas have some favourable attributes;
1. These emote a high level of passion / desire
2. There are large numbers of people proactively looking for a solution (high active demand)
3. They are likely to take immediate action. Wanting an immediate solution.
I find this interesting. You can't argue, we live in a superficial society. But when you break this down, essentially he's tapping into our need for love, acceptance and validation (and aspiration).
Refine your niche to a very targeted subset
Eben’s target market is very very focussed (guys 15 to 25 who want to meet girls). The niche is attractive because they are passionate about pursuing their needs. And conversely, by being very focussed, he can hone his message in a way that resonates. Sounds logical, but how many of us a) find a highly active niche and b) are talking to them in their language?
Talking with, and demonstrating real solutions to your niche
Knowing your niche is one thing. How you interact with them is another. Eben excels at understanding his niche intimately and understanding their problems. The materilas are written very colloquially. He speaks the language of an everyday bloke looking for a girl. He identifies with their problems using many many stories, and gives real tangible tools to help them take steps. The book is engaging and makes you feel that the tools will work. Not only that. He looks like his target market.
Branding to your niche - a memorable name
Eben espouses the use of double alliterative names, by tying Author + Business Name initials together. Take a look at his brand name:
· David DeAngelo - Double Your Dating.
This provides a stronger and more memorable brand name. Say it aloud, it's punchy and rolls of your tongue!
Building customers lists through referral networks and free content
Putting advertisements in places where your niche is actively looking or engaging with non-competing products that service the same need or desire. Eg, in Eben’s case, advertising on internet dating portals and on Facebook to single guys with certain demographics. There is a high conversion
This is supported with content. There are literally hundreds of web pages with Eben’s books, videos, interviews, blogs, articles, reports, where you can sign up for more content. Each landing page captures an email address, so the process of giving away content continually builds up customer lists.
The key strategy is having content and continually developing new content around your core product and putting the message in front of active buyers.
Persuasive selling and triggering the buy
Eben’s number one strategy of converting customers is to give away stuff for free.
He gives away a LOT of free information . In fact, if you read his blogs, emails, and various online articles, he pretty much gives all his materials away for free. As I mentioned earlier, his content is engaging and does have some sound principles behind it. People can derive a lot of benefit from all this information in helping them understand the psychology of dating.
Why does Eben give it away for free? Cialdini’s law of reciprocity says that if you give something for free, people feel unconsciously obligated to give something back at a point in the future. You can subscribe to email lists to get the free information. You may not purchase the $2,000 course every email advertises, but you may buy the $20 ebook alternative.
Eben’s philosophy is, rather than try to sell 1,000 a $10 product. Give 1,000 people $100 worth of materials. You are then more likely to receive $10 from these clients. Smart thinking, particularly if your product has a 0% direct cost.
Furthermore, by giving away content for free, you’re building trust and transparency about your product. You know what you’re buying so there’s a lower barrier to making the purchase.
Summing up
Most of this stuff is not new for me, but it’s good to occasionally remind yourself how it can be done well. One thing that is new for me is Eben’s take on the law of reciprocity. My view has always been, give away $10 to make a $1,000 sale. His inversion of this actually makes sense and I may look at incorporating this into my business in some way. Particularly as information appears to be very highly valued. And I’m sitting on a lot of that through my experience of designing, building and marketing businesses online. I just have to figure out how to package it in an engaging way.
How does “Tim The Tactician - from Trifle to Trillions” sound? Maybe, back to the drawing board for now...