The Shocking Truth About What Information Marketers Do

 

“But I can’t write!”

The plaintive cry of information marketing newbies rends the air whenever the topic of creating infoproducts crops up in conversation or during mentoring sessions.

Now, I love writing and have been practicing intentionally for over 15 years, growing better over time and enjoying it more. But not everyone can write well, and not everyone relishes the thought of putting out 2,000 words every day.

Is there no hope at all for these eager wanna-be information marketers?

Don’t fear. Because I’m going to expose some little known secrets – and uncover the shocking truth about what infopreneurs do when they can’t write!

Infopreneurs Aren’t Just Writers

Infopreneurs share information.

One option available to reluctant writers who still dream of infopreneur success is to outsource their content creation to others who are passionate about it. Though a great choice, it isn’t always practical because of the cost involved. Quality content is not cheap. And if you’re paying $35 to $100 for a good article, the cost adds up quickly.

I’m not saying this isn’t worthwhile, because a good content piece crafted by a master wordsmith is usually worth a dollar a word in the long run, if not more. But the capacity to invest cash upfront isn’t the same for everyone – and that’s what makes the other choices relevant… and appealing.

While the World Wide Web started out as a fairly rudimentary version of inter-linked textual content, it has grown and evolved into the multi-media Web of today where content takes many other forms.

We have audio presentations, video recordings, live or recorded webinars, personal interaction over Skype and other group networking channels, and even virtually shared desktops which make possible a whole different kind of training or coaching.

All of these are modalities to share information – and so infopreneurs can choose the methods ideally suited to their skills and that best fit their available resources.

If you’re a naturally gifted speaker who enjoys communicating through the spoken word, then you could create podcasts, streaming audio presentations, webinars, teleseminars and voice-over-Internet based personal coaching as your infoproducts, instead of struggling to write articles.

Or maybe you enjoy being on video, and embrace the medium as your preferred way of communicating and interacting with your audience. That’s perfectly fine as a channel to share information of value to your market, and so some infopreneurs are better off creating video presentations instead of writing articles.

The Different Types of Infoproducts

Information can be presented to prospects in a variety of different formats. As long as the content is relevant and useful, all of them can deliver value.

Broadly speaking, information can take the form of written words, audio and video recordings. But within each kind, there are many ways to present the information to your audience.

Written information can be conveyed through articles, blog posts, special reports, white papers, brochures, booklets, checklists, ebooks and even print books. It can be packaged in the form of PDF documents, slideshows, screensavers or even other forms of software like mobile phone and tablet apps.

Audio material can be distributed as podcasts, online radio shows, downloadable MP3 recordings, CD or DVD discs, teleseminars, webinars and even live consulting sessions with individual prospects.

Video content can become distributed presentations hosted on services like YouTube, online TV shows, recorded interviews or tutorials embedded into websites, streaming video webinars and shows, or video CD and DVD discs.

And information delivered ‘in person’ is a distinct format that often combines the three mentioned above, adopting systems like coaching, mentoring, and live events (seminars, conferences and workshops) as the medium for sharing value.

Format Impacts Perceived Value

The method you choose to deliver content to audiences has an effect on the value perception conveyed about your material and expertise. A keynote speaker at an industry convention is considered a top expert, an aura that may not extend to the same presenter delivering content as a free report or ebook.

In a similar fashion, authors of printed books are more widely perceived to be specialists and experts by their prospects, who still think about “being published” as a kind of peer group endorsement reserved only for the truly knowledgeable.

This value perception matters a lot to infopreneurs. Even though infopreneurs love to share their experience and expertise with large groups of their prospects who will benefit from it, they still love the idea of making a healthy profit from doing so. And consumers more readily pay larger sums of money for content that they perceive to be more valuable.

Each format of information products has a built in threshold for pricing. You could conceive of an ebook being sold for $17, or even $47… but go higher than it and you’ll face resistance in the marketplace. Yes, there are ebooks which sell for $997 – but those are only exceptions that prove the rule.

You may be able to package the same information into a printed book, but again you’ll be stuck at the threshold of sub-$50 – which is the maximum price a typical buyer would expect to pay for a published book outside specialized niches.

But if you merely package the identical information into a homestudy program or deliver it as a series of teleseminars or webinars, the value perception of your content changes. You’ll discover that you can comfortably charge a price that’s 4 or 5 times higher than an ‘expensive’ book!

That’s because, even though you might be pre-recording the seminar, your audience imagines that you’re taking time out of your schedule to be there for them as you share this information (and maybe even answer their questions during the program) – lending to the perception of a seminar being more precious than the printed word.

Understand Learning Modalities

Being able to charge a higher price for what is essentially the same content is a good reason to experiment with different formats. But that’s not the only reason.

Good infopreneurs take the time to identify the learning modalities of their market. Some niches have more prospects who prefer reading their material. Other niches may thrive on audio recordings or video presentations. Giving them content in the format that best suits their learning needs is something every successful infopreneur must consider.

It’s also a scientific fact that different people learn best from different teaching formats. Visual learners can quickly grasp concepts presented to them in the form of written/printed words or drawings. Auditory learners retain information that they hear better than what they see. And some folks love being taught through video tutorials or in an interactive fashion.

The best information marketers make their teaching material available in multiple formats to fit the way their buyers learn. That way, they won’t lose sales because of not offering content in a format that’s best for their buyer.

People Buy What They Want

Sometimes, it’s just a matter of personal preference that guides an infoproduct purchase. Speaking for myself, I won’t buy a video coaching program unless it contains very specific material that interests me. This is because I prefer learning through reading.

Your prospects may have similar quirks that govern their buying behavior. Unless you know for a fact that the way you now present your material appeals to the lion’s share of your audience, you may be missing out on a lot of sales and profit by being stubborn in sticking to any specific format of content.

Remember always that people buy on emotional appeal and rationalize their purchase later on with logic. By making your information available in different formats, you’ll appeal to all segments of your buying population, which in turn will boost your impact in the marketplace.

Consider The Nature of Your Material

Some kinds of content may be best presented in a particular format, or be most effective in a specific way.

Personal one-on-one mentoring program may work well when you’re with your client on the phone, or physically in the same location.

Instructive tutorials of complex processes involving multiple steps may ideally be presented in the form of a video tutorial.

Insightful and thought-provoking material may have the greatest impact as a written document that lets readers pause and mull over what they just read.

Fast paced entertainment content may be most exciting when delivered as a video.

As an infopreneur, it is your responsibility to consider this carefully while planning the structure and presentation of your infoproduct, and choose the right formats for your content to reach the widest possible (relevant) audience and make the greatest impact on them.

What Matters More Than Format?

Lest we get too carried away and obsessed over ideal formats in which to present content, it’s important to refocus once again on what matters the most about being an information marketer.

As an infopreneur, you care about helping people.

This guides you to identify their biggest worries and troubles, seek out or create solutions that help them, and then craft an information product or resource to take that solution to your market.

And guiding all these actions is an equally important desire that drives every successful information marketer.

The desire to share value.

It matters less how you present your content when it delivers overwhelming value. While I dislike sitting through a half hour video (when I can digest the material in less than half the time by reading a transcript), I will still tolerate the video format as long as it provides me with a lot of value.

Junk content, delivered in the most glitzy video, the most slickly printed report or leather-bound booklet, or the most professionally recorded webinar, is still a waste of your prospect’s time.

That’s why you should spend most of your effort and creativity on getting the core principle of sharing value right, and only later waste any thought and energy upon deciding the format of presentation.

Value First – A Guiding Infopreneur Philosophy

What if you, in your Internet infopreneur business, lived out the philosophy of giving value first – even before money ever changes hands – and then continue along the same lines… forever?

Can you imagine how your business will thrive, how good you will feel about it, and how much fun you’ll have helping your people by following this approach?

Your focus will become the welfare, protection and success of your prospects, your subscribers, your clients, YOUR FRIENDS… not merely the bottom-line profit margin of your infopreneur business.

And yet, remarkably enough, that business will grow. Thrive. EXPLODE.

What’s even more important, in a sense, is that YOU will enjoy being in that business, running it every day of your life, as you add value to your network.

The key to this is asking one critical question, for everything you plan to do in your business. The question to ask yourself is this:

“Will what I am doing make my client’s life better, in some way, than it would have been if I had never been in it?”

Whenever the answer is “Yes”, your reward is guaranteed, be it in terms of money, respect, influence, market share or increasing asset value.

Conversely, whenever the answer is “No”, your course of action is clearly to change what you plan to do… so that you get a “Yes” to the question!

So Does Format Matter At All?

Of course, it does. Once you’ve got the message right, it helps to make it available in multiple different formats in order to appeal to a wider market, and touch your people in the most meaningful way while creating lasting impact.

That’s what infopreneuring is all about, in the end.

Sharing and spreading ideas.

Touching and changing lives.

Making a difference in the world.

The rest is mere detail.

All success

p.s. If you haven't yet read my free "The Smilenaire Way" report, grab your copy here - and decide if you're ready to start smiling every day in your business. (When you are, click here)

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Tags: audio, format, infopreneur, infoproduct, information marketing, video, writing

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