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10 resourceful ways to recycle digital or small-ticket products
Have your product sales slowed down?
Do you want to give a new lease of life to one of your digital or
small-ticket products?
At home, I’ve earned the title of ‘Queen of the left-overs’. Did
you know that left-over spaghetti sauce can be recycled? Add a bit
of cumin and chilli, it becomes taco sauce; mixed with a bit of
white sauce, you have a lasagna sauce; add a few vegies, wrap the
lot in puff pastry and you get a pastie, etc.
Using the same principles, you can recycle a product and market it
using a different mix: change your promotion, sell it elsewhere,
use it to barter, bundle it with another product, etc.
Start recycling a product using one of the following strategies:
- Auction your product on
eBay or another auction site. How much are customers prepared to
pay for your product? Use this strategy to research your market
and to experiment with a new selling outlet. Who knows, people
in their bidding frenzy may pay more than you ever imagined!
- Reposition your product.
Review your promotional and pricing strategies and give your
product a new image. Change your sales letter (including words
and graphics), add testimonials, increase or lower the price,
etc. Now sell your ‘new’ product.
- Offer your product as a bonus
with the purchase of another product. Sell the bundle as ‘this
month’s special’, ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘value pack’. The
bonus should boost your sales especially if you point out the
dollar value of the bonus e.g. ‘valued at…’ and add a sense of
urgency ‘limited time offer till (date)’.
- Give to get. Ask visitors
on your website to complete a survey and reward their effort
with a gift, your product. Provided your product is relevant to
the type of information you are seeking, this should yield a
list of qualified leads and supply you with new ideas to create
products and boost your business.
- Sell your product as a
promotional item. This is a strategy I have used very
successfully. I’ve bundled signed copies of my book from my
first printing batch into packs of ten. Businesses bought them
at volume discount price and gave them as gifts to their loyal
customers.
- Increase your database by
giving away your product for free as an incentive to join your
mailing list. Your offer can be advertised for free on the
online free stuff sites. When visitors are picking up their
freebies, capture their email addresses and you will gain a
valuable mailing list. (Note: this database building strategy
will only work with digital products or else you will be out of
pocket if you have to pay shipping costs.)
- Swap your product for
things you need for your own business e.g. exchange your ebook
for a software or another ebook. Your savings will make up for
your profit loss. At a conference, I swapped my book for books
from my colleagues.
- Organise an online contest
and offer your product as the winning prize. This a cheap
price to pay for free advertising for your product through
online contest directories.
- Donate your product for an
attendance or raffle prize at non-profit associations’
events. In return, the organisation usually promotes your
business by giving you an advertising space on their website or
promotional flyers.
- Approach businesses with
complementary products and find out if they would be
interested in bundling their product with yours. Build on each
other’s equity and share promotional costs and profits.
Left-overs are delicious. Recycle
your product for a new lease of life.
© 2005 Henriette Martel-Lawson
Henriette Martel-Lawson is a website strategist and author of
200 Marketing Ideas for Your
Website. Receive a free ebook when you
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