Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up

One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

Home Based Business Marketing – Getting the Word Out

Marketing your home based business is vital to its success. So one of the first things you should do when starting your home based business is to develop a marketing plan.For your home based business marketing plan, you need to know what your business is really about and what separates you from the other guys in the same type of business. When you have an idea about this, you want to develop an unique selling proposition statement (USP). This is different from an advertising tagline, although you may end up using it as one. A USP, however, is usually a one-sentence statement that sums up who you are and what the purpose and mission of your home based business are.After you develop your home based business USP, you want to think seriously about your target market. Who are they? Where do they live? How much education do they have? What are their buying habits? What’s their gender? Asking questions like these help you know your customers inside and out, which will be of tremendous benefit in allowing you to talk to them in their own language and in understanding the best way to get the message about your home based business across to them.Once you know these things, it’s time to think about advertising. You will, of course, want to have business cards, letterhead and envelopes for your home based business. You may want to hire a graphic designer to develop a special logo just for your home based business and have it printed on all your business and marketing materials, from envelopes to television commercials, if you decide to run some to advertise your home based business. A logo is an excellent way to brand your business so that the minute people see it, they automatically think of you. If you don’t think this is true, consider Nike. Without the swoosh, Nike just wouldn’t be Nike.You will definitely want to have a website for your home based business, whether you’re doing business online or off. Even if you’re not marketing your product or service to the online community, a website gives your home based business more substance and credibility. Web developers and writers can have your website up and running in a day, but it’s better to take some time and plan the look and feel you want your website to have before going live with it.Some other ways to market your home based business offline that are quite inexpensive are flyers, circulars and posters. You can make these types of marketing materials on your own computer, then post them around town and leave them in places where there are likely to be people who want your product and/or service. Marketing materials like these are much more effective than you might think and are a great way to reach an untapped market for your home based business. However, if you’re leaving flyers in a business or office be sure to get permission first. You don’t want them to just get chunked in the trash!Other home based business marketing materials that tend to be a bit more costly are brochures, radio commercials, billboards and television commercials. But they might not be as expensive as you think, especially if you’re focused on a particular small area. For brochures and billboards, you will want to hire a good graphic artist to create them, and you’ll also need to buy media placement for the billboards. For commercials for your home based business, both radio and television, you’ll need a copywriter to write a script unless you plan on writing it yourself. You’ll also need a producer to record or shoot your commercial. You’ll also have to buy the media placement for it. Many small local advertising agencies in your area can do all of this for you at a moderate charge. Some agencies that are just starting out themselves may be willing to give you a discount to help advertise their own service. Just make sure their agency has a reputation for quality–like the one you’re developing for your own home based business!Charles Fuchs

http://www.charlesfuchs.com/

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A Guide on Successful Product Creation and Internet Marketing

Product creation in Internet marketing is getting stiffer and stiffer nowadays owing to tough competition between Internet-based businesses. Putting up a new product requires plenty of brainpower and finances along with an ability to take risk. With that, even if you have the product well-set already, you have to position it strategically in the Internet landscape for others to notice. You should get the interest of Web users and turn them to actual customers. Aside from the usual physical products, many different products that thrive well on Internet marketing include E-books, membership sites, and video lectures.

The long and difficult process of product creation begins with ideas. They are easy to get – compared to the effort that comes with analyzing the market for that idea. Before the idea turns to a product, businesses often spend money, even amounting to millions of dollars, to ensure the success of the new product that emerges from an idea. Businesses undertake many types of market research and surveys before releasing their products to the public. Now, you may think that because your business is small, you can’t afford research or you don’t have to do research; you can and you should. The Internet allows you to disseminate materials needed for your market study to many people at once without your having to spend a cent.

It is a common maxim in business: Look at your destination first before mapping out your journey. So what are the goals you intend to accomplish with your product creation ventures? The everyday travails of your business may make you forget the end in sight. On the other hand, prepare to entertain new developments that come to your mind in your product creation. Your conception of a product may have started this way, but a few tweaks here and there along with some market research results and it ends up another way. Take it as the result of a creative process, not as a failure to reach your goal. After all, your product creation activities are intertwined with a long-term goal that you should strive to sustain at your utmost: profit generation. So if your less profitable initial idea evolves to a more profitable product, be thankful!

With your product made up already, start doing some aggressive Internet marketing. A product purchase typically comes after more than five times a customer is exposed to an informative call-to-buy message. Thus it is important to get the contact details, like the e-mail address, of potential customers who are on the brink of a sale. Use the results of your market research to determine the demographics to which you should concentrate your marketing efforts.

With consistent product creation, you can make an inventory of your products that you can market in due time. Just keep making products – the moment you succeed in making and marketing a product, customers are surely wanting more from you, so give it to them. Keep them on your side through constant product creation.