Which Product Should You Create?

Darren says: Today Shayne Tilley continues our series on creating products for your blog by examining the important question of “what product should you create?”

This is a question I know many ProBlogger readers are pondering because I get asked it many times.

• “Should I create an eBook, a course, a membership area or something else?”
• “What topic should I create a product around?”

If you’re asking questions like these – Shayne’s advice in this post is for you.

As I did in last week’s post – I’m going to chime in with my perspective too.

Maybe it’s just me, but my take on this question is the second-biggest decision you’ll make as a blogger. Second only to “what should I blog about?”. So if you’ve been stressing about the answer – congratulations, you’re normal!

Whilst I’ve been involved with hundreds of products in my career, it’s still something I debate in my own head and with those whom I work. It’s a debate well worth having.

In this post I’m going to share with you the process I go through when answering this question, whether it be in my head or with others.

This process is a culmination of both my personal experiences and my learnings from amazing entrepreneurs such as Darren, Matt Mickiewich, Mark Harbottle, and others you’ve probably never heard of.

This process does not guarantee success, but hopefully it gives you a way forward as you answer this question yourself. Just keep in mind that every blogger has different circumstances, audiences, topics, and goals – and at the end of the day you’ll need to answer the question for yourself.

So let’s get started.

Not What… But Why

The first thing we are going to do is not decide what we’re going to build, but instead we’re going to define why – and it’s a two-part why.

Your Why

The first is answering why YOU want to create this product.

What is your motivation?

The answer can be money and for a lot of you it will be, but it needs to run deeper.

The motivation for money, and at this stage theoretical money, will lessen as you are working on your product at 2am on a Sunday.  When you realise that it’s going to take twice as long and cost twice as much as you thought starting out, there needs to be more of an incentive.

I really encourage you to watch Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle video to understand exactly what that means.

Let me share what I mean with a simple illustration.

Question: Why am I writing this post on a sunny Saturday afternoon and not outside doing something else?

Answer: Because the thought that this post could inspire someone to create their own great product in some small way that might change the trajectory of their live in a positive way forever, is much more rewarding to me than anything I could be doing outside.

So I write…

I want you to be able to in some way be able to describe in someway your own personal why.

Darren says: It’s been a while since I watched that Simon Sinek video – thanks for the nudge to do so again Shayne, it was a great reminder to do a little self analysis of my own ‘why’.

A personal example: Over ten years ago when we started the Australian ProBlogger event, I did so with a very clear ‘why’. I wanted to encourage, inspire and equip Aussie bloggers to do amazing things with their blogs.

I’ve told the story numerous times so won’t rehash it here – but my goal with the event was pretty single-minded and profit was the last thing on my mind. My vision was pretty clear and so when I began to share that dream with a few others, I was able to quickly communicate it. I found that in doing so, the idea caught hold of others.

I really believe that knowing the ‘why’ helped us create an event that has grown each year. 

Knowing the why keeps driving me forward (even when it gets tough). 

Knowing the why has helped me attract a core team together who work for the same purpose.

Knowing the why has helped us communicate what the event is about to attendees.

Knowing the why shapes the ‘what’ of what we actually DO at the event.

Your Customer’s Why

The second “why” you’ll want to think through is: why would your customers buy your product? Ask that with supplementary questions of who are they, and what are their problems?

And it’s time to pull out the pen and paper, or the spreadsheet.

What are the problems your readers have?

I want you to list as many of the problems your readers have as you possibly can.

In last week’s post I shared with you the necessity to understand your readers, and this is where the benefits of that start to play out.

Don’t leap to the solution. I repeat: don’t leap to the solution.

At this stage you are just researching, not creating path of action.  We will get to that, I promise.

List all your readers’ problems, big and small.

For example for a blog about lawns (a silly example for illustrative purposes):

My readers all have lawns, they are all proud of their lawns. Which is not a surprise as that’s what I blog about. With spring on the way, without some care and attention, these lawns are going to get out of control very quickly. When I surveyed my readers, lawn mowing was their number-one concern.

Problem:  My lawn needs to be mown so I can still be proud of it.

The readers of the lawn lovers blog probably have some others.

– I need to get rid of weeds

– I need to keep my lawn vibrant and healthy

– I want to have a lawn, but not sure where to start

You should, with a little effort, be able to come up with more than 20 problems your readers have. There’s never been a blog I haven’t been able to identify a lot more for.

When you are thinking about problems, it’s often easy to focus on the practical, or ‘issues’ your readers have. But don’t forget that people also like to be entertained (their problem might be being bored). They like listing to stories and admiring creativity (their problem might be that they lack inspiration).

From Darren: One of the key teaching points in many of the keynotes that I deliver is to become hyper-aware of problems (both your own and those of others). I truly believe that this awareness of the problems of others puts you in the perfect position to serve others, and create the #1 ingredient to a successful business – usefulness.

I’ve previously suggested 11 ways to identify reader problems in this post in the ProBlogger archives. 

Not only will these methods help you create product ideas but also they’ll help you come up with blog post ideas too!

Solutions

So now we’ve got problems, let’s see if we can solve them!

The next step is to think about possible solutions that might exist for each of those problems. Let’s go with the lawm mowing problem.

Solution: I can mow my own lawn

Solution: I can get someone else to mow my lawn

Both are viable and both would solve the problem 100%. There is always multiple solutions to the same problem, you just need to think it through.

We’ve solved it! Or have we?

So we’ve got a couple of solutions to the great lawn mowing problem of my readers. This is essentially a DIY or done-for-you.  From that, we then identify some of the barriers to activating the DIY solution.

Barrier: I don’t own a lawn mower

Barrier: I don’t know how to use a lawn mower

Barrier: I have a lawn mower, but it’s broken

Okay, now you’re probably starting to see product opportunities.  What could I do to remove those barriers to the DIY lawn mower problem. Let’s go with the I don’t own a lawn mower.  Another problem!

Solution: Well, you could buy one!

Barrier: I don’t know which one to buy

Barrier: I don’t know where I can buy one

Barrier: I don’t have any money

Keep going…

Problem: I don’t know which one to buy

Solution: A guide, some advice or training one how to buy a lawn mower.

We have a product idea!

So then it’s simple. Rinse and repeat.

What you have done is taken the problems of your readers, drilled them down into smaller ones by understanding barriers, and then drilling them down until we have a narrow and very specific potential solution to the problem.

I’ve on purpose solved my problem with an educational outcome, however some will be action-based (for example: another solution might be to sell them a lawnmower), some will be service-based (for example: a directory of lawn mowing services) and some will be training- and educational-based.

Regardless of the type, they will be all required and valued by someone.

Take each problem in your list and begin to drill down to find solutions by identifying barriers and smaller problems until you have a list of product ideas.

At this stage you’ll have a long list of potential products. When you actually look at this on paper (or spreadsheet), is it any wonder you were not sure which product to build?

Darren says: I hope you see some of the power of this technique. Rather than simply trying to brainstorm product ideas, what Shayne is suggesting is much more about coming at product ideas from the perspective of your potential customer.

Brainstorming their problems in this way will not only help you to come up with a product idea (it should probably help you come up with several viable ones), but by doing this you’ll also be in a much better position to write and launch that product also as you’ll have a better understanding of what questions the product should answer and what will motivate people to buy it!

Cull and Focus

It’s now time to cull and focus.

You can now grab the red pen, or be at the ready on the delete key, and start working from the top, removing any products that are simply not possible, or not something you are interested in doing.

For example, as a blogger you’re probably not interested in selling mowers directly, so that’s gone.

You will find, if you’ve spent time on the above exercise, that you’ll strike through a lot , if not a majority of the solutions. That’s okay, but don’t delete them, put them on the someday/maybe pile because when you are thinking about your next product your circumstances might have changed.

Let’s assume that you’ve got three legitimate product ideas. For this little lawn blogger, it’s all the information products.

1. Information and training on how to buy a mower
2. Information on how to keep my mower in tip-top shape
3. Information on how to use a lawn mower effectively

Our next step is to look at the potential and viability of each of those products – we can do that a few ways.

How many?

You need to determine (and a best guess is okay) how many people would want these products?

You won’t sell it to all of them, but you use it as a comparison.  We know that only people wanting to buy a mower might want training on how to buy one, people with a mower and people buying one might want to know how to maintain it, as well as how to use it.

So we know, that there is a bigger market for products 2 and 3.

How much?

The counterbalance to this is: what value do people put on you solving that problem for them (thus how much are they willing to pay you)?

If you are about to buy a mower, you are about to spend a lot of money, so your readers might put a higher value on that.  Where as using a mower is pretty easy to figure out so not a great value is put on solving that.

Take the market size and multiple it buy the value, and you’ll have a total potential value on each of those products and rank them in order.

Let’s say for our little mowing project it’s now

1. Information on how to use a lawn mower
2. Information and training on how to buy a mower
3. Information on how to keep my mower in tip top shape

Darren says: Feeling like you need to mow your lawn yet? I do!

My key advice on this ‘culling of ideas’ section is that doing this exercise the first time is usually the hardest. By doing this work now you’ll hopefully come up with multiple ideas that could well set your product creation strategy for the next year or so.

You’ll also find that by doing this process once fully the first time that you’ll find it actually becomes more intuitive and a natural part of your business. 

As you become used to doing this analysis, you’ll start to get more of a gut feel as to which type of products will work and which wont with your audience.

Analyse the Competition

We now know that our ‘how to use a lawn mower product’ is viable – now it’s time to look sideways at our competition.

For our lawn mowing example, we should now start looking at the products that exist that teach people how to use a lawn mower.

Take note of these product’s features, format, benefits, cost, size everything you can about them.

If there is no competition for the project, great!  It’s unlikely, but you’ve got a real opportunity on your hands.

If there is competition for each of your product ideas, starting at your number-one product, start detailing why your product would be unique.

Simply answer the “I would buy my product over theirs because ….“.

One of three things will happen:

1. You can’t define anything to distinguish your product. In this case you probably need to move on.
2. You have a unique point of difference, but it’s not a strong one.  You probably need to move on.
3. You’ll have a unique approach to this product that people will love.

We are close to having a decision on a product.  We now just need to define it a little more.

The only remaining products in our lawn moving project is:

1. Information and training on how to buy a mower

Form and Features

The final step is to define what form and features this product will have.

With information and training it can be:

• Digital (eBook, video series, blended course, content)
• Physical (book, training manual, dvd)
• Face-to-face (training program)

Defining this part is tricky, as it’s going to come down to what your reader prefers, what you are able to deliver, and what might already exist in the market.

As a result it’s very much a question answered by the words ‘it depends’, and the answer will be different for each person reading this article.

The Pros and Cons of eBooks, Video and Courses

I do know a lot of ProBlogger readers will be unsure from a digital information product standpoint what approach to take, so let me share my perspective on that.

 1. eBooks

Pros:

• Cheapest
• Quick to market
• Simple delivery and formatting
• No huge technology burdens
• Easy to sell yourself of leverage open marketplaces
• Easy to update
• -Online or offline

Cons:

• Limited on price
• Some things are hard to teach in pictures and words
• Not everyone is a reader
• Very easy to be shared and harder to control copyright wise

 2. Video or video series

Pros

• Modern and very visual (you can show and tell)
• Great for those that are not writers
• Tools these days are making production much easier
• A much more personal experience
• Online or off-line

Cons

• Fulfilment overheads and technical challenges
• Harder to update an maintain content
• Not all of your readers can deal with the technology (yet)
• You’ll need gear and software (and knowhow) to make it stand out

 3. Courses

Pros

• Best of both wolds – words, pictures and videos when needed
• Two way communitation – Q&A’s forums etc
• Emerging open marketplaces
• Seems to be the way of the future

Cons

• Biggest initial setup time requirement
• Fulfilment overheads and technical challenges
• Harder to update an maintain content
• Not everyone can deal with the technology (yet)
• You’ll need gear and software (and knowhow) to make it stand out
• Difficult to run on autopilot (you need to be involved ongoing).

Again, let me be clear there is no blanket right or wrong choice with this. It’s about making a decision that you are comfortable with.

Darren says: obviously I’ve focused most of my efforts on eBooks over the past few years. My reasoning for doing so at the time was partly that it was the most achievable for me to create an eBook, but also that at the time (five years ago) I felt that it was probably the most accessible format for most of my readers at Digital Photography School.

I would advise that if you’re creating your first product that you don’t bite off more than you can chew. Unless you’ve got some cash to splash on getting lots of help to create your product, beginning with something achievable is probably the best starting place.

The Takeaway:

Reading through this post might feel quite intense and perhaps a little over-the-top for a little product creation project.

But when I put it in these simple steps I hope it doesn’t seem that way.

1. Define your own motives for creating a product
2. Define your customers and the problems they have
3. Define solutions for those problems
4. Define your unique point of difference in the market
5. Discover if the size of the market will make it worth the investment
6. Define what form your product will take

See it’s not that hard!

Final Thoughts on Choosing Which Product to Create:

A few final thoughts before we move onto actually building your product (which we’ll cover tomorrow):

The product that delivers to its promise wins, not the one with the most features.

You don’t need to be first to market to own it. Google wasn’t the first search engine on the internet, but it was the best.

If you believe in more than just the money, it will carry you much further.

What worked for them won’t always be the thing that works for you.

Products that teach you how to create products that teach others how to create products … is not a product.

Don’t always think as a blogger you need to create information products. Services and tools can be much more valuable over a longer term that books eBooks and courses.

That’s it for today! Next week we get to build some stuff.