You Should Have Your Ticket…★ Make sure to RSVP with us for the August Strategic

Marketing Summit

★ Make sure to book your hotel as soon as you can - in order to get your event discount

Accelerate Your Product

The “Myth Of Great Marketing”★ Most people that are running a business online think that

the name of the game is marketing

★ I have invested almost 20 years studying marketing, and doing very well with it - and I now believe that a great product is more important than great marketing

★ Why? Because the game has changed, and if you have a bad product but great marketing, the word just spreads faster

A Great Product Is A Game-Changer★ A great product is the “secret sauce” of a great business

★ If you pay attention to the cutting-edge of product development, which I believe is what’s happening in Silicon Valley, you’ll see that their focus is on the PRODUCT

★ If you look at companies that take off and grow rapidly, they typically came up with a great product - and THEN figured out how to market and distribute it

We Learned About “Productivity”★ The root of productivity is “produce” - and it also

includes the word “product”

★ Just like productivity isn’t about just being busy… but instead it’s about producing, it’s important to see your product as something that produces a benefit for your customer - and not as the “end” in itself

★ This shift to seeing your product as “a means” is key

Reality Of A Great Product Creator★ Great product developers live in a reality that is continually

generating new “problems” - and new opportunities to solve them

★ Great product creators know that the product they have today is the foundation for the great product of tomorrow - not the great product of tomorrow itself

★ Product creators see fears and desires not as “vices” or negative things, but as opportunities to add value

Self-Image Of Product Developers★ Great product creators and developers see themselves

as the ones who are responsible for helping others get the results they want in their lives

★ The greatest product developers often see themselves as artists (Steve Jobs, Richard Branson)

★ Steve Jobs answer to “what have you learned?”

Beliefs Of Great Product Creators★ The more clearly I understand the “use case” of my

ideal customer, the better my product will be

★ The study and practice of design isn’t just for website makers, it’s for ME - and it’s a key to my success

★ The reason most products fail is because they were created without input and collaboration with customers

Mindsets For Product Creation★ My product is not only a means to the outcome that

my customer wants, but it’s also an obstacle

★ I’m going for Version 3.0 before I decide if I have a “winning product”

★ A great product makes sales and marketing easy

★ Ultimately: My product can become my marketing

Values Of Great Product Creators★ Great product creators value what customer say they

want and what they actually buy approximately equally

★ Great product creators value innovation over what worked in the past (innovation = new + better)

★ Great product creators value understanding customer needs over “expressing themselves”

Begin With Emotional Needs★ We’ve learned the importance of focusing on the emotional

needs of customers - and nowhere is this more important than when creating your product

★ If your product doesn’t lead directly to relief, delight, satisfaction, inspiration, etc. - then it’s not likely to succeed

★ This is one of the reasons why we’re always asking our customers about their biggest challenges and desires!

The “Minimum Viable Product”★ In Silicon Valley, the concept of the “Minimum Viable

Product” or “MVP” has emerged

★ A Minimum Viable Product is a product that has the minimum features to be able to give to customers to actually use as a solution

★ The MVP is a powerful mindset shift, as it puts the focus on getting the product into the hands of the customer, rather than getting it “perfect”

The First Product I Sold Online…★ …was a book of dating advice - that took me about 3

weeks to write

★ The book was full of typos and mistakes, but it proved to me that there was a market for this information

★ I was able to go back later and fix some of the minor issues (and the few refunds I got that said “I want my money back because you have typos were good entertainment!)

How Could You Test Your Next Product Idea Rapidly?★ In my business, I can test a new business idea by doing a

live webinar, or offering a seminar and seeing if it converts

★ New marketplaces like Kickstarter are allowing you to test a product with only a prototype available

★ If possible, talk to real, live customers and see if you can get them to buy individually - and if you can’t, then this is a sign that you might need a new direction

If I Had To Test A Product Idea In 24 Hours, I’d Do A Live Webinar Or Hangout★ One way to get yourself “off the fence” and out of “paralysis

of analysis” is to write to your list, and say “I’m going a live broadcast tomorrow for people who are interested in “X”

★ Then see who shows up, and tell them your idea - and listen to what they say

★ It costs you almost nothing, and it gives you immediate feedback, which is priceless (feedback is key)

The Power Of Positioning★ As Al Ries and Jack Trout teach: “Positioning isn’t

something you do to the product, it’s something you do to the mind.”

★ You’re not just looking to create a new product, you’re looking to create a new category with your product

★ The category isn’t in your mind, it’s in the mind of your customers

We Can Only Remember 5-10 Things In Any Particular Category★ Think about how many companies you can name in

the following categories:

★ Hotels

★ Rental Cars

★ Search Engines

Instead Of Competing For “Mind Share” With Established Products…★ …create your own category that you can be first in

★ It’s not only challenging on a financial level, but also on a psychological level, to compete with established brands, companies and products

★ Instead, create a new category, and enjoy the benefit of being the first one into the mind

New Categories Are Worth Creating★ Every time a new technology or other innovation

creates the opportunity, there are new categories that emerge - and new WINNERS that emerge

★ From calculators to computers, from records to tapes to disks to downloads - in each new category, there are new winners

★ If you can create the category, you are perceived as the original and the leader

Examples Of Category Evolution★ Computers > Personal Computers > Laptop

Computers

★ Self-Help > Relationships > Dating Advice > Dating Advice For Men = Double Your Dating

★ Business Advice > Business Growth > Information Product Business = GURU MasterMind

More New Product Category Examples★ Metal money > paper money

★ Mainframe computer > personal computer

★ Horse & buggy > automobile

★ Drinks > energy drinks

★ Books > videos > webinars

★ Health > weight loss > fat loss

Look Where Things Are Going…★ Take a minute right now, and ask yourself what new

products and categories will emerge in your industry

★ All products and categories follow the pattern of evolution: They evolve, diverge, combine and refine over time

★ By asking yourself where things are going “anyway” - you can often find ideas for new products and categories that will win

Products That Are Coming To The Mainstream “For Sure”…★ 3D Video Conferencing

★ Cars that drive themselves

★ Computers that communicate with you just like one human communicates with another

★ What’s coming in YOUR industry?

Your Product As A Category★ When I’m creating a new product, I first ask “what

new category will this product be creating?”

★ Again, it has to be a new category from the customer’s perspective - not just from mine

★ When you think of your product AS a new category, it makes it easier to create both the product and the category with it

Naming Your Category★ Naming your category can be as important as naming

your product

★ When you name your category, you’re creating a new “brain bucket” for someone to carry around in their heads - to fill with 5-10 new product names

★ Sometimes your category can be obvious, and sometimes it’s not - it took me a year+ to come up with the category “Dating advice for men”

Even If You Don’t Name The Category…★ Still use this strategy of thinking of each new product as

creating its own category

★ As I built my dating advice business, I thought of every new product as creating a new category (Approaching Women, Meeting Women Online, Deep Inner Game, Cocky Comedy, etc.)

★ Even though I didn’t pursue developing each category much further, the products were still very successful individually - and sell to this day 10+ years later

mediafire.com/webinarweek

Homework For “Extra Credit”Read This Book:

Positioning By Al Ries & Jack Trout

You Should Have Your Ticket★ Make sure to RSVP with us for the August Strategic

Marketing Summit

★ Make sure to book your hotel as soon as you can - in order to get your event discount

Remember Our “Throw Your Hat Over The Fence” Contest★ Whoever takes the biggest action by the end of next

week wins a MacBook Pro - as a gift from me

★ Email what you did and your results by the 5th of May: help@ebenpagan.com