Identify Industry Leaders
As you involve yourself in an industry with the goal of selling information products, the first thing you should do is identify the industry leaders. Why? First, you want to do research for your product development. Second, you may want to approach these folks to see if you can get them to endorse your products. Third, if they really like what you have to sell (and like you personally), you may even be able to get them to sell your products for you.
How do you find the industry leaders? Begin by going through the trade publications. Look for names that keep appearing. Who is writing articles on a regular basis? Who is advertising regularly? Ask the association bigwigs to recommend whom you should talk to. When I first got involved in the self-storage industry, I found the gurus pretty easily. I walked around the trade shows and read all the trade publications. I also purchased all the information products I saw advertised in the trade publications. This helped me identify every guru in the industry. Then I contacted them and learned as much as I could.
If you are entering an industry you know very little about, you can run classified ads seeking industry experts. You may be surprised at how many “experts” respond! If I ran one, my ad for self-storage experts would read something like this: “Storage marketing experts sought for lucrative consulting project.” You will get enough responses that you will be able to screen for the ideal interview subject. If you decide not to interview some of the respondents, be careful not to alienate any of them at the beginning because they may be helpful to you later.
Once you collect these names, you need to approach these individuals directly. Call, e-mail, or write to them. Introduce yourself and try to befriend them. You want to try and rally these people to your side. Often, these folks aren’t expert marketers and feel honored just to be asked for their opinion. You want to learn as much information as you possibly can about the industry. Formulate a key set of questions that you want answered before you call them. Ask them about their biggest fears. What are they most concerned about? What keeps them up at night?
Why do you want this information? It will tell you exactly what products you need to develop and give you a blueprint for what you need to produce. You’ll also get an idea whether these folks will make good dealer/affiliates for your products. You may even want to co-produce products with some experts. If they’ve got specific knowledge that you think will sell, consider asking them to help you develop the content in exchange for a piece of the pie. This saves you a lot of time because they’ll do most of the content development for you. All you’ll have to do is pay them a certain percentage of sales for each of the products that they help develop.
How do you find the industry leaders? Begin by going through the trade publications. Look for names that keep appearing. Who is writing articles on a regular basis? Who is advertising regularly? Ask the association bigwigs to recommend whom you should talk to. When I first got involved in the self-storage industry, I found the gurus pretty easily. I walked around the trade shows and read all the trade publications. I also purchased all the information products I saw advertised in the trade publications. This helped me identify every guru in the industry. Then I contacted them and learned as much as I could.
If you are entering an industry you know very little about, you can run classified ads seeking industry experts. You may be surprised at how many “experts” respond! If I ran one, my ad for self-storage experts would read something like this: “Storage marketing experts sought for lucrative consulting project.” You will get enough responses that you will be able to screen for the ideal interview subject. If you decide not to interview some of the respondents, be careful not to alienate any of them at the beginning because they may be helpful to you later.
Once you collect these names, you need to approach these individuals directly. Call, e-mail, or write to them. Introduce yourself and try to befriend them. You want to try and rally these people to your side. Often, these folks aren’t expert marketers and feel honored just to be asked for their opinion. You want to learn as much information as you possibly can about the industry. Formulate a key set of questions that you want answered before you call them. Ask them about their biggest fears. What are they most concerned about? What keeps them up at night?
Why do you want this information? It will tell you exactly what products you need to develop and give you a blueprint for what you need to produce. You’ll also get an idea whether these folks will make good dealer/affiliates for your products. You may even want to co-produce products with some experts. If they’ve got specific knowledge that you think will sell, consider asking them to help you develop the content in exchange for a piece of the pie. This saves you a lot of time because they’ll do most of the content development for you. All you’ll have to do is pay them a certain percentage of sales for each of the products that they help develop.
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