There are people out there that would rather invest money instead of the time that it would take to figure out something on their own. And that's what digital products are all about. It's the convenience of having all the information that you need organized in a certain way so that you can see results or a certain outcome in the easiest and quickest way possible. That's why people buy digital products, is to see results quicker, easier, and more conveniently.
Hey there, I'm Marissa and I wanna personally welcome you to the Escape, the nine to five podcast where we discuss all things making money online and creating a life that you love. After losing my dad at 19, I learned how short life can be. And because of this, I now know that making money online is about so much more than an extra paycheck. It's about freedom, it's about options, and it's about having the opportunity to spend your time on this planet your way. Thank you so much for tuning in. Now it's time to dive into today's episode.
Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of The Escape, the Nine to five podcast. All right, so today's podcast episode is definitely gonna be a good one, and we're kind of covering three topics in one, but this episode is really based around a question that one of my followers asked me last week and kind of side note, if you guys have a questions about digital products or about starting your own business, or maybe if there's something that you'd like to see me cover on the podcast, send me a DM on Instagram. I love getting your guys' questions. Um, it helps me come up with content ideas, it helps me serve you better, all of that good stuff. And realistically, if you have a question, there's a good chance that somebody else has the same question too. So ask away. I'm not gonna try to sell you anything.
I'm not gonna make the conversation weird, nothing like that. Um, just some good honest conversation. So my handle on Instagram is Marissa Dahlin biz, B I Z. So head over to Instagram, give me a follow if you don't already, and send me a DM with your questions or send me a DM just even to say hi. I love getting to know you guys and I love connecting with you guys, so feel free to do that. Okay, anyways, like I said last week, I was asked a question, and this question was about digital products, and it was in response to a story that I put out on Instagram talking about digital products and specifically lower ticket digital products. So the question was along the lines of why would someone buy a digital product when there's so much free information already out there? And also how do you come up with an idea or how do you know that you have an idea that's worth paying for?
And you guys, this is a great question. I love that this was asked and it has kind of multiple components, so I figured I'd do a podcast episode on it to really elaborate more. Okay, so the first thing I wanna touch on is why people buy digital products. Now, I did do a full episode on this at one point, and that was episode number 23, if you wanna check that out. But overall, people buy digital products for convenience. So you know, let's say that I wanted to lose 20 pounds, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna head over to Google or maybe Pinterest and I'm gonna do some searches on how to lose weight or maybe the best way to lose weight if I go and search this. I already know that there are gonna be so many different things that come up. And I mean, I thought about doing a search for this example, for this podcast episode, but I'm not even gonna do it because I know that I'm gonna get a million different opinions, strategies, hacks, tools, resources, and so on.
You know, some people they might say to do a keto diet, others might suggest fasting. Some results will probably talk about strength training or cardio and more. So if I'm trying to figure out how to lose 20 pounds and I start doing some research, it's likely gonna take me a really long time to filter through all this information and it's gonna be really overwhelming, and there's likely gonna be a lot of trial and error involved. And you know, if we're being really honest, I likely am not gonna see results. Because even if I come up with a plan or figure out maybe a few things to do, I likely won't feel confident in my plan because I'm not an expert. And then I have kind of all these other ideas roaming around in my head, well, maybe this would be better, or maybe I should approach it this way, or maybe this person was right.
You see what I mean? With that being said, there will always be people that will opt for the free route, and that could be for a variety of reasons. Maybe they truly don't have the money to spend, or maybe they're not fully committed to changing or to pursuing that goal at this point in time. Or maybe they just really like figuring things out on their own. But personally, I'd rather invest some money and get a clear path towards my goal versus spending a ton of time filtering through information and trying to figure out what works. You know, I'd rather pay for a workshop or for a program to help me lose 20 pounds versus figuring it out on my own, because I know that if I do this, there's gonna be less overwhelm, less overthinking. Personally, I am a big overthinker and also a higher likelihood that I'll see results.
And I know I'm not alone with this. There are tons of people out there that would rather pay some money for a proven result or a path to follow. There are people out there that would rather invest money instead of the time that it would take to figure out something on their own. And that's what digital products are all about. It's the convenience of having all the information that you need organized in a certain way so that you can see results or a certain outcome in the easiest and quickest way possible. That's why people buy digital products, is to see results quicker, easier, and more conveniently. Now, the next piece of this that I wanna touch on is as you start to grow your audience, which is the first thing that you should be focusing on, but as you start to grow your audience, you're gonna start to understand where your audience is at and where they wanna be.
And you're gonna be able to create products that bridge that gap and really speak to this audience that you are growing. So as you grow your audience and as they really start to know, like, and trust you, they're gonna start to want your expertise, your opinion, your approach, and your guidance. They're gonna start to really trust that you have the answer or the solution that they need, and they're gonna become more comfortable with the idea of spending money with you. And as this relationship or this bond grows, your audience isn't gonna want some free information that they found on Google. No. Instead, they're gonna want information from you because they know that they can trust you and they feel confident that you can help them achieve a certain result. So if we continue with the weight loss example, if my goal is to lose 20 pounds and I find you on social media or however I find you, and then I start following you and I'm seeing you share content that really resonates with me in my situation, you know, maybe you talk about how to sustainably lose weight, or you talk about the success that you've had or the success that your clients have had, I'm gonna start really forming a bond with you.
I'm gonna start looking at you as the expert, and I'm gonna start to believe that you can help me solve my problem and that you can help me see results, and I'm gonna start to want to pay you to help me see those results. You know, at this point, I no longer want all of the free fluff information out there that may or may not work, or that may or may not help me see results. No, I want you the expert to help me and to give me a straightforward path to follow. So as you start to grow your audience, you're gonna start to become an authority, and people are gonna wanna pay you for your expertise, and they're gonna want to pay you to help them. You're also gonna start seeing those gaps, and you're really gonna be able to create specific products that your audience needs and that your audience finds really valuable as well.
Okay? All right. So then the next piece of this is, as a business owner, let's say you start growing your audience and you come up with this product idea, but you're kind of stuck and you're like, gosh, I just don't know if people would actually be willing to spend money on this. It seems a little too surface level, or maybe it doesn't quite feel worth paying for, or maybe this information is plastered everywhere for free. So maybe you're like, uh, I don't really think it feels right to charge money for this. That's totally fair. I want you to take those feelings into account because if you're selling a digital product that you don't feel a hundred percent about, or you feel like maybe it's not worth the price that you wanna charge for it, you're likely gonna have a really hard time selling your product.
And you know, ultimately it's because if you don't see the value in your product, nobody else will either. Now with that being said, there are ways that you can tweak your offer and also increase the value so that you can get to a point where you feel really good about your offer and really good about the value that you're providing. So obviously, the first thing that you can do is decrease the price to a price point that feels good to you, and that makes sense. That's pretty straightforward. Now, your other option is to increase the value of your offer. So let's say you have an online course that maybe shows people how to lose 20 pounds by going on a keto diet and you wanna charge $500 for it. Well, maybe you have all the training for it, but the offer doesn't feel quite right.
Or maybe that price point just feels a little steep at this point. You can start to look at different bonuses or ways that you can really round out that offer. So maybe you decide to add an accountability aspect, or maybe you include weekly keto recipes with shopping lists, or maybe you include coaching calls or custom workouts. You see what I mean? Or as another example, maybe you offer a meal planning workshop and you wanna charge a hundred dollars for it, but that just doesn't feel quite right. So then maybe you offer a year's worth of healthy dinner ideas. So 52 healthy dinner ideas, or you offer a guide on great staples to have in a house that are easy to meal plan with, or maybe you offer a calorie tracker that goes with it. Okay? So when it comes to creating offers, you can get really creative with this and you can finesse or tweak your offers or work through different ideas until you get to a price point that feels really good to you.
And something that I always encourage my students to think about is, would you buy this product? If not, your offer likely needs some tweaking. Okay? So overall, when coming up with digital product ideas or when you start thinking about starting your digital product business, understand that a large part of this is growing an audience or a fan base. Then creating offers or products that your specific audience needs, and then really finessing those offers to get to a point where you feel good about the value compared to the price point. All right, you guys, that is all that I have for this episode. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I will see you next time.