Coming up with a great idea for a viral explosion is as simple as looking at a service or product that you would enjoy and creating it for others. Here's another great example of this.
Brian Proctor, the son of Bob Proctor (The Secret) was interested in receiving inspirational quotes and stories that would set the tone for each day. He created a free auto-sending email service (before it was common to do so) with an inspirational quote Monday through Thursday and a story on Fridays. Check out his Insight of the Day service.*
His subscriber list grew so quickly that within a month he started to offer special pricing for like-minded self-growth products twice a month. Rather than just surprise his subscribers with sales emails he spelled it out very clearly when they signed up that it would only be twice a month and the offers would come directly from him rather than selling their email address to advertisers. This was a smart move because he set the tone and in essence made a promise to people at the very beginning. Brian also did not have to set up a distribution outlet because the orders were filled by the companies offering the products.
Brian started to bring on affiliates who could use his daily quotes as their own service (with their signature) to their subscribers and receive a percentage of the sales for each bi-monthly offering. With this system in place Brian is not only making money on the products that go to his list, but he is also able to sell to other people's list without increasing his workload.
The lessons here are many:
- You already have an idea for a new product, you just need to think about what interests and has value to you. How can you create it for others?
- Simplify your processes so that you can easily deliver a quality service in an efficient manner (auto-responders, regular newsletters, etc.)
- Recognize that your list has value to other entrepreneurs and leverage it to make money off of your own free service.
- Always make your offering and process clear from the beginning. No one likes surprises when it comes to unexpected promotions and solicitations.
- Use existing distribution channels rather than recreating the wheel and adding more administration pieces to your process.
- Maximize your existing system through affiliate relationships
*I am an affiliate partner of Brian Proctor's free service, Insight of the Day.
Peggy McColl is a New York Times best-selling author and an internationally recognized expert in the field of personal and professional development and Internet marketing. As an entrepreneur, business owner, mentor and professional speaker Peggy has been inspiring individuals to pursue their personal and business objectives and achieve ultimate success. She provides effective Internet marketing solutions for entrepreneurs, authors, publishers, professionals, and business owners, who want to establish an online presence, achieve bestseller status, build their brand, grow and/or expand their business online. You can find out more about Peggy at her website, Destinies.com.