Has anybody considered the offline information marketing niche?

[squeezecpa]

Hi guys,

Has anybody given the offline information publishing business a look in. I know its a kind of school looking business due to the internet, but i am sure there is market here.

There are still people who prefer to read a printed out version of an ebook.
A printed copy would surely give a product a higher percieved value.
I can imagine that there are people who love to read how to guides in their interests- gardening, home study courses, web design etc.

Also there i assume there are hungry customers who aren't internet savvy or even know how to use the internet.

I know of some websites which allow you to buy targeted leads who have all purchased 2 info mail order products or more worth $97 each in a year.
If so i wonder how you would go about pursuing this area of info marketing.

1. How would you print or bind the ebooks for a more professional look?

I live in the uk and i know of a few big publishing firms who made alot during the 90's in particular.

With ebay making it more and more difficult + i have also hear all information products (physical) can now only be sold i the classified ads section, maybe this is a natural alternative especially for those who have experience in selling cd roms of ebooks on ebay.

What do you think?

[Quentin]

I do this a lot but I put them on CD or DVD because I can do this all in house.

If I get a lot of orders then I just run it down to my local copy and print shop and they can do 50 + quite quickly.

Quentin

[Norma Holt]

Good question and nice response Quentin. I have books in PDF but never thought of having them in hard copy.

I know of some websites which allow you to buy targeted leads who have all purchased 2 info mail order products or more worth $97 each in a year.
If so i wonder how you would go about pursuing this area of info marketing.

Jigger can you elaborate and give more details, address or web site, etc.

[George Wright]

I've done and I like it.

A Warrior wrote me a very nice Sales Page for this service to go offline and as soon as I can I'm going to give it another try.

George Wright

[force5]

I did very well with one book I produced and sold via my own website and sometimes on ebay.

The problem we had mainly was that when we produced it in house it ended up being a pain in the behind to print, laminate covers and put together, now this may be partly because it was 78 A4 pages so it used a fair chunk of time to print and assemble.

If you are doing a largish book I would advise to only produce it yourself for a month so you can get a feel for the market, then invest the profits into having some produced by a book company. My wife and I ended up hating the product because every where we moved seemed to be full of printed sheets, laminators or book compiling stuff.

I ended up spending to much time compiling the product and not enough time marketing it.

Make the product, spend a month doing it yourself then outsource it.
The money is in the sale, so get more of them!

Paul

[force5]

Harvey
rather than just a comment like that, how about recommending some that you have used successfully so it can help the rest of us without your experience.

Paul

[Rachel Embry]

Oh yeah, there is a huge market for this! In my niche, most everyone I work with are "newbies" online. They can do a google search and check their email, but are completely clueless to everything else. Selling your products in print version & advertising them offline is a great way to break into a new market.

For example, this past weekend I went to a Franchise Expo and was AMAZED at the amount of "info marketers" there. One company in particular sold info guides on entrepreneur training & they actually were selling franchise's of this business. You buy an area & can then go to trade shows and colleges selling the guidebooks. I asked the franchise rep if he had ever thought of selling the stuff online & he gave me a blank stare and then said,"Well, I've never thought of that...but I guess it might be a good idea."

LOL!

Another thing too: go to your local bookstore & pick up all those "Opportunity Guide" magazines...the ones for people looking for small biz opportunities...you'll see lots of ads for some of the internet "gurus" and their products. Not affiliate ads either. These are full page ads done by the "guru" themselves marketing one of their info products.

It's a big pond....put in some fishing poles & you're bound to capture some pretty big fish.

Rachel

[Aldian Prakoso]

I do. Offline market is huge, especially since many people are not aware of Internet marketing.

Lol, when I brought my book script to the publisher, they accepted it right away.

[Collette]

Originally Posted by Rachel Embry

...
For example, this past weekend I went to a Franchise Expo ...I asked the franchise rep if he had ever thought of selling the stuff online & he gave me a blank stare and then said,"Well, I've never thought of that...but I guess it might be a good idea."

LOL!...
Rachel

Yeah, go to just about any trade show, and you'll hear the same thing. I guess because I've been working exclusively online for what... lo, these 8 years or so... I find the blank stares mind boggling. They act like the Internets have just been invented!

What rocks ARE these guys living under?? I mean, it IS the new millenium!! Still, goes to prove the Internet is a long way from saturated.

[Rachel Goodchild]

I make nearly all my money working OFFLINE- but using ONLINE techniques
Corporates love it
Publishers love it
Businesses love it

It's completely undervalued

[jcmentor]

I would be very interested in hearing about experiences and/or resources about offline to online marketing - i.e. running an ad in print that drives people to an online optin page or sales letter. Anybody doing this or know someone who is?

[killercopy]

I've had some good success selling hard copies of one of my products. I advertised through Entrepreneur magazine (classifieds) which lead to my website. From there, the customer ordered a hard copy.

I went this way because of clickbank's pricing limits at the time. My guide was $149 and I think at the time, their limits topped out at $50. I also learned a great lesson in returns.

Everyone knows that clickbank is notorious for returns. They have tons of people that purchase everything put out, knowing that they just have to request a refund by email while they keep the digital product and get their money back.

Of all my hard copy sales, I didn't get a single return! Yes, it was a good product...but still, even if someone doesn't like your product, they are too lazy to pack it up and go to the post office to send it back.

As far as binding went, I first paid for spiral binding...but it was costly. I then decided to go cheap...3-ring binder cheap.

If you're familar with AWAI, you know that most of their $300 +++ products come in a 3-ring binder. Also, most of the $3000-$5000 marketing seminars, you also walk away with a 3-ring binder. Just make a nice slip in cover, get some nice dividers...and fill it up. Its cheap and its easy.

[AndrewCavanagh]

There are plenty of print on demand companies.

With a few you can also list on Amazon and the product duplication and delivery is automated.

They just pay you for your sales at the end of each month or pay period.

You can also burn of copy CDs, DVDs or books yourself if you're getting tiny orders and you want to get the maximum money for each product.

You do generally get a whole lot less refunds for physically delivered products and yes the perceived value of a physically delivered product is higher.

Delivering products physically also gives you the opportunity to send out a physical sales letter for another higher priced related product or service.

The response rate for a sales letter delivered by snail mail is usually many times the response rate you'll get for a sales letter delivered online so this can be a very profitable strategy.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh