"Information" used to be a good market. Now it's a commidity like table salt.

Such a fascinating topic! Especially considering how quickly things change these days.

I think that if you can get someone's attention, then you can at the very least make them an offer. That's potential, at the very least. I don't think that logic will ever change.

However, there are so many variables and nuances to consider. Will the ability to economically promote premium courses be reserved only for the elite with massive marketing budgets, existing audiences, or authority? Can the small business owner or novice teacher still compete when trying to sell a course?

I think that with the explosion of popular course marketplaces, digital marketplaces, online learning, distance education, YouTube, and Podcasts, there's never been more free (or cheap) educational content anywhere. EVER!

Is all of this free content enough to satiate the demand for education?



That said, while the cost of education is likely to continually decline with time, I think that people still love premium digital courses, even if there's an entrance fee. Especially if the courses come with additional benefits, hand-holding, et cetera.

I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

Wishing all the best, and please have a great day!

Yet people keep getting more stupid every day.

It's all about re-inventing yourself and having something new and different to offer. Also depending on some niches, "information" still sells incredibly well. For someone looking to get into the adult industry, an information ebook product would still sell amazingly well (and it does).

Nobody actually pays good money for information. They pay good money to become richer, more attractive or to feel better about themselves.

Selling information has always been about the packaging. We all know that too much choice is confusing - that's where good marketing comes in.

Commodity? I buy Himalayan pink salt.

The BIBLE, in its many forms, sells, sells and sells again year after year.
SOME, might argue it is the ultimate Information product.

And other forms of INFORMATION about what is in the Bible, translations, written for kids with pretty pictures, in more languages than any other thing printed, in fact a huge industry of products meant to INFORM people exists surrounding this one printed work.

Same can be said for other types of information. No shortage of products once one is in the funnel, by choice or opt-in, or by force (as indoctrination).

INFORMATION is the stepping stone of New Technology, and the learning how to use it, as in a app for example, or how to maximize it for profit, as in WordPress...is still selling like gangbusters.

I reject the idea that information is NOT being paid for, that FREE never has and never will replace paid for information, especially tested, proven and insider, and as a seasoned marketer, you're playing provocateur, I get that...

But ANYONE can start an information product business and be profitable in a week, mid five figures a month in less than a year, and can scale as wanted.

GordonJ

"FREE" in todays society requires an amount of work vs "Premium" or "PAID" placing that information firmly in your lap with a click or 2.

I believe one of the best business / sales models is literally giving a blueprint away for free - down to the finest of details how you a "Provider" would follow through on whatever it is you are trying to sell. There is a great number of people that will read through all of that - or simply a portion and determine it is simply better to just hire you to do it. "Building a website is easy!" they say. 40 pages of steps later - "This is simply beyond me - can you do this?"

There are simply 2 variables in life... TIME and MONEY... and on the "Consumer" side of things, Money is usually the predominant variable - Its simply the job of anyone in sales to lay out the contrast of the 2.

At what point do you think "we should be building homes with 4 stall Garages." kicks in? Supply and Demand with perspective could simply be a mother....

Not really.

Information products that use a unique mechanism to fulfill the big promise are still very much in demand and fetch high prices.

Study the Agora Financial model. On the back end, they sell numerous information products in the $2,000 - $5,000 range. And they get those prices... to the tune of millions.

Alex

This is the beauty of technology and an evolution of contiguous innovation...The internet has made it had for anyone to monopolize information. Right now, anyone can learn almost anything just by seating in front of their computer. Many universities have embraced this by creating qualitative online degrees.