Want to know how to market digital products successfully?
Marketing digital products has its own unique challenges and opportunities. The marketplace is crowded but also full of potential customers. So you’ll need a smart digital product marketing strategy to get the results you want.
In this article, we’ll go over the best strategies for marketing all types of digital products.
Let’s get started!
What is a Digital Product?
A digital product is a file or other piece of content that you can buy and sell online, and use on a computer or mobile device.
Some examples of profitable digital products include:
- stock photos
- mobile apps
- WordPress plugins
- digital downloads like eBooks or digital wallpapers
- audiobooks
- templates for copywriting, graphic design, social media posts, and more
Digital products can be sold through eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or Easy Digital Downloads. You can also list them for sale on public marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon.
Why Should You Sell Digital Products Online
Selling digital products has a number of significant advantages for entrepreneurs at all stages of their careers.
For starters, there are only minimal overhead costs. You don’t have to prototype, manufacture, warehouse, or ship a physical product. Once you design a digital good, it can be stored on your computer and delivered instantly online.
Additionally, digital products are easy to scale. If demand surges, the file is already there and ready to go. You don’t have to try and source more products like you do with physical goods.
Furthermore, the profit margins for digital products can be very high. In many cases, the only cost of production is your time and expertise. Even if you hire people to help you design or code a digital product, that’s typically a one-time cost. But the resulting product can be sold for years to a practically unlimited number of customers.
Finally, digital products can be a source of steady passive income. Because you don’t have to make more products in order to sell more, once you set up a sales funnel, it can more or less run on its own. This means your digital product can sell while you’re on vacation or working on other parts of your business.
To get to that point, though, you need a strong digital product marketing strategy. Let’s look at some specific ways you can market digital products online.
11 Tips for Marketing Digital Products
All of the advantages of digital products listed above lead to one possible disadvantage: lots of competition. Many online businesses want to sell digital products, so it can be hard to stand out to your target audience.
Fortunately, we’ve created a complete list of marketing strategies for digital products. They fall into 3 main categories:
- Visibility: Getting your product in front of more people
- Lead generation: Turning more visitors into leads
- Conversion: Turning more leads into customers
Many of these are very low-cost ideas, so all you need is a bit of time and determination. Let’s get started!
1. Build an Audience Before You Build a Product
Most business owners start with the product idea. Before you start writing or designing your digital product, however, we suggest that you begin building your audience first.
You may have lots of creative digital product ideas, but what really matters is whether anyone is interested in what you’re selling. When you have an audience, you can ask them directly:
- what problems they most need help solving
- what they’ve already tried
- what worked and didn’t work for them
Then, you can develop your digital product accordingly. When you’re ready to launch, you already know that your audience wants exactly what you’re offering.
One easy way to build an audience is to create an email list. Email marketing is the most direct way of reaching your customers, and generally has the highest ROI of all the digital marketing channels. You can often start a list for free on many common email marketing providers.
To get more email subscribers interested in your digital product, we recommend OptinMonster.
OptinMonster is the best list-building tool for small businesses looking to sell more from their online stores.
With its huge library of proven templates, it’s easy to create an eye-catching optin form, survey popup, or any other marketing campaign you need to drive interest in your digital product. No coding or design experience necessary!
But OptinMonster isn’t just a popup builder. It also has the most powerful targeting and trigger rules to help you show the right message to the right visitors. This can help you fill your email list with subscribers eager for your new digital product.
OptinMonster can lift conversion rates all across your website by keeping traffic onsite, recovering abandoned carts, and creating a better user experience. Check out how Adam Enfroy added 3,000 subscribers per month using OptinMonster!
2. Run a Pre-Launch Campaign
Whether you start with an existing audience or not, pre-launch campaigns are great for generating demand for your digital product.
Pre-launch marketing can happen on social media, your website, and through your email list. During the pre-launch period, you want your messaging to focus on the benefits of the digital product and why your target audience needs it. When you’re ready to launch, some of your customers will already be educated and ready to buy.
You can also offer special pre-launch pricing for customers who order the digital product before the official launch day. This can offset some of the initial cost of production. Pre-launch campaigns also give you a chance to test out your messaging, positioning, and pricing before you launch to a wider audience.
3. Partner With Bloggers and Influencers
Since digital products are sold online, bloggers and influencers can be great marketing partners. They already have established audiences, so it’s just a matter of finding the right content creators to work with.
You can pay for sponsored posts directly where a blogger or influencer features your product in their content. Another option is to set up an affiliate program where you pay a commission on purchases made with special affiliate links. Affiliate marketing is very common for digital products, so readers know what to expect.
4. Join an Online Marketplace
Another way to get your digital product in front of a bigger audience is to join an online marketplace. These are websites that feature digital products made by many different sellers.
Marketplaces typically charge a fee on listings or sales. But you get access to a much wider customer pool than you might be able to drive to your own website, especially when you’re starting out.
Some popular marketplaces include:
- Etsy: creative physical and digital products, including printables and digital art
- CodeCanyon: Plugins, code, WordPressthemes, and other digital assets for websites and tech
- Creative Market: fonts, graphics, and templates for creative projects
- Gumroad: digital products by online entrepreneurs
- Amazon: eBooks and audiobooks
5. Host an Online Challenge
Challenge funnels are an awesome way to build interest and an audience for your digital product.
A challenge funnel is an online contest where participants perform specific actions to earn the chance to win the prize. The challenge actions help build up an email list to receive marketing emails later.
For example, you might offer a free 7-day workout challenge. Those who complete the challenge are entered to win a year’s subscription to your workout app. Even those who don’t win will have a chance to use your app and fall in love with the features. This makes them more likely to purchase the app on their own, especially if you offer a special challenge incentive such as a discount or bonus content.
Online challenges are the perfect opportunity to help potential customers get an early win. This primes them to be more receptive to the full digital product later because you’ve already helped them get a result they want.
6. Present at an Online Summit
Online conferences and summits are amazing opportunities to get your name and business in front of the right audience. Similar to blogger or influencer partnerships, online conferences bring you a larger audience than you might be able to find on your own.
You can present a webinar on a topic related to your digital product at the summit. Then, depending on the rules set by the conference organizer, you can:
- promote the product directly at the end of your presentation
- share a link to the product page in the conference materials
- offer a special incentive for conference attendees only
Time is of the essence when marketing digital products at an online event. Attendees will see a lot of different presenters, and can easily forget you if they don’t engage with your brand again quickly. That’s why countdown timers for discounts or bonuses can help boost your conversion rates at online conferences.
7. Create a Content Marketing Funnel
One way to get more leads for your digital product is to create a content marketing funnel.
First, you create blog posts, videos, or posts on social media platforms about the needs of your target market.
Then, you direct traffic from that content to a lead magnet. This is something valuable you give visitors for free in exchange for their email address. Once you have their email address, you can send them more high-quality content to continue building trust in your brand. You can deliver lead magnets through dedicated landing pages, popups, floating bars, and more.
Finally, after providing lots of helpful expertise and relatable information about your business, you can share the sales page for your digital product. You can definitely include more than one sales email in your marketing funnel. Just be careful not to ask for the sale too early before you’ve established trust with the customer.
8. Gather Persuasive Social Proof
Bringing in tons of traffic won’t do you any good if you can’t convert any of those visitors to customers. One way to improve your conversion rate is with social proof.
Social proof is any information you share about how customers use and think about your digital product. This information cues potential buyers about the best or right action to take. People tend to look to the behavior of others to determine what they themselves should do.
For example, if you saw a product with thousands of 5-star ratings and glowing reviews testimonials, you’d probably pick that product over one with fewer ratings or mixed opinions in the comments.
Ask your existing customers to leave a review or rating. If you know someone who had particularly good results, you can interview them and write a more in-depth case study to show everyone just how great your digital product is.
9. Price and Package Your Product Strategically
Digital products can be tricky to price. Customers may not feel they’re as valuable as physical products because they can’t hold them. It may be tempting to sell your digital product for cheap since it’s not a real product.
But digital products are often full of useful information that can really transform someone’s life when used effectively. So make sure your product is priced to reflect the true value that you deliver.
For example, you may turn your high-ticket coaching process into a self-paced series of video tutorials. Those tutorials are worth far more than just the time it took you to make them because it helps the viewer achieve their goals, on their own schedule, at their convenience.
There’s no real formula for pricing products, but you can look at your competitors as well as your other offers for reference.
10. Start a Membership Site
An easy way to market your digital products is to add them as part of a membership. A membership website is a place where you can offer member forums, printables, online courses, and other exclusive content that’s not available to the general public.
Membership sites usually charge a subscription fee, though you can also start a free or lifetime access membership program. If you have lots of digital products and content already created, MemberPress is a great membership plugin you can use to turn your site into a money-making membership.
11. Add Marketing Campaigns to Your Website
Our final strategy is the simplest: promote your digital product on your website.
So many business owners only have a single link to their digital product hidden in the navigation menu. You’ve worked hard to create a digital product, so give people the chance to buy it!
OptinMonster can promote your digital product with…
…a floating bar at the top of each page…
…inline forms embedded in relevant blog posts…
…widgets in the sidebar or footer…
…exit-intent popups that catch abandoning visitors before they’re gone forever…
…discount spin wheels to drive sales…
…and much more!
It may sound too simple to be true, but it really works: talk about your digital product more!
Conclusion: Digital Product Marketing Made Easy
We hope this article gave you some inspiring marketing strategies for selling a digital product. To recap, marketing digital products is all about:
- Making your product visible to more people
- Bringing potential customers into your marketing funnel
- Converting more leads into customers
If you want to discover the latest digital marketing trends and challenges, check out the Mind-Blowing Digital Marketing Statistics to Learn From.
If you’re ready to start marketing your digital products the simple way, give OptinMonster a try risk-free today!
Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. We only recommend products that we believe will add value to our readers.
