Even before marketing…we need a minimum viable product.
Yes. Before “scale” and automation systems.
We need validation.
Stick with me.
You already know the importance of market research.
Finding a market with a problem. And then offer the solution.
But here’s what I’ve discovered after failing more often than I care to admit.
MANY times just “knowing” the market problem isn’t enough.
Here’s why;
Whenever I didn’t sell, it was because I created a product/service that nobody wanted.
Sure. Marketing language, campaign automation, email follow-up…it’s ALL important.
And if you know me, I’m ALL about marketing and niche language.
BUT THERE’S A STEP THAT COMES BEFORE ALL OF THAT.
Validate the demand for your online course with an MVP product:
1. be sure it is something your Dream Clients want – and by want, I mean they are willing to pay for it
2. it delivers the result you promise
Nothin’ groundbreaking there.
But trust me. A LOT of people skip this step.
The reason I skipped it is because I just wanted my product on the market – makin’ moola.
Big mistake.
Let’s jump back to the minimum viable product validation:
‘Cos I know some people think “I’ve done the validation part. I did a survey. Or looked at some forums to see that people have the problem”
Nothin’ wrong with that.
I encourage all of it.
But we still don’t know if people will buy what we have.
We don’t know if it gets a REPEATABLE result for anyone.
Enter the minimum viable product – or as I like to call it…the Beta Product.
The beta idea is nothing new. People have done it since the dawn of ages.
But it’s critical.
Critical because it:
- proves people will pay for your solution (which means they want it)
- helps you tweak and improve your solution.
- gives you the missing pieces.
there’s more – but those are the main 3.
So, what’s the first step to validate?
My advice is to build your product WITH people.
One of the biggest mistakes is to:
“make a key and then go and try to find a lock to open” – Seth Godin
Let's get you set up to offer a minimum viable product:
1. Create a landing page that talks about the problem and offers the solution.
you want people to opt-in.
you tell people this is a beta – and there is NO course/program built yet.
you CHARGE for this (I can't stress this enough) – make sure everyone knows it’s not free. (validation point)
This step is important because you verify you have the problem and promise nailed.
BEFORE you create anything.
Guess what.
If NOBODY opts in, you haven’t nailed the problem/solution. AND/or your offer is something nobody wants.
If that sounds bad…it’s actually a GOOD thing.
Because you’ve just saved yourself MONTHS of work. And even MORE months of frustration trying to market something nobody will buy…causing you stress and anxiety – even wasting money trying to find ‘leads'.
(BTW, a better way to avoid chasing leads is to work only with Dream Clients)
Of course, this is not the only way to run a minimum viable product beta.
But from my experience, I am telling you that it’s the fastest and easiest.
Anyhoo…
Hi Joey,
Thanks for sharing. Interesting approach. I was thinking if you could share a real world example, any live page that does this kind of "pre-sell". It will help a lot.
Hey Basil!
Ok cool, if you go to this video on YouTube, you will see how pre-sell works. There is NO call to action in the video etc. Yet, this video gets 60++ percent opt-ins every day 😉
https://youtu.be/0eyM89ASN5I