Daily Archives: November 9, 2015

• deliver it live to a group of people in a room,
• provide a printed study guide with support for people using it,
• record your session on video or audio,
• either deliver these online or sell them on some recorded medium
• publish study guide, available through bookshops, or
• provide it online as an ebook or in a ring binder at an in-person meeting.

You can break down most of these further. So, it is worth thinking your formats through, particularly if you haven’t considered the practicalities.

Products and Services

Here are some questions to consider:

• How will your customers use your product or service? Some people prefer video; they like to sit down in front of a screen and watch as well as listen. However, they can’t watch a screen whilst they are driving a car or jogging. People can listen to audio recordings whilst engaged in other activities. Ideally you would deliver a choice of formats but that means extra expense, although it may be possible if you’re delivering by downloads. If only one format is practical, which is it to be?
• Are you able to deliver a high quality product in your chosen format? Video is great unless the sound quality is poor. People will put up with a poor picture so long as they can hear, although a very poor picture may put them off! Whilst you can easily produce high quality video and audio these days, it is also easy to produce poor materials.
• How can you deliver your chosen format? If you are sending materials through the post, there are various options. You can do it yourself or else engage a company. Some companies can use your recordings and designs to produce one-off packages. When your customer signs up, the company receive an email, produce the product and mail it to the customer.
• Do your customers own equipment that can access your format? This is perhaps less important than it was. A few years ago, CD-ROMs were the best format for delivery of videos, pdfs, etc because most people did not have broadband. These days most people have access to broadband and so they can easily download information products.
• What about combined formats?  For example, if you are selling a course, part of it could be delivered face-to-face. For some courses, in-person contact may be central. Course materials can be produced to back up the meetings. Other courses might have a weekend or similar where people get together and otherwise use online course materials. Coaching can be delivered in-person or online and accompanied by recorded support materials.
• How much support will the customer receive? They may receive a set of videos, watch them and make of them what they will. Further support might include a forum where people can comment and discuss the videos; webinars and other online opportunities to ask questions of experts (you or others); coaching or non-directive consultancy; done-with-you support for some activity, done-for-you support.

Causes

With causes, the beneficiaries are usually third parties. Also the response made by the customer is not always financial. Where the customer makes a financial contribution to a cause, it can be a fee for membership or information or a donation.

The same formatting issues apply to causes, which can be combined with products or services. Here are some possibilities:

• Sale of merchandise to support the cause
• Information and education can be sold or given away
• Newsletters and feedback can help customers keep in touch with the cause
• Activities such as signing petitions, joining in demonstrations, etc
• Benefit events
• Fund-raising activities
• Sponsorships