6 Profitable Digital Products To Sell (+ How To Start) (2023)

You may’t maintain a digital product. However from music to ebooks to on-line programs, virtually everybody now owns a bit of digital content material.

Many entrepreneurs are constructing whole companies round digital merchandise resulting from their reputation and ease of distribution. Different corporations are launching them to enrich bodily gadgets and companies.

What makes studying easy methods to promote digital merchandise interesting is the potential for passive income. Digital merchandise might be created as soon as and offered repeatedly to completely different prospects with out replenishing stock. That makes them splendid for creatives, bloggers, educators, and freelancers in search of environment friendly methods to make money online.

If that’s you, right here’s easy methods to create, market, and promote digital merchandise on-line—together with examples of the highest digital merchandise.

What are digital merchandise?

Digital merchandise are intangible assets distributed on-line. They encompass media, software program, information, and templates which are offered repeatedly, with out the necessity to replenish stock. Digital merchandise usually come within the type of downloadable or streamable information, similar to MP3s, PDFs, movies, and plug-ins.

Why promote digital merchandise versus bodily items?

Promoting digital merchandise has many benefits that makes it uniquely enticing to entrepreneurs:

• Low overhead prices.You don’t have to carry stock or incur any transport prices.
• Excessive revenue margins. There’s no recurring value of products, so you keep the vast majority of your gross sales in income. Calculate your profit margins forward of time.
• Potential to automate. Orders might be delivered immediately with no oversight.
• Versatile merchandise. You may provide free merchandise to construct your e mail checklist, month-to-month paid subscriptions for entry to unique digital content material, or licenses to make use of your digital merchandise. There are numerous choices for incorporating digital merchandise into your corporation.
• E-learning is the way forward for schooling. You will have an enormous alternative to broaden your corporation and affect with e-learning, an business anticipated to be value $840 billion by 2030.

However on-line digital merchandise additionally include particular challenges you’ll must be careful for:

• You’re competing with free content material. With digital items, customers will often have entry to free options to what you’re promoting. This necessitates cautious fascinated by your area of interest, the types of products you promote, and easy methods to write your product descriptions.
• You’re prone to piracy. It’s essential to scale back the danger of content material theft by using instruments to guard your merchandise.

The place to promote digital merchandise

There are three major channels for digital merchandise: self-created on-line shops, social media, and digital marketplaces.

• Build your own online store utilizing an ecommerce platform like Shopify, then combine a digital product app for seamless promoting and administration.
• Promote your digital merchandise to your viewers through social media. Use native buying options or connect your Shopify store.
• Create a profile on a longtime digital market inside your area of interest and entry a pre-established viewers.

Bear in mind, in change for publicity, some marketplaces can take as much as 50% fee for each sale. Keep away from vendor charges by constructing your personal on-line vacation spot for trending digital merchandise.

6 finest digital merchandise to promote on-line

1. Academic digital merchandise
2. Digital product licenses
3. Premium content material libraries
4. Digital templates and instruments
5. Music or artwork
6. Companies

1. Academic digital merchandise

On-line programs are finest fitted to in-depth content material. They require some effort up entrance, from making a presentation to recording a video walk-through. When creating programs, begin with learner outcomes: what would you like the learner to know or be capable to do on the finish of your course?

You may embody quizzes, data checks, and interactive actions inside your programs to assist break-up studying content material and make your e-course extra partaking. Take into account studying and implementing a instructing mannequin like ADDIE.

If you happen to’re an professional on a subject, bundle your data in a handy digital instructional product and promote it to others. Take How to Cake It, for instance, which sells digital cookbooks for simple scrolling and bookmarking whilst you bake.

If there’s an abundance of free weblog posts or tutorials about your matter on YouTube, compete by delivering content material that guarantees not schooling however transformation. In different phrases, don’t promote the product—promote the client’s potential after shopping for your product.

You may leverage an current popularity as an professional to garner consideration in your downloadable merchandise to promote on-line or, if you happen to’re ranging from scratch, create and provides away free content material to generate leads in your paid digital merchandise.

2. Digital product licenses

From inventory pictures to video footage, music, and sound results, there’s a worldwide ecosystem of licensable digital property uploaded by creatives for different creatives to make use of of their work.

By providing licenses to people and companies, you’ll be able to cost for using your pictures, movies, music, software program, and comparable high digital merchandise. You may promote through your personal retailer, just like how EditStock sells licenses for college kids. Or you’ll be able to promote by on-line marketplaces, similar to these stock photo sites.

When arising with property to create, it helps to work backward from the wants of your supposed viewers. Begin by fascinated by what sort of property they’d wish to use as a manner of figuring out demand.

You should definitely defend your digital merchandise with watermarks and different safety measures, particularly if you happen to’re promoting pictures.

3. Premium content material libraries

As an alternative of specializing in easy methods to promote digital merchandise individually, you’ll be able to bundle them collectively and lock them behind a paid subscription to generate recurring income.

Snowboard Addiction, for instance, is a vacation spot for all issues snowboarding. Prospects can store for bodily snowboarding gear in addition to downloadable tutorials.

This strategy to promoting digital merchandise is good if you happen to plan to keep up a rising library of premium content material and nurture a neighborhood of passionate members. In some instances, paid digital subscriptions may even create a chance to immediately monetize your current content marketing efforts.

Since this content material is behind a gate that solely paying subscribers can entry by their customer account, you can too host unique content material that may be streamed quite than downloaded.

You may construct this sort of enterprise thought through the use of subscription billing with Sky Pilot as your digital supply system.

4. Digital templates and instruments

Digital merchandise can even come within the type of intangible instruments that equip professionals to do duties that both fall exterior of their ability set or take up numerous time. You may promote digital options to the frequent ache factors and wishes of a particular viewers.

For example, RetroSupply Co sells digital product bundles for designers and illustrators throughout the most well-liked apps and software program. Different examples of easy methods to promote digital merchandise on-line this fashion embody:

• Digital advertising and marketing technique templates for entrepreneurs
• Résumé templates for job-seekers
• Cell apps for companies
• Graphic design templates for brochures, flyers, posters, and so forth.
• Adobe Photoshop filters and plugins for media editors
• Icons, fonts, or UX Kits for net designers

5. Music or artwork

If you happen to’re a musician or an artist, likelihood is you’ve explored methods you’ll be able to monetize your skills or the viewers you’re constructing. Whereas print on demand merchandise are all the time an choice, there are additionally loads of digital product examples for selling art and music. 

A musician can promote ringtones of their finest songs alongside their merch. A cartoonist might flip their artwork into prints and telephone wallpapers. A filmmaker can promote their motion pictures on-line.

An efficient technique for this type of digital product promoting might be catering to a hyper-specific goal market. For instance, Materia Collective sells digital sheet music for standard online game soundtracks.

Because you don’t have to carry any stock with on-line digital merchandise, you’ll be able to experiment with completely different codecs to see what audiences need with out a lot danger.

6. Companies

Companies pair effectively with digital merchandise. A designer can ship logos alongside templates. A private coach would possibly ship a video exercise plan. Leaning into this, you’ll be able to place sure companies as packages containing beneficial digital merchandise.

For instance, you would provide a session for a payment, together with a personalised report or Excel spreadsheet, after which upsell your prospects in your different companies or merchandise. Or you would provide a free downloadable product to generate leads in your email marketing list, a tactic that many on-line companies make use of as we speak.

If there are frequent duties you full as a part of your service enterprise which are simple for you however beneficial to your buyer, you’ll be able to contemplate productizing them to create income streams that require much less of your effort and time to keep up.

Tips on how to create and promote digital merchandise

1. Discover or create a digital product

Discover a digital product to promote. You may create your personal digital merchandise or change into an affiliate companion for an current creator. Common digital merchandise embody:

• Leisure content material
• Music
• Fonts
• Design property
• Photoshop presets
• Templates
• Software program and plug-ins
• E-learning programs
• And different on-line companies

Product brainstorming

When producing concepts in your digital merchandise, don’t be too vital—the important thing to brainstorming is to keep away from overthinking. If you happen to’re in search of concepts of downloadable merchandise to promote on-line, listed here are some inquiries to ask your self:

• Are you able to train prospects easy methods to use your merchandise? For instance, if you happen to promote knitting merchandise, you would provide appointments to show superior knitting methods.
• Are there issues you’ll be able to assist your prospects with associated to your total business? If you happen to promote surfboards, you would create a exercise program to assist your prospects keep in surf form at residence.
• What are the values you’ve constructed your corporation on, and what are subjects associated to them? For instance, if you happen to promote sustainable attire, you would create a course instructing your prospects easy methods to dwell a extra sustainable life. 
• In what methods might you convey your neighborhood of consumers collectively? If you happen to promote kitchen provides, you would run a digital guided wine-tasting occasion.
• What are you good at? If you happen to’re actually nice at product pictures, you would train different folks easy methods to get higher at product pictures too.

💡 Study extra: Finding Your Niche: 8 Niche Market Examples to Inspire You.

2. Product validation

Validate your thought earlier than committing an excessive amount of time to it. The very last thing you wish to do is make investments numerous time or cash in a brand new enterprise with out understanding it has a great likelihood to achieve success.

Listed below are some methods to validate your thought as you determine easy methods to promote digital merchandise: 

• Key phrase analysis. Use a key phrase analysis instrument to see how many individuals are trying to find your subjects. This provides you with an thought of the chance dimension of every one.
• Google Traits. Search your subjects on Google Traits. Search for subjects which are rising in curiosity. This implies the chance dimension will continue to grow.
• Fb teams. There are Fb teams devoted to each area of interest and viewers possible, making them an incredible place to study what your potential prospects care about. 
• Business boards. Boards devoted to hobbies and communities in your business may help you study extra about what folks need and want in your broader business.
• Product evaluations. Learn each the evaluations in your merchandise and opponents’ merchandise to get concepts. These might come from the evaluations on product pages in addition to standalone evaluations on blogs and different web sites.
• Begin small and iterate. Typically, the simplest method to validate an thought is to experiment with a smaller model of the concept with room for progress. The objective is to get one thing out into the world as quickly as doable so you’ll be able to put your thought to the check and enhance it from there. 

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, you have got distinctive strengths and data that may be beneficial to your prospects and promoting digital merchandise. 

💡 Study extra: The 16-Step Guide to Evaluating the Viability of Any Product Idea.

3. Create a web based retailer

When you validate a digital product thought, you’ll wish to get an ecommerce platform to promote on.

Make a website to sell your digital merchandise and rise up and operating in a couple of hours. Choose from a catalog of web site templates, populate together with your brand, copy, and pictures, and also you’re able to get promoting.

Shopify is the simplest and most respected method to create an ecommerce retailer for on-line digital merchandise. You don’t want any tech expertise or a giant finances, and you’ll select from greater than 100 templates with built-in options to get arrange rapidly.

There are additionally over 4,000 free Shopify apps you need to use for managing your retailer and promoting extra digital merchandise on-line. Apps make the supply of digital merchandise simpler than ever. Browse the App Store to search out apps that plug into your retailer and do every part from internet hosting course content material to delivering PDF purchases.

Sources:

4. Market your digital merchandise

With a digital product and a web based retailer sorted, it’s time to search out your prospects. If you happen to’re promoting fonts or design templates, construct an viewers of designers and creators on the social platforms they use most. Additionally contemplate influencer advertising and marketing, social adverts, or lead magnets.

8 apps for promoting digital merchandise on Shopify

1. EDP ‑ Easy Digital Products. EDP is a well-liked app for promoting downloadable information and license keys out of your on-line retailer
2. Filemonk. Filemonk is designed to make it as simple as doable for Shopify retailers to model and promote digital merchandise.
3. SendOwl. For extra advanced digital product companies, SendOwl comes with a wide range of automation options.
4. Courses. This Shopify app enables you to create classes, tutorials, webinars, and manuals and promote them on-line. 
5. Single. If you happen to’re a musician selling music, Single bridges the hole between bodily and digital music gross sales.
6. FetchApp. FetchApp is one other digital obtain supply app with a free plan obtainable (5 megabytes of storage).
7. Sky Pilot. This app for constructing a membership program. Promote information and unique video streams to prospects.
8. BookThatApp, Tipo, or Sesami. Use these apps to schedule consultations or teaching classes with prospects. All three have a free plan obtainable.

Past these digital product supply techniques, there are different Shopify apps to energy and defend your digital items, similar to:

• RecurrinGO!. That is an app for weekly or month-to-month subscriptions. Use it to automate recurring orders, invoices, and digital subscriptions for on-line memberships or packages.
• Disable Right-Click. When your content material is your product, this app helps you defend it from theft. You may lock photographs and textual content to allow them to’t be saved or copied with out your permission.

Word: When creating digital merchandise in Shopify, make sure you uncheck “This is a physical product.”

Gross sales and advertising and marketing suggestions for promoting digital merchandise

Whether or not you’re a brand new enterprise proprietor or including on-line digital merchandise to your current retailer, maintain the following pointers in thoughts:

Create an incredible digital product

The primary standards for creating digital merchandise is so as to add worth to your prospects’ lives. Because you’re competing with free content material on the net, put money into constructing a product folks can’t discover anyplace else. 

Promote a free lead magnet

No matter how a lot your product prices, create a light-weight model of it without spending a dime. A free product may help you construct an e mail checklist you’ll be able to promote to sooner or later. It additionally opens the door for upselling and retargeting potential prospects with completely different promotions. Free merchandise can construct belief between your corporation and potential prospects. 

Begin an associates program in your product

Associates are an enormous supply of visitors and gross sales for creators promoting digital merchandise. Discover influencers who’re established and trusted in your business and provide them a fee for every sale they make. You may create completely different percentages for various associates, so if somebody has a big viewers, you can provide them a better fee fee to advertise extra and entice prospects.

Accumulate preorders

An effective way to get early gross sales is by giving a reduced “early hen” value. If you happen to’re releasing a brand new digital product, you’ll be able to provide a 50% low cost for the primary 100 patrons, then 25% for the subsequent 100 patrons, after which launch the product at full value after the 25% low cost runs out. 

Supply a money-back assure

If you happen to’re hesitant about providing a guaranty in your merchandise, it is smart. Some folks might purchase and use your product then ask for his or her a refund. But it surely’s all part of operating a web based enterprise. The rewards of upper conversion charges outweigh the small proportion of people that could abuse the coverage. A a refund assure exhibits potential patrons you’re placing the danger on you, not them.

Creating the very best digital merchandise for your corporation

With out the necessity to maintain stock or the overhead related to promoting bodily merchandise, all varieties of digital merchandise might be worthwhile online business ideas. 

There are numerous methods you’ll be able to create the very best digital content material to promote and resell and incorporate them into your corporation. With slightly ingenuity and upfront funding of time, you’ll be able to serve up irresistible worth that may greater than pay for itself over time.