Anyone remember the Bixby Snyder character from the original Paul Verhoeven Robocop movie?
He’s the subject of an inane TV show set in the Detroit Robocop dystopia whose punchline is, “I’d buy that for a dollar!”
As silly as the character was, it raises a fair point when it comes to your media, your content.
Would any of your corporate marketing content sell for a dollar?
Think about that question carefully. Would anyone pay money, even a dollar, for the content you’ve published today, this week, this month? Could you convince any of your customers to buy that press release you just sent out? Would they buy this week’s email newsletter? If you were to put your eBook up on Amazon or your webinar up on Gumroad, would anyone purchase it?
Here would be the challenge to you. Catalog all of the marketing content you’re producing, then put it up for sale right now, for the next 30 days.
- Publish your email newsletter to Amazon’s Kindle Singles program for 99 cents.
- Publish your corporate white paper or eBook to Amazon’s KDP program for 99 cents.
- Publish your next webinar to Gumroad for a dollar.
- Publish the press release you’re going to send out to Scribd’s store for a buck.
- Publish your next product announcement to iTunes as an MP3.
Wait 30 days. If you can sell one of any of the types of content, then you know you’ve got something worthwhile. Jay Baer often says in his book Youtility that your content should be good enough that people would want to buy it. Take the next step and actually put your content up for sale to see if anyone WILL buy it.
If it doesn’t sell? You need to take a long, hard look at whether it’s any good.
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I like this idea. It’s a good gut check to ask yourself before you publish anything.
Have you tried this, Chris? How did it go? I often worry that the cost (in time) to produce all of this won’t give me the return. However, I love the idea and encouragement.
Bonus points for Bixby Snyder. I used that audio clip on many mix tapes!
So good to see you in Boston. I still can’t believe it had been that long. I hope we can spend more time catching up. I think a trip to Nashville is due. How about you?
Hey Dave,
Yes, I have tried this; in fact, every eBook I publish for SHIFT eventually ends up on Amazon, and we always sell a handful of copies to people who don’t want a salesperson to contact them.