Rapid product development is a core competency for any successful information marketing business. Information marketers are always looking for faster, better ways to get new products to market and start making sales.
Sources of ready made and/or cheap content can be found within the public domain and through freelance ghostwriters; but, there is still a cheaper, even lazier way to create a product: conduct an interview!
Why Interviews?
An interview essentially costs nothing more than your time. The hardest part of the process will be coming up with a subject, finding a subject expert, and then coming up with a good list of questions.
Once the tape is rolling, your interview subject does all the really hard work of pouring out the contents of his mind. Your product writes itself in about an hour.
Better yet, once the interview is complete, you have multiple options for product packaging and delivery. You can transcribe the interview into an e-book, record it to CD or MP3 or both. You can bundle both formats together – and then charge a higher price for the product.
Interviews also provide you the opportunity to mine content gold right in your own backyard. Imagine this: instead of searching for hours online just to find, say, reusable information for a health niche product, you contacted a local M.D.or nutritionist and got fresh, credible information for that product?
It's not all that difficult to do. If you're averse to cold calling, just ask your regular family doctor for a referral. Ask your attorney or your hairstylists for referrals. There are hundreds of professionals where you live who would leap at the chance to drum up extra business and amp up their credentials by being listed as a contributor to a web based product. Think in terms of joint ventures and you'll start thinking up dozens of ways you can take that one interview product and cross-promote it all over the place.
Minimum Investment Required
You may already have all of the tools you need and, if that's the case, then your development costs are zero.
However, here is a rough list of the tools you'll need to capture and package your first interview product:
1.Tape Recorder
A basic tape recorder will do the job if you plan on just transcibing the interview. If you want to create an audio product, though, you should look at some of the nicer digital systems like the Voice It VTR-3200. That one won't set you back more than $180.
2.Microphone
It's always a good idea to add an external mic, no matter how good your recorder. You want to get the loudest, clearest recording possible on the first take because there is always some signal loss when you run your audio through sound editing and conversion programs. Make sure you get the right mic for your system: most digital recorders require mics which have an analog-to-digital converter.
3.Sound Editing and MP3 Conversion Software
You won't need to invest a dime for this software. There is a fantastic open-source solution available called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). This software will enable you to record, edit, add effects, apply noise reduction and a lot more. A free, open-source plug-in will allow you to export your .wav file to .mp3 at any desired bitrate.
Delivery is Easy
Once you have your product edited and ready to go, it's a simple matter to make it available for download. Your PDF or MP3 file can go straight to your server. In order to deliver your product on CD, you can use a service like SwiftCD http://www.swiftcd.com/ ). They will manufacture, package and ship your product straight to the customer. Or for Do-It-Yourself options, look over at http://www.cdduplicationplus.com for software and tips.
So, what are you waiting for? Interview products are quick and easy. Audio interviews, in particular, are a lot less common right now than e-books. This gives you the perfect opportunity to stand out in your niche, offering more value than the competition. There's only one drawback I can think of to this method of product creation: it's so effortless, you might find it addictive!
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