Read time: 5 min

Hey there, Arjun here

This week's topic: How to turn your skills into a product for scale.

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The idea for this one is simple.

That's what productizing means right? Yes and no.

The idea is essentially to use your skills and use them to make a product. Let me run you through an example.

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This is you ↓

Your skills: Design, Programming, Copywriting

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So, how do you turn these into a product?

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Step 1: Identify a market need

Determine if there is a demand for your skills and what the market is willing to pay for it. Simple as that. Before you even make the product, you should figure out your market.

Your market determines the success of your product and therefore, your brand. An A+ Product in a C- Market will not perform as well as a B- Product in an A+ Market.

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Step 2: Package Your Skills

Once you know what you’re offering, it’s time to package your skills into a product. This could be an online course, a digital product like a software tool, or a physical product like a book or toolkit.

Choose a format that makes sense for your target market and fits your skills.

Here is a quick note before you decide how to package your skills.

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- Determine the scalability of that product.

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Generally, all digital products scale well. But, memberships and Saas products scale differently. Saas products have the highest ceiling. Memberships are great for recurring revenue.

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Step 3: Create a Brand

Your brand is what sets you apart from others and helps you build credibility and trust with your target audience.

Choose a brand name, logo, and tagline that accurately reflects your skills and target market. Make sure your brand is consistent across all of your marketing materials.

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Okay, I'll be honest.

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Your brand name, logo, and tagline don't mean much in terms of credibility as long as you meet these requirements:

1. Your brand name should be short and easy to remember.

2. Your logo should look good in small and big sizes. And of course, easy to remember and recognize. A minimal logo is always best for future-proof.

3. Your tagline isn't that important in terms of credibility but it helps in terms of relatability and remembrance.

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Here's what that actually matters:

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1. Communication

This is undoubtedly the most important. The way you speak, and the way you write should evoke authority and credibility. In terms of the way you write, write in proper English. Poor English will reduce trust.

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2. Visuals

Visuals are very important in recognizing your brand on social media, your products, and anything else.

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Here are 2 things to maintain a consistent visual style:

- Your colors

- Your design style

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One more thing to note is not to change up your brand colors too often. But don't be afraid of rebranding. Even big companies do them from time to time. Only rebrand if you really thing it will point your business in the right direction and puts it in a better situation.

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Step 4: Promote Your Product

No matter how great your product is, if no one knows about it, it won’t sell. Develop a marketing plan to promote your product through channels like social media, email marketing, and paid advertising. Make sure your marketing efforts are focused and consistent to reach your target audience.

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→ We cover much more of this in the next module, "Business Marketing".

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Step 5: Continuously Improve Your Product

The market is always changing, and your product needs to change with it. Continuously gather feedback from your customers and use it to improve your product. This will help you stay ahead of the competition and maintain your relevance in the market.

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Step 6: Network and Collaborate

Networking and collaborating with others in your industry can help you reach a wider audience and build credibility. Attend events, join online communities, and connect with potential customers and partners. These relationships can also lead to new opportunities and help you grow your business.

This comes down to outreach. If you are not sending a minimum of 10 DMs a day, you will not grow fast. DMing others will increase your chances of getting known, collaborations, paid opportunities, and much more.

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Your network is part of the foundation you build your business on.

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Here's an excerpt of what building a foundation means (made by us, DisplayZen):

"

The key to success is to build a strong foundation ↓

Building your foundation comes back to the idea of constructing a building.

Take Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. To build it, it needs a foundation of 164feet in depth.

Just like a tree. The deeper the roots, the stronger the tree.

You can’t build a brand that generates 100K/month on a foundation that can only support a 1K/month business.

So, what does a strong foundation consist of?

→ Your hard skills (e.g. Product design, programming)

→ Your connections/networks

→ Your soft skills (e.g. confidence and communication)

Fix your foundation first and success will become a byproduct of your actions.

"

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Step 7: Deliver Value

Above all, make sure your product delivers value to your customers. This means consistently providing high-quality content, responding to customer needs, and offering support when needed. When you deliver value, you build trust and a positive reputation, which will help you grow your business.

Delivering value also helps with word-of-mouth. In the future, word-of-mouth will be the most prominent. Word-of-mouth spreads fast. And its free. Its a powerful tool. Trust us, bad word-of-mouth spreads faster than good.

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Word-of-mouth is easier than ever nowadays. Almost everyone has a social media profile. With their own following. Some have big followings, some are small. Regardless, if your product is noteworthy, they can just tweet you out on Twitter, on their Instagram Story, reaching thousands of people. Maybe even millions.

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The secret to successful word-of-mouth?

1. Being different.

2. A valuable product.

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Hope this newsletter opened up your mind on how you can achieve more success with the help of productization.

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If you ever have any question regarding your brand, design, e.t.c → Reply back to us and we’ll help you.

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Have a wonderful rest of your day and see you in the next one, my friends.

-Arjun, Founder of DisplayZen

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Whenever you're ready, Here's 2 Ways I Can Help You ↓

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1 - If you want to scale your products with user-centric product design and strategy:‍

Work With Me - This is a qualifying form that will help us see if you're a good fit for our services

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2 - A new product is in the works. To make the best product for you, I need more feedback from you:‍

Join My Product Waitlist - Get instant access to the same system I used to build my brand strategy + an exclusive offer when it launches