Adding Value To Your Products Means Extra Work

You have all seen me Rant “Stop Publishing Junk” – Another rant of mine is “Add Value To Your Products To Make The Competition Irrelevant”

This “Does” mean extra work on your part… but most of your competition will not “bother” with extra work. You Win!

What Does Adding Value Mean?

Adding Value could mean adding something Secret – Special – Unique.  It can also mean adding a “bonus”.  It can also mean something as simple as BYGO (Buy One – Get One Free) or Buy One – Get an additional something.   OR – maybe it’s a “rebate”.

Value Add – is just that. Adding “Something” that will do one of two things:

• Add something special that the customer can’t get anywhere else.
• Add something that gives the customer the perception that they are getting the “best deal”.

Take a few moments to think about what products you have purchased recently (groceries, personal care – even dog food) that you have purchased because of some sort of “Value Add”.

Just by thinking of something that made you “buy” – is what you need to keep in mind or jot down as we go through this discussion.

Just the other day – I did a “Value Add” purchase on Amazon.com

Hubby had purchased several things for his business from a favorite shopping website.  I don’t know why he shops on this site, but he feels he get’s the best “deal”.

He received a notice from this shopping website that all 3 products were “Out Of Stock”.  I asked him why he didn’t purchase from Amazon – and he said “Because, I get a better deal on this other site”.  Hmmmmm….

I took the list of products right out of his hand. Searched on Amazon for them. Found all 3 products – purchased them for less and added in another product he needed.  All total for the 4 products I spent less (just a few pennies) than he had for the 3 original products.

The Value Add? Free Shipping and he will have them in his hot-little-hands in less than Two Days. (You don’t pay for items on Amazon that are “out of stock”).

Free Shipping is always a Value Add! But… It’s not enough. 

Lowest Price is a Value add of sorts. But… It’s not the “right” value add.

Being the “only” seller of a specific brand product is nice – while it lasts. It has no value add.

You can always create a public domain product that is very (extremely) similar to others already for sale. Does that seem like a silly idea?  Does it feel as if you have a way to compete with the same product? What is going to make the customer pull out the credit card and buy yours instead of the competitors? Price? Product description? Great Images?

Can you see the merry – go – round you are setting yourself up for?

When you shop for shampoo – do you look for the lowest price? Your favorite brand? OR – would something as simple as “Shampoo For Men” – entice you? (assuming you are manly).

What do you think is “different” about that shampoo for men? Smell? Color of the bottle? Size of the bottle? What it “does” for a man’s hair?

Is the fact that this shampoo for Men a value add?

• What if the shampoo came with bottle of conditioner or hair styling cream? THAT is Value Add.
• What if the shampoo came with a “pump” to insert for easier use? THAT is Value Add.
• What if the shampoo came with a booklet that showed great haircuts for men, or hair care tips for men? THAT is Value Add.

You don’t need to lower the price to compete with other products. You don’t need to be One Of The Pack!

How Do Add Value To Public Domain Products

1. Can you sell a CD of images – with a matted print “a la Prints Make Profits “?
2. Can you sell tools for a specific hobby and CD filled with books related to that hobby?
3. Can you add a few books that are NOT listed on the sales page that are a “Bonus”?
4. Can you add a piece of software that is useful and related to your public domain content?
5. Can you offer free updates?
6. Can you offer images with a booklet (written by you) that shows how to add funny quotes to the images – and also include 100 quotes?
7. Can you take something out of the book (a plan for a boat) and clean it up – enlarge it – print it out and sell it with the CD of the book?
8. Can you offer free gift wrap and a personalized gift card?
9. Can you sell “sets” of CD’s in a bundle?
10. Can you take a public domain magazine filled with articles and break out each article into a word document that could be used for blog posts? And then include the pictures for each blog post (edited to perfection) for each blog post?

That’s just 10 different ideas off the top of my head. What are your ideas for adding value and making the competition irrelevant? They may not work for every selling platform… eBay, Amazon, Etsy – etc.

p.s. Click on the link if you haven’t read all the articles about creating public domain products to sell on eBay.