How to promote a product?

[Jariel]

I was wondering if people here could recommend some good and cheap/free ways to promote a Photoshop painting DVD I've created and published.

http://www.devotion-graphics.com/emilyrose-index.html

I have made a decent amount of sales via my website and Amazon and had such positive feedback so I know it's a good product. I have another DVD in the series coming out in a couple of months (http://www.devotion-graphics.com/photorealvol2.html) which is going to be a lot better and I really want to promote it best I can.

I've tried Google adwords and it was a flop. I've tried Facebook ads and saw nothing come from it. My best promotional tool so far has been Youtube, followed by Deviantart, but it's so easy to get lost amid the masses.

I'm clueless when it comes to business, marketing and that kind of thing and it's held me back for years. I've read books on web marketing, but none of them offer any practical advice and are more aimed at larger businesses with a big advertising budget.

If you guys have some marketing/promotional wisdom you could share it would be appreciated.

 

[Drdeee]

Wooo man. I might use your services. I have a pic of me, and I want it photoshoped, it's for a resume. I bookmarked your site.

Have you tried selling your product on eBay? A lot of people use eBay!

Another good way are social networks like facebook and myspace. Add tons of friends, there are applications that do it automatically. Then you just push your product to your friends.

Another good one, I'll be using this one soon, is to add vinyl graphics to your car. Then you could hang around an art school and get customers.

 

[Drdeee]

Tell me something. that girl on your site, in root /, before and after pic. You photoshopped both the before pic and the after pic, right? Cuz if I'm meeting a girl from facebook on a date and she looks like in before pic I'm gonna run and scream for help!

 

[Jariel]

Thanks man, I can do the touch up work quite easily. I'd love to get into that business full time, but can't find any openings. As for that girl, the before pic is how she originally looked. :O It's also very easy (too easy) to make a fat girl look thin, so watch out for that one too. haha.

I have tried ebay, but get less than 5 sales per month. I do get a decent response from Facebook, especially posting into the forums, but never tried myspace. I'll give that a go. I also like the idea of vinyls on my car and a great idea about approaching artschool students! I might print some posters and flyers and spread them around colleges and universities.

 

[ArcBound]

Thanks man, I can do the touch up work quite easily. I'd love to get into that business full time, but can't find any openings. As for that girl, the before pic is how she originally looked. :O It's also very easy (too easy) to make a fat girl look thin, so watch out for that one too. haha.

I have tried ebay, but get less than 5 sales per month. I do get a decent response from Facebook, especially posting into the forums, but never tried myspace. I'll give that a go. I also like the idea of vinyls on my car and a great idea about approaching artschool students! I might print some posters and flyers and spread them around colleges and universities.

You do digital painting with a mouse, or a Wacom type tablet?

 

[Warrior74]

*edit Do this first * Do the challenge. I'm doing the challenge right now, I'm on the part about becoming a market leader. You don't have to buy anything. Its free.

http://www.challenge.co/ you can go directly to the training here. http://challenge.co/training/


Other things that can help:

Get awber or constant contact and set up a mailing list. Get an opt in box on your page so they can sign up for your list. If you can find a free product or short free video to get them to sign up, that's an extra incientive. The money is in the list. Every time you have a new product your list is your first place to go.

Get a blog. Update your blog on a regular basis (2-3 times a week tops).
You can discuss aspects of your dvds, answer questions from buyers and interested viewers (also solicit your list for questions). If you write informative articles submit them to article directories.

When you send out your monthly (or bi weekly) email to your mailing list, you can use these blog posts as informational filler.

Fine Tune your keywords. Spend as much time as possible checking the proper ranking of each key word.

Find strong photoshop forums and see how much they charge for advertising and find out if they allow sales based signatures. Become a trusted member of the forum over time and let your sig sell for you.

Check sites like clickbank.com and think about paying out a decent commission to get other people to sell your product for you. Provide them with the materials they need including videos, banners, ads, and tips on how to sell the product for you.



Good luck.

 

[Jariel]

You do digital painting with a mouse, or a Wacom type tablet?

A lot of my older work was done with a mouse, but I've been using a Wacom Graphire 4 for the past few years. I'd love a Cintiq at some point, but don't have the money for one at the moment.

 

[Jariel]

Thanks for all that info Warrior74. Sounds like a lot of positive ideas to consider and i'll take a good look at that Challenge site.

I have thought about setting up a blog, so I'm thinking that will be one of my next moves.

I looked into clickbank, but notice they charge a sign up fee. I don't mind, just as long as I'm going to get sales, but what is the success rate like on there?

 

[Warrior74]

Thanks for all that info Warrior74. Sounds like a lot of positive ideas to consider and i'll take a good look at that Challenge site.

I have thought about setting up a blog, so I'm thinking that will be one of my next moves.

I looked into clickbank, but notice they charge a sign up fee. I don't mind, just as long as I'm going to get sales, but what is the success rate like on there?

I haven't sold my own product, but for a while I was selling "Fix your xbox red ring of death " tips. I made about $250 before my sales tapered off at that was at 25% commission, so I'm sure the creator made some decent money. I started my own site selling video services.

 

[Drdeee]

I downloaded some psd buttons today, MONEY BACK GUARANTEED, SATISFACTION GUARANTEED, etc. The buttons are free, but when you open them there is a layer that advertises the maker. So what you could do is create some free stuff and put it everywhere on the net, and put a later in there advertising your product.

Start with the most basic stuff your target audience would look for. Use google to find out what's they looking for.