Struggling to sell your Digital Product? Here is why.
Learn from my mistakes in a failed product launch
I launched my Substack in May last year with no other following. Just six months later, I became a Substack Bestseller and built an incredible community. If you're ready to start earning from your writing in 2025, let me show you the fast-track steps to get there.
My first digital product launch was a complete flop. 🤦♀️
No, honestly - I created a PDF guide, that I put a lot of work and effort in (spoiler it was 90 pages long). On the day I decided to “promote” it - aka post a link to it on Substack Notes - I had a booming 2 sales.
Well, and that was it, really. 2 sales from months of working on it.
Uf, did I learn my lesson.
Since then, I studied, I learned, I refined my process.
And now do a lot better than my first trial.
Today, I want to share with you what I have learned along the way on how to promote & sell your digital products or services.
If you’re looking to get paid for your words, here are some posts to help you achieve that:
Weekly Resource List:
Struggling to Promote Yourself? Here Is How to Break Through
The Secret to Great Headlines: What New Writers Need to Know
How Your 5K-Subscriber Newsletter Can Become a 5-Figure Business (Proof Inside)
How to Successfully Launch a Digital Product in 3 Steps
If you’re writing online, chances are you’ve considered launching a digital product at some point.
That could be anything of
PDF Guides
Online Courses
E-mail sequences
Coaching service
E-books.
The range is wide and open.
It makes perfect sense, too. If you’re writing about a topic, it’s smart to eventually gather all the valuable information and package it into a bundle.
Here are 3 things, that you should do to sell and promote your digital product.
1. Landing Page
The first thing to do is to create a proper landing page.
The first thing to add is a clear, brief explanation of what your product actually does. No more guesswork. People should know within seconds how your product could help them.
Next, highlight the pain points your product solves. You need to hit on the struggles your audience faces and show them how your product fixes those issues. Speak their language, and make it relatable.
This is what I wrote.
Ever feel like your Notes are not seen or you simply don't know what to write about?
I've been there. But after a lot of trial and error, I've figured out what really works on Substack Notes, and I'm here to share it with you.Third, add the actual content of the course and show why you are a great person to provide that product.
Finally, add some social proof (if you have some). What are other people saying about your product? If potential customers can see that others love what you’re offering, it builds trust and makes them more likely to take the next step. Even if you are only starting out, collect some feedback from friends and family and use that to capture some initial references. You can use senjo.io to do this (a free tool for reviews).
In case you are curious, this is my landing page.
2. Promotion: A Newsletter Post Only About the Product
The next step is to create an entire post dedicated to the product. And, let me tell you: one post will not be enough. It takes on average around 7 touch points for people to be convinced to buy something.
So plan ahead a post, e-mail reminders, notes, chats. I do it like this
1x post
1x email reminder
1x note
1x chat
1x more post
2x email reminders.
Don’t just drop a quick mention in a random article.
Add a story around the product, add some personal touches. For example, I share my own journey, including my struggles with self-promotion. People want to feel like it’s really you behind the message, so adding that personal connection makes a big difference.
3. Create Urgency
The final trick of the playbook of self-promotion and marketing is to create some kind of urgency. Never thought in my life that this would work, but people need this extra push to buy a digital product. And this extra push can be time.
You can add discounts or make it time-pressing. Emails like “Only 2 days left” or similar can do wonders.
I recommend really using the last days of your promotion well. Use fear of missing out and create that urgency, so people buy your product.
With these 3 steps, I turned my failed product launch into many successful ones.
As always, trust the process, learn, and have fun.
It’s a wild but rewarding journey you’re on, so make sure to enjoy every moment of it.
Get my proven SUBSTACK BLUEPRINT to help you grow
➡️ 🚀 Grow Your Substack Course
➡️ ✨ Substack Notes That PAY Guide (incl. templates and cheat sheets)
➡️ 🗓️ Calendar with events for free and paid subscribers
➡️ 💰 Free Income Calculator to see how much you can earn with your newsletter
Or if you want it all to save money and time, you can subscribe here:
If you found this post helpful, please comment, like, share. It really helps.
Have you joined the FREE chat yet? We support each other every step of the way.
Love how you break it down so simply!