Are There Good Case Studies Of Knowledge Commerce Marketers?

Here Are 3 Case Studies Of Our Own Clients’ Problems And How We Showed Them Solutions

Every case study we, at Solohacks Academy, have handled in our work, has begun with the usual hurdles to cross … the Knowledge Commerce marketers concerned have had to find their niches of unique expertise, build an audience, decide on the best products to sell, and strategize on the best ways to sell more.

But aside from these usual milestones to go past, there were also some knots and tangles that some of them struggled with, peculiar to the roadmaps they were on. That’s when they have most appreciated our interventions and solutions.

Because all our clients are in ongoing stages of their Knowledge Commerce businesses, trying hard to make market-beating decisions, we have decided not to expose them to plagiarism of their work or strategies. We have therefore presented salient features of their stories, but suppressed their true identities.

All these clients are solopreneurs, and we find their case studies interesting, intriguing and inspiring. For variety, we’ve picked one case study each from these three categories: a marketer of ebooks, a marketer of courses, and a marketer of membership sites.

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Case Study #1: A Knowledge Commerce Marketer With A Storehouse Of Therapeutic Ebooks For Kids

Choosing The Right Expertise Niche

Jaclyn West (not her real name or photo) was a play-school teacher whose job it was to to make storytime interesting for her toddler students.

She is also a trained Child Therapist whose silent mission is to help kids with domestic problems to shake off their stresses and enjoy childhood like other kids.

In the process of her work, she realized that storytelling could be used as therapy for kids with psychological blocks. She made that her unique expertise area to start a Knowledge Commerce business, when her husband changed jobs and she had to relocate to another country.

She decided to write stories for kids (that are also read aloud). Kids can hear or read these stories on iPads and tablets (depending on their age). The stories are always about how kids with problems learned to get over them and grow stronger.

So far Jaclyn has written about 20 ebooks. She plans a big launch of her site when she hits around 50 titles. These 50 titles are designed to help kids conquer the 50-odd different types of psychological stresses she has identified as their most common problem areas.

Deciding On The Audience To Target

Children of single parents are her primary target. So Jaclyn has drawn up plans to market to single parents online. She intends to use organic search engine marketing to create blog posts to answer Google searches by people around the 50 problem-areas she addresses via her storybooks. She also has budgeted for Facebook ads targeting single parents.

One other category of secondary target audiences she plans to reach out to are play-schools. Many such schools she has written to have even pre-ordered many of her forthcoming titles, thus giving her a much better budget with which to embellish her books with topnotch professional illustrations.

Jaclyn’s Biggest Problem In Her Knowledge Commerce Business

In her own words, this was the biggest problem she feared and she wanted to find a solution for it.

I realised that these children’s ebooks are my thing. I initially started writing loads of ebooks at speed, but my books were so different in style to what’s in the market, I began to balk with fear of plagiarism and ebook theft. I didn’t fear marketers as much as I feared parents “lending” my ebooks to each other.

Then I learned an easy and low-cost way to secure against ebook piracy. After that, I resumed writing without worry. I’m now churning these ebooks out at the rate of knots to hit my deadline for launch.”

Most starter Knowledge Commerce marketers of ebooks begin, as Jaclyn did, without anticipating the problems of ebook theft and piracy. It’s after all so easy for people to buy just one copy and then distribute it to friends and family via email, causing losses to the author.

That’s why we find it so important to help our clients like Jaclyn fortify their products, as best as technology permits, against this menace.

How Solohacks Academy Has Helped Jaclyn With Advice And A Solution

Here’s what we told Jaclyn about protection against piracy or “illegal lending”:

If you’re distributing free downloadable ebooks it doesn’t matter. But if you’re trying to sell ebooks, theft and piracy are huge problems. People discuss all manner of solutions. These range from software and hardware locks, changing laws, or naming and shaming thieves. Unfortunately, nothing has worked to date. But we have found an answer that at least totally discourages ebook theft.

1. Securing Your Ebook

We all find it easy to convert our ebooks into PDFs. They also provide ease of customer reading on different devices. But we can also see that PDF-encryption-hackers are enjoying themselves. Then, we have the well-meaning people who buy our low-priced ebooks and then email it to all their friends. It’s no world for the genuine ebook writer with small means and simple expectations of security. We need to go into more elaborate protection.

2. DRM Pros And Cons

DRM (or Digital Right Management) provides digital content protection. DRM can help prevent downloading, uploading, accessing or lending. It can control how many devices you can download the ebook onto. It can also restrict the copy-paste feature. Unfortunately, DRM has not been as successful as expected. Just Google the search keyword “DRM cracking” and see how many tools there are now to make mincemeat of DRM. But don’t lose heart. As we said, we have found the near-perfect psychologically-discouraging way to protect ebooks.

3. Using WP PDF Stamper Plugin

In our search for a near-foolproof PDF protection system, we came across this absolutely nifty WordPress plugin. It’s called the WP PDF Stamper Plugin … from the company TipsAndTricks.com. Look at the clever little idea it uses. When a person buys your ebook from your site, you can get his postal and email address, right? Just before the ebook download, the PDF Stamper stamps the bottom of all the pages of the ebook, in unobtrusive font, with the buyer’s address and email … in the clever guise of licensing the book to him. Tell me, who’d ever want to “lend” this book to random friends, when his personal details are stamped on every page?”

Case Study #2: A Knowledge Commerce Marketer With Video Courses in Injury Recovery Yoga

Choosing The Right Expertise Niche

Marek Dmitry (not his real name or photo) was fireman in an industrial suburb of a big city. Most of his work involved rescues after mishaps at the industrial plants in his area.

On one such rescue mission, he felt his back “snap” – it was serious. He had to quit work. He was told he would recover, but it would be long and painful, and could take more than a year.

While he was struggling even to keep his back straight, an ex-colleague told him of a yoga teacher in India who could help him recover faster if he practiced certain “recovery” yoga postures. Out of desperation for a solution, Marek went to India and enrolled. That was the best thing he did, for his back healed naturally and organically in under 6 months.

He grew very interested in this “recovery yoga” that worked with the body’s own organic re-straightening processes. He thought he should teach it online for those who couldn’t travel to India for curing themselves. So he got into Knowledge Commerce of instructional videos of yoga, for simple self-curable body alignment problems.

He is now developing his videos at extremely low cost by videographing his students with a mobile phone camera, and giving the voiceovers himself. He is slated to launch online by June 2020.

Deciding On The Audience To Target

Marek knows exactly who would be his ideal target audience. It would be other firemen across the country. Every day, someone among them – or maybe many – get injured, not just during major accidents, but even during practice drills. Wrong body movements, twists, and sprains or body alignment defects cause these problems.

But still Marek needed to make sure he knew which bodily problems beleaguered them the most. He started emailing some 700 firemen to ask them about their most common, and most troublesome, injuries. The responses he received were phenomenal. He soon had an exact fix on which topics his tutorial videos should prioritize first.

Marek’s Biggest Problem In His Knowledge Commerce Business

In his own words, this was the biggest problem he faced and he wanted to find a solution for it.

I was stymied by all the information overload when creating my courses. Sometimes there were many yoga poses to cover for a single type of injury, and the challenge was to not cause another injury to a yoga beginner who may do the poses wrong. I needed a system by which the instructions could be simple, easy to follow and worth the money I would be charging for the videos.

I struggled with various formats for my videos, until I learned the “problem-solution” system. I tested the format on a few “guinea-pig” firemen till the videos were all set to go. I then started shooting my videos and editing them at the rate of one or two a day.”

For course-builders, excessive information is often a problem. When it comes to the scripting and assembly of the video courses, less is more, as marketers soon discover. To give value to customers for the price they pay, you don’t have to overload your videos. On the contrary, you have to make them simple, to be easy to follow and mistake-proof.

That’s why we find it so important to help our clients like Marek follow our tested format that cuts through information-overload and gets to the key instructional points.

How Solohacks Academy Has Helped Marek With Advice And A Solution

Here’s what we told Marek about planning the format of his videos:

You would think picking a course to create is the biggest problem you can have. But when you start planning your course content, your head-scratching will reach record levels. You know you have to create a course, so you research and analyze the topic till you’re out of your brain. All that content … where will you start and where will you end with it all?

1. Plan Your Content By The Problem-Solution Method

When solving a problem, first describe why the problem occurs. Try to list the reasons. People may find a point of identification with one or more of these reasons. Then explain your range of solutions. For each solution say why, and then how. After that, state what can go wrong with the solution – and if it does, how to solve it. Finally, give something extra for those who are willing to take more action. Show them a 5X or 10X solution.

2. The Best Course Content Has Clear Topics And Modules

Don’t aim for an elaborate curriculum for your first course. Instead, keep it simple to create, and simple to follow. Have a course introduction, followed by 3 main topics. Each topic can have 3 modules under it. End with a conclusion. An extra word about course videos. Use a smart instruction style that people like. When explaining the theory, use a Powerpoint slide kind of format in your videos. When showing how to activate a process, use a “watch as we do it” kind of format in your videos. People expect to see this kind of teaching.

3. Plan The Delivery Mode Of Your Course

Give thought to your course delivery method. Experts believe people like to see the instructor’s face, and see him or her speaking. Credibility is the highest for this mode of delivery. But if you’re very camera-shy, you can opt to record your voice, reading out a script to match what’s on the screen. Add a photo of your face on a corner of the screen. This is the next best thing to fluent video-delivery of speeches. Make sure your voice is neutral in accent and clear and crisp. Incidentally, if you can get yourself trained for online video-speaking, it’s well worth the investment.”

Case Study #3: A Knowledge Commerce Marketer With A Membership Site Full Of Past Content

Choosing The Right Expertise Niche

Sandra Moore (not her real name or photo) was a serial-online-entrepreneur-cum-failure. It sounds funny, but she must have started and dropped at least six online businesses involved with “content marketing and blogging”.

This was her area of clear expertise i.e. teaching content marketing and blogging … but somehow she failed every time.

Sandra knew her failures were not because she wasn’t good at her subject. She began to wonder if her past failures were perhaps caused by the fact that content marketing and blogging weren’t topics people wanted one-to-one mentoring on. What if she could convert all the blog posts she had previously written into a spread for a membership site? Would people prefer “self-service” to access her library, choosing whatever they wanted to know, rather than getting mentored in a structured way?

We must admire the fact that Sandra started another business … and this time it was Knowledge Commerce via a membership site. She grouped some related blog posts she had into ebooks, re-purposed some material into podcasts and video tutorials, and kept the rest as articles. She also ensured all the old content was mobile-responsive and up-to-date.

Target audience surveys seem to indicate she may have finally found her touch. People do seem more ready to sign up for “self-service” on content marketing knowledge, at an affordable monthly price, rather than paying high for exclusive customized mentoring or coaching.

Deciding On The Audience To Target

Sandra also made one big change to her target audience selection. Earlier, in her previous entrepreneurial ventures she had tried wooing owners of small businesses as her customers, believing they were all facing a problem on content marketing. But after she did some informal surveys among past clients who had dumped her, she saw how many of the business owners didn’t think they could do the content and blog writing themselves, and were hiring outsource freelancers.

So this time around, Sandra surveyed freelance blog-writers who wanted to earn by writing for other people’s sites. She figured (correctly) that people who want to earn money from a skill are more ready to invest in learning that skill. And, since they had varied needs for their varied assignments they preferred the “self-service-access” to the variety of ideas and advice in her library.

Sandra’s Biggest Problem In Her Knowledge Commerce Business

In her own words, this was the biggest problem she feared and she wanted to find a solution for it.

I knew that membership sites faced the problem of churn. Just as many members would leave, new ones would join. But I was apprehensive about more people leaving than joining. Also, I wasn’t sure how to divide my time between adding to my content library and doing more marketing – for old customer retention and new customer acquisition.

I guess I needed to have a better understanding of why members join membership sites, and what would make them stay subscribed. Then I hit upon the 3 big reasons why people are enamored of membership sites. After I got the insight, I was able to plan my strategy, time and effort with clarity.”

Most Knowledge Commerce marketers of membership programs tend to jump into business before thinking through the economics and the time allocations needed for the various business activities like product creation and marketing.

They figure that somehow getting new members should be the main goal, since anyway old ones will leave. They don’t realize that it costs 6 times more to get new members than to retain old ones, and so their priorities have to be reversed.

How Solohacks Academy Has Helped Sandra With Advice And A Solution

Here’s what we told Sandra about getting and keeping customers:

It helps to know what members perceive as “value” in membership sites. What makes them want to belong to the site? What makes them remain members for a long time? There is a lot of worthwhile research that gives us some good answers. Solopreneurs with membership sites will see some churn of members. But by understanding member-psychology, churn can be stemmed.

1. Members Value Being Invited To “Exclusive Events”

Webinars, seminars or mastermind classes are great events that people like to be invited specially for. Those times when groups of members get together to share knowledge is when the community bonding develops. Community-kinship is a great loyalty-builder. You don’t have to stage such events too frequently. It can be monthly, or even once every two months. You can also spice things up a bit by inviting a special guest – a top influencer – to talk to your group.

2. Members Like To Have Themselves Or Their Businesses Assessed

If you’re catering to other business owners, here’s one of the things they love to get done. Offer to audit their business or website for free, and suggest customized recommendations. Your membership site will feel like a venture that cares for its members’ growth. If you’re not dealing with businesses but individuals, a self-assessment quiz is a great idea. Follow this up with a few personalized recommendations from you. It can make a big difference to your members. Make sure you offer this assessment or audit right upfront when a member joins.

3. Members Like Knowing Who Else Is A Member

Everybody likes to be seen in good company – especially company that is greater than their usual circle. A lot of members I once surveyed, on why they joined membership sites, told me they liked being part of environments where the others are successful or known people. That’s probably why many membership sites like to show lots of testimonials from existing members who have some repute. Another extension of this idea, which some membership sites have, is a bulletin email of new members who have joined. This, no doubt, helps in retaining many members who were planning to leave. As they see the interest of others in joining the site, they tend to reconsider leaving.”

In Summary …

In Knowledge Commerce, marketers face knots and tangles peculiar to the roadmaps they are on.
That’s why solutions to individual marketers’ problems have to be responsive to their needs.
We’ve highlighted 3 case studies of 3 different Knowledge Commerce marketers – selling ebooks, courses and memberships.
In each case, we’ve shown you how they found their unique niches, and their ideal target audiences.
We’ve also shown you the approaches they have chosen to take, and what their business priorities are.
Importantly, we’ve detailed their fears and apprehensions and shown you the answers we gave them for these.

Hear These Experts On This Topic …

Stan Popovich in the article “6 Secrets to Making Business Decisions That Get Results”:

Managing your own business involves a series of ongoing business decisions. Don’t put off important decisions, and don’t worry about your past mistakes – just keep focusing on what is best for your company. To determine the best outcome for your business, always listen to your customer needs and have your finances and expenses organized.

Customer satisfaction and making sure your company doesn’t run out of money are some of the important priorities of any business. If your business is going in the wrong direction then you need to re-evaluate how you run your business.”

Richard Branson in the article “How I Make Business Decisions”:

If you have the time to use the ‘orchestrated procrastination’ approach then do so. Without getting into the ‘paralysis by analysis’ mode, doing more rather than less homework on a project is seldom a bad thing. While looking at it more deeply you may find better alternatives or the marketplace may change.

Making smart informed decisions is why leaders get paid the big bucks. There is really no science to getting it right every time which is why (unfortunately) decision-making is not a process that can be programmed to come in ‘just in time’ across the board.”

Dragan Sutevski in the article “Quality Of Business Decisions”:

What will you make? What do you need to make? How will your company sell? How will you offer your products and services? All of these and much more are everyday questions that you as an entrepreneur must answer, or make decisions about. Good decisions or the right decisions will increase your overall business potential.

If you make decisions that will not be implemented it is the same as not deciding at all. Each decision is a part of the problem-solving process. Each problem-solving process is part of an improvement process. You must prioritize the decisions. The right problems must be solved first.”

So What Are Your Thoughts? Do Share!

This post is incomplete without your input. The community of Knowledge Commerce solopreneurs would feel galvanized to hear from you … so do share your thoughts on this topic with us, in the comments field below this post.

Do You Need Routes To Quicker Financial Success In Knowledge Commerce? Who Doesn’t?

Get our bestselling book from our Founder & CEO …

What can you sell through Knowledge Commerce? The limit is set only by the technology available.

Right now you can sell ebooks, courses, podcasts, video tutorials. You can build membership sites with paywalls that protect exclusive knowledge. You can host webinars or mastermind classes. You can also offer to consult or mentor as a service.

But this is what you can sell today. Who knows where new technologies will take us? What new selling opportunities will they create for our knowledge?

If you’re thinking: “What the best time to enter this industry?”, the answer is: “Not later than today!” The market is burgeoning with opportunities.