The Info Product Funnel

​​Info products (books and courses) are a high impact, low-cost vehicle for driving business growth, which is why you need to ​create an info product and implement the ​info product funnel strategy if you’re a business owner or entrepreneur.

Note: When ​I say ​info product funnel, ​I am not talking about a sales funnel (i.e.: a funnel that drives ​traffic to buy your book or course). Instead, ​I’m talking about a lead generation funnel (ie: a funnel that drives conversion using a book or course as the lead magnet). 

​Therefore your ​course ​will be at the beginning of the funnel, not the end. You want to lead people to your service or product, starting with, and through your course or book. Read on to learn more.

​What is an Info Product Funnel? 

An ​info product funnel is a marketing strategy that takes the reader through a journey in order to become a lead, or potential customer, for your business. 

In an ​​info product funnel, your potential customer is your reader, and through your book or course, you want to move your reader through a series of steps that furthers their relationship with you, the author. You are ultimately using a ​course as a customer acquisition channel, to generate more leads, or get more people to buy your service or (affiliate) product.

Like any funnel, the goal ​is conversion, which happens when you get your readers to take the action you want them to take.

Conversion can mean different things for different businesses, depending on what your end goal is. 

Examples of successful conversions, or actions, from a book/course ​are: 

• When a reader joins your mailing list and becomes a subscriber
• When a reader joins your community, or tribe
• When a reader schedules a consultation or strategy call with you
• When a reader purchases an upsell you offer, such as a bonus course or other paid offer
• When a reader purchases an affiliate product you recommend
  

Why use a ​course/book for lead generation? 

​Here are the top benefits of using a book as an effective lead magnet:

• Credibility. When you author a course as a book, you’re instantly seen as more credible than those who haven’t. There’s a level of trust that you earn when people hear that you have ​published something. ​
• Authority. What do almost all industry experts and thought leaders have in common? They’ve written a book! They run a course! When you become an author, you become an authority in your field.
• Business Opportunities. Becoming an author opens up a whole new world of opportunities for your business, like speaking gigs and public relations. Use ​it to increase visibility in your field, and you’ll be amazed at how many doors can open up for you. 
• Increased Referrals. Readers who love your ​work will recommend it to other people in their circle, which means more leads for you. 
• Client Acquisition. When you share your ​work with the world, you unlock a new acquisition channel that brings in more customers and clients. And when you do that, you’re able to increase revenue and scale your business. That’s what’s at the heart of this ​strategy!
  

The Traditional Money-​for-Product Model

In traditional business you buy something, ​pay for it, then consume it. 

This is called "fair business".

​But we live an economy of scarcity and distrust. Not enough money, not enough time. We would like a higher standard of living, but we can't afford it. We are unwilling to give out hard-earned dollars for products that are unknown to us. 

Because of this status quo, ​​it is easy to attract valuable attention by giving away something valuable for ​a discount or for free.

This is why marketers came up with ​tactics using FREE. "Buy 1 Get 1 Free", Free Samples, Free Plus Shipping, Lead Magnets are all such ​strategies. 

​The Perversion of Free

​The problem is that someone invented the marketing tactic of giving away useless or fake items for free.

​We have been bombarded with with these kinds of ​offers​:

• ​Download my free ​PDF that doesn't fulfill my clickbait promise
  
• Sign up to watch my 'value filled' free ​masterclass that is half ​sales ​pitch
  
• I'll give you my 'free' book if you pay 3x what it costs to ship it to you
  

The underlying strategies ​do work​. It is the pretense ​that dilutes the market. ​The result is overwhelm and people develop immunity against such offers. 

​​​The "​Remove The Paywall" Approach

Instead of ​demanding money upfront, ​the ​​strategy is to give REAL value first and make money after.

The relationship is built with no expectation of transactional exchange of value. That relationship pulls the prospect forward rather than pushing ​them along from one point of conversion to the next.

​Several companies use this strategy and have their ​income ​in the hundred thousand and million dollar range as a result.

Well, this is exactly what Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay or Pinterest are doing. You would never imagine any of these companies give away a “free checklist” to sign up for their platforms, right?

Or do you ever see them write blog posts to target a specific keyword? They don’t care about content marketing, keywords, links, still they have more traffic than you can ever hope for. They are beyond SEO.

• ​The platform WordPress gives away is a full-blown complex platform. They could easily charge money for it.
  
• Facebook and its Messenger, Instagram are also complex platforms that could charge membership fees.
  
• Same with Pinterest.
  

Removing the "paywall" creates a viral effect that exponentially multiplies the amount of leads these businesses acquire for their backend services. 

If Your Course Is Free, How Do You Make Money?

Thanks for asking. In order to make money, your free course needs to ​show the secrets of how to use your recommended product.

Since ​this free course is about sales funnels, ​I will show you how to create profitable funnels and ​courses on a budget.

In the process you will learn how to build the ​pages of your funnel, how to write copy. Some of you will purchase the products that I recommend and I will thus make a commission. 

You may say that this only works for internet marketing and “make money” niches, but that is not true.

Do you sell laptops? Why not create a Laptop Specialist Course? Or the Ultimate Laptop Blackbook?

Make it really comprehensive and include everything about the properties of a laptop.

• How much RAM do you need if you want to run certain games?
• What screen size and screen resolution should you choose?
• What kind of mouse?
• Laptop bag? How to protect your laptop?
• How to protect your eyes?
• Software they absolutely need.
  

Are you in the survival niche? Why not create the Ultimate Survival Course? Then you can link to survival products.

​Hopefully the above gave ​an overview of the system. Now let's dive into the details.