I have been reading so many things about launching online products (when I say that, I mean information products like books, ebooks and courses, not the type of products I normally design like web applications or ecommerce sites.) There is a lot to consider, which is why I am pulling back a bit to make sure I launch the course design course/book as part of a bigger series and that it represents me and my background expertise and not the popular trends of today which are more focused on marketing funnel advice and not design and the user experience. As I have interacted with many of these programs and products, I’ve noticed a ton of conversion tactics that may (or may not) lead to sales, but that produce a very negative user experience along the way. That is my sweet spot – that and branding a product line are really my core skills and so I want what I produce to be focused on what can contribute to people who want to enter this industry.

With self-publishing at an all-time high, and the eLearning market growing by leaps and bounds (self-paced eLearning was a $46 billion dollar market in 2015), this IS the perfect time for you to do the same thing if you have been wanting to write your first book or launch your first course. I am going to recommend you do both of these plus a few other things, and have a series of information products that will get into the nuts and bolts of how to do it in the simplest way possible (to get you started.) So the course design focus has now become a planned series on:

• Self-Publishing
• Course Creation
• Platform Design
• Conversion Experience (possibly… this may get addressed in the above or elsewhere)

The branding for Art of Course Design is very girly – my first inclination was to create this course as a free demo site to promote the fact that Fresh ID now offers a WordPress solution for an LMS platform that allows you to own it fully rather than share revenue with a course enabler like Skillshare or Udemy. So like I would recommend to a client, I wanted the identity to be something representative of me as this would involve personal branding – and I am impossibly girly inside whilst also cursing like a sailor at soccer games and doing triathlons. But that is NOT what I would recommend for a suite of products that must appeal to both men and women, so this is all being rebranded. This is not the first time I’ve designed a brand and redesigned it before releasing it – sometimes that happens when you know that another direction is ultimately best.

And that brings us back to what I am good at… creating a fresh experience. These books and courses will not be for everyone, and I won’t try to make them appeal to just anyone. There are plenty of resources I will point to for more in-depth study or broader comparisons of options. People will want my instruction and insights will need to be prepared to:

• Be rigorous in design restraint
• Focus intensely on the smallest of details
• Put “users” – the prospects and purchasers of the products offered – first and foremost

While this may sound appealing and maybe even easy, it’s not in reality. It will take me approximately a month of research and endless naming and labeling formulation just to come up with what this series of products is called and they will have some consistency in the naming. That’s because I not only have to put it all together as a series, then I have to research other used names in Google and Amazon, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and even hashtags. For it to make sense for users, and be compelling as a brand. The struggle is real!

Hopefully I will make progress on this the next couple of months and have some of the writing, if not all, and the planning done by April so we can get this show on the road. I’m excited to get to the end result and share it with you. If you have any interest in joining a group of reviewers of this content as I work on it (something I will recommend you do for your own books and courses), let me know here or on Twitter or Facebook. I have not yet created that group but will be soon.

Fact #8: 59% of senior executives also agree that they would prefer to watch videos if both text and video are available on the same topic on the same page.

Fact #15: Using the word “video” in an email subject line increases open rates by 19%, boosts click-through-rate by 65%, and reduces unsubscribes by 26%.

Fact #17: 52% of marketers worldwide name video as the type of content with the highest ROI.

Read the rest and see the infographic here! http://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/9818/

Many businesses, when yet another social media platform is introduced, don’t want to be bothered with learning about it or adding another task to their day. But marketing is about psychology, and if you know about how people learn (some with words, some with pictures, and some with demonstrations) you will understand that the users of Instagram primarily like to view and understand things visually. Making use of this medium gives you another place to provide gentle reminders you exist, and have something to offer that people of like minds may want.

The reason I say “people of like minds” is that unless you are a widely known and beloved brand (like Harley Davidson) potential buyers may not find you by a deliberate search of your name and following your account. On Instagram the primary method of finding things you enjoy is via hashtags, and if you think using a ton of hashtags feels too obnoxious, you need to view them a little differently on Instagram. As long as they are appropriate, these tags are very helpful to users hunting for, say, #cyclingshoes. Click on that tag to see photos people have labeled with it. Now think about how user recommendations or information work. If someone has the shoes in the photo or loves/hates them, they might get into a conversation or add info for others similar to an Amazon review of a product. All of which benefits you as the seller. Excuse me a moment, I have to go check out these gorgeous Adidas shoes.

Your photos do not have to be shot professionally to be interesting. There are tons of tutorials for taking images using just your smartphone and using third-party apps you can combine photos into collages, turn photos into watercolor works of art, adjust photo settings so they appear more dynamic and brighter before uploading and even combine video with photos! (Awesome for sizzling restaurant shots or outdoor sports.) Doing this takes an additional few minutes after taking your photo. For images taken by users that you find online that feature your brand or product, you can use the Repost app to conveniently repost their images while giving full credit for the photo to the one who posted it.

Retail, Brands & Products

Taking a picture of a product on a white background and sticking it on Instagram is probably not going to be as effective as you would like it to be. Think of an Instagram photo as answering the question of “what are you doing?” For Macy’s around Thanksgiving, that means attending the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, so they shared fun photos of the floats and scenes in NYC. On another day that might mean lusting over pretty new shoes, or going on a fall picnic in an adorable outfit, or even erasing wrinkles using some cool new cosmetics product.

Here are some accounts doing a particularly great job of mixing brand reminders, lifestyle images, helpful posts, and quirky fun stuff done by users that the brand shares with their followers, which helps build a community of fans, diminishing the feeling of being blasted with promotions.

Macy’s is using something that several large brands are trying right now that is a workaround to Instagram’s limitation of not allowing url links in your photo captions. It is called Like to Buy and you can read more about it on Econsultancy or check out the service here.

Martha Stewart loves dogs, and that is evident on the brand’s Instagram account, which seems to feature a dog photo about every 5-20 uploads, sometimes via a user’s photo like this one of Manny the Frenchie wearying a Martha Stewart brand coat from Petsmart.

Coke has some really fun brand-focused photos and emphasizes the quirky over serious. They are sugar water after all… brands that are in a position to be expendable may benefit most by being memorable and amusing.

Corona especially does a great job of creating longing for beach, friends and beer. I can almost smell the beer from here! Corona, quite simply, touches the inner call we all have for our own personal nirvana. For me, it’s the water, surf and sand so they could add even more hashtags that speak to finding bliss and reach more people seeking that.

Oreo is focused on the fun to be had with their products. From holiday campaigns to delightful finds within their customer base, they always seem to have something going on with this simple cookie that tickles their fans.

Restaurants

While a restaurant seems like an obvious user of Instagram, it’s amazing how few use it well or use it consistently, unable to see beyond showing a single plate of food. Any business with a lot of foot traffic has a built-in source of potential new content, from kitchen scenes to catering to photos of tables filled with happy customers that agree you can photograph them for Instagram. Mix in tantalizing food and drink shots as the icing on the cake.

Do not forget to add any appropriate hashtag you can think of (including ingredients like #egg or #scrambledeggs) and also to define the “location” so that anyone who finds you locally or while traveling can stop by to try what they saw online for themselves. Also, put your city and state hashtag on some posts… people may discover you who will be in your area this way. Everyday objects can also be made interesting when clustered together and unique compositions or surprising placement, such as this partial view of waiter on the street, can make your spot a must-visit for those who connect to what you offer once they find you.

Buvette, with locations in Paris and NYC, tops my bucket list of restaurants. Because, #brunch and #yolkporn! Their photos are exemplary and you can recreate their style by taking photos from an “aerial” view by arranging things on the table or counter and then standing on a chair or something a little higher to capture the arrangements, top-down. Such an effective way to include many items in the small square format you have to work with. Now pass me those eggs!

Cadillac Bar, one of my old haunts in Kemah, Texas is included here because they are such a sad example of having a great eye for what Instagram users would want to see, but not the vision to build community or even just blast out photos of delicious tex-mex so users could find them. Come back, Cadillac Bar… people need to find you and discover how amazing your veggie enchiladas are, among other tasty items. (BTW, I will see you in April when I’m in Kemah!)

Stumptown Coffee is full of pure personality and the kind of hipster product photos you’d expect from any self-respecting indie coffeeshop. If I’m ever near one I will make a beeline to check them out just based on their Instagram pics.

It’s a real shame Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles has stopped posting, because their photos exude a sense of playful whimsy along with, well, chicken and waffles, if you’re into that sort of thing. If you’re in LA, hit a location and tell them they need to keep showing off their wares on Instagram! Esquire Magazine would agree.

Forequarter does one thing very well: it makes you want to go there. The people shots mixed with action shots mixed with enticing plates and libations provide a glimpse into the good time you could have here with friends.

B2B & Other Unlikely Instagram Suspects

When it comes to B2B or industry-specific organizations the keyword to think of is “niche.” The masses may not flock to your account, but people who are into or need what you offer will if you enable your content to be found. While creating visual content may seem difficult, there are probably examples that will nudge your creativity if you search for them. From user experience, kitchen design and travel agents to book publishing, all sorts of services and specialties can be found on Instagram.

GE focuses on technology, engineering and manufacturing on Instagram and the results are spectacular.

HarperCollins Canada demonstrates an excellent use of simple props and interesting photo arrangements of something that isn’t always easy to make interesting in a photo: a book.

Square’s feed may actually inspire you to go and open a local business, so view it with caution! By focusing on the “why” they exist, they have a never-ending source of unique and interesting stories to tell, right from within their own customer base. Web hosts, web apps, tailors, personal shoppers, accountants and service-based businesses of all types can draw lessons from this approach.

FreshBooks focuses mostly on events and employees, but could benefit from telling customer stories for even more content to use.

Final Food for Thought…

The most effective psychological tool used via these Instagram photos is emotion. What do you provide people emotionally? Focus on that and not what you want them to buy from you. What do they see in themselves via your photos… A great time? Looking sharp in a cool outfit? Some awesome high-tech sports gear? Being a better athlete? Bass-thumping music, so they feel like they are at a Tiesto concert? The most adorable doggy outfit in the world? Beautiful skin or hair? Meeting a need or satisfying a fancy and helping people find you via hashtags is one way to lure them into your world visually. Plus, it can be a fun and satisfying way to tell your company or brand story over time.

Well, after ignoring these ads for months, this past week I got a wild hair and wound up setting up an account at Just Fab to buy a $9.95 pair of precious over-the-knee boots, in sort of a “I am a Girl!!!” moment to counterbalance the 85% athletic/triathlon/cycling gear my money is spent on these days, which is what I also mostly wear. The thing about swimming, biking and running is you must always be dressed for these occasions – such a pain!!

So I was excited, and shared this fabulous deal on Facebook. By signing up to get these boots for so cheap, I had committed to a VIP membership, which means that the 1st-5th of every month they send me a personalized “boutique” of items they feel are suited to my tastes, and I can select from those or find something else to buy for $39.95 a month (shipping is free over $39 so most months you should be able to get something for that amount.) Fabletics, owned in part by Kate Hudson, the actress, operates the same way but I think the monthly amount might be different. Fabletics features exercise gear supposedly on a par with the super-expensive and elite Lululemon but I can assure you the design is not the same.

Should a $39.95 a month subscription throw people off, the Just Fab site promises that you can “Skip this Month” and pay nothing, or cancel your account at any time. So…. nothing to worry about, right?? They have, at first glance, made this whole deal sound pretty good.

But………. don’t get excited just yet. A friend showed up on my Facebook post with a warning as she too, had tried Just Fab and found the quality of her order kind of cheap, but the bigger problem was it took a ton of effort to cancel. She waited on hold on the phone forever with no results (that’s right – no way to cancel online) and finally resorted to simply not updating her CC when the bank issued a new one so her membership fee would just bounce and they would finally get the hint. So that made me nervous and I did a little Google search. WOW. I should have done that FIRST.

Consumer Affairs lists 1648 complaints and reviews for them and the complaints all center around a) not knowing the user would be billed by default monthly… they disclose this pretty well so people just must not have read at all and b) hanging on hold with no one ever answering their call so they could cancel. TechCrunch said their checkout tactics are shady. Valleywag over at Gawker calls them “the biggest scam in online fashion.” And Literally Darling (fun blog) describes a gigantic cluster situation where ultimately she lost money with Just Fab because of system glitches and non-caring, non-listening customer support personnel.

I’m so glad they have my credit card number. Sigh.

So I kind of freaked out and decided to try to pull out before even beginning. That has gone nowhere. After several automated emails saying a fashion stylist would contact me, she showed up, answered my support email with a non-answer and when I wrote back and asked her to answer the question (and not ship my first order and cancel me altogether) she did not respond again. And the shoes have now been billed to me.

So I am going to follow this through as a user experiment, not that we don’t know where it’s going. Those damn $10 boots better be FABULOUS! Here is your user experience lesson for the day, retailers and commerce sellers. Take it to heart because though you may get away with shoddy, underhanded practices initially, ultimately you will bankrupt the company and it will be you, flinging yourself off the ledge.

Retailers, it is not enough to offer cheap, cute, whatever products that customers want. You must follow through with reasonable processes and practices and the Golden Rule perpetually applies… treat customers as you want to be treated, and you can hardly go wrong.

We’ve collected some of our favorite handmade fonts from Creative Market, to give you some ideas for your next project. Most of these are on our long wish list of goodies to design with!

Vintage

It’s funny that, surrounded by modern gadgets and devices, we just can’t get enough of vintage styling. Jackson & Brown was inspired by old potato sacks, and the Atlas font comes from old map typography.

Quirky

Romantic

Sketchy

Mosher

Something about Mosher is so easy on the eyes… the layout and white space is very pleasing and this is a favorite new theme.

Jacqueline

For that subtle French-flavored chic feeling, check out Jacqueline, by BluChic, one of our favorite girly WordPress theme makers.

Foody

Not going to lie… we are obsessed with Foody. The post tiled gallery with recipe pullout quotes and Instagram integration make this theme tasty! If you are a food blogger who needs a fresh new style DO consider using it for instant modernization and please take food photos as gorgeous as these and send links.

Rose

With muted, subtle colors and little ribbon accents, Rose is a nice blend of sweet, simple and minimal WordPress design.

Design Your Own Girly WordPress Theme

If you want to design and customize your own theme, we have a few PSD templates at Creative Market and will be adding more. Check out Provocateur and Plum, our latest pre-made brand templates for website designers.

The article is a must-read and I suggest looking into the book coming out this week by Randy Gage: Risky is the New Safe. Change is inevitable, growth is not. Here is a clip of him speaking about it…

What I want to talk about are some ideas that less-sexy businesses like dry cleaners and tire shops can use as inspiration to create their own mobile app, and how this can benefit you. So open your minds and get ready to think outside your box about new ways to market your products and services. Don’t worry about cost for now… we’ll talk about that after the ideas.

App Content & Features Ideas

Tires & Tire Services

Purchasing tires can be like purchasing underwear – you know you need them and have to buy them, but don’t necessarily want to as it seems like your hard-earned money would bring more satisfaction if spent on something pretty or fun… like a designer handbag or electronic gadget. So how does a tire shop possibly create an app that customers would want to use and ultimately would bring them into the store for tires or service? How about…

• offering a daily or weekly deal in the app exclusively for app users
• allowing fast inventory and price-checking
• pushing out a reminder to a customer who needs their tires rotated or some other service on a schedule
• pushing out seasonal tips about tire care
• giving a “guide to long-lasting tire care” so people can save money & not have to replace them prematurely
• letting customers schedule an appointment so they don’t have to call
• letting customers tweet you a question easily
• giving people a fun badge for checking in so many times using the app
• randomly giving people a special incentive after so many checkins using the app
• write a “tire buying for dummies” guide or something geared to first time tire purchasers to help walk them through it
• allow parents to purchase tires for their college kids via your app, so all the student has to do is show up to get them put on

Dry Cleaners

Some folks frequent a dry cleaner regularly, yet never get a break on cost. An app with incentives, deals and checkin rewards is like a gift to these repeat customers, and possibly an incentive to people using a competitor if you offer…

• price information and cost breakdown of different items
• hours and details about turnaround time for cleaning
• secret checkin rewards: after so many checkins, give the customer the cleaning order they are picking up on the house or for 50% off
• daily or weekly deal
• special care guide for unusual things people don’t think about protecting like household linens or wool coats
• incentives for special occasions like bulk wedding apparel cleaning or party linen cleaning
• if you pickup laundry, let customers schedule pickup and returns in the app

Small Restaurants with Daily Specials

In downtown Kansas City we have a number of great restaurants that offer a unique daily special – from soup du jour to multiple entrees, what a favorite place is having can sway a regular who works downtown for lunch.

Many of these restaurants have a Facebook page where they update information, but a great co-marketing opportunity exists to band together in an area (downtown KC, Queens, Culver City, etc.) to save costs while keeping customers coming into all the restaurants in the area. Try this:

• share cost of design & setup of the app
• share the story and profile of each restaurant in the app – let new people get to know you!
• offer one or more daily deals
• post full menu for every restaurant in the app (plus hours/map)
• update daily specials for all the different restaurants in one convenient place for people
• let customers request a daily special… you could even make it a game & name it for the customer or let people vote for the one they want
• let customers place an order via the app for quick pickup
• let customers place an order for delivery from any of the participating restaurants and share cost of the drivers too
• sell a gift certificate that can be redeemed at any of the restaurants
• ask for the customer’s birthdate and send them a freebie or just a nice “Happy Birthday!” push notification on their special day
• let customers reserve a table for parties of 5 or more as an exclusive app feature
• create checkin rewards and incentives for checking in using the app
• create fun “battles” between restaurants and get fans to eat them, then comment & share to pick the “winner”
• let customers leave comments about their favorite meals, or rate you if you want to offer Yelp!-type reviews

Eats Soho is not this exact type of app but will give you a little flavor of what you could create. You will have an advantage other companies don’t when marketing your app to customers: posters, table tents, mini-cards and more can be created and shared for consistent in-store marketing, and every mention on a social media platform is an indirect promoter of your restaurant from the others fan bases, as the app will lead them to you. Your cooperative efforts will likely be press-worthy locally or possibly nationally depending on your pr efforts.

Convenience Store/Gas Station

An app for a convenience store & gas station probably doesn’t sound like much fun, but I swear it could be. Some people go to their local convenience store nearly every day… for breakfast, for junk food, for coffee, for gas or even a lottery ticket. These very regular customers are usually not rewarded with much more than a smile of recognition, but you can up the ante and turn them into raving (and sharing) fans with a little attention to marketing and a fun mobile app. Here’s what I’d do if I owned one of these businesses:

• deliver a fun badge for checkin milestones when checking in using the app
• offer random gifts at certain checkin milestones – imagine checking in and being told to “Come get a free candy bar!” (or lottery ticket, or $1 bill, or pack of gum… the gift ideas are endless given the merchandise mix)
• post the gas prices every time they change, so customers can check prices before heading over to get gas
• offer a small coupon reward for customers sharing the app on Twitter or Facebook with their friends
• ask for the customer’s birthdate and send them a freebie or just a nice “Happy Birthday!” push notification on their special day
• give a discount on gas for checkin if customers want to come inside to pay for it
• provide a form for customers to request merchandise they’d like you to sell… this is free feedback for you!
• run polls to gauge customer interest on different brands, like Coke vs Pepsi products, so you know what to focus on selling
• offer weekly or monthly promotions, such as a free regular cup of coffee for every purchase of a breakfast sandwich
• if you own more than one of these stores, offer maps & details for store locations
• post a different daily deal every day and track results afterward to see which are most profitable

Here’s a neat example of this type of app from GetGo, a convenience store, gas station and car wash. Doesn’t this look like a fun thing to promote in your stores and at the pump?

Mobile App Platforms Make This Possible

I’ve been researching mobile apps a lot because I am about to dip my own toe in the app market waters and use one of these two platforms to create my first app. Why use a platform vs. having one developed? Quite simply, cost. As a designer (and small business like you may be) I can create content and graphics and do the data entry work to set up an app myself, but can’t develop it. So I’ve been looking into platforms that do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

The Shoutem platform is the one I’m leaning toward for my first app, because of the customization features. As someone focused on branding, I want to be able to have some control over the buttons, tabs, icons and screen design to make the app uniquely Fresh ID’s, and not a carbon copy of 200 other apps.

Pricing begins at around $50 a month to get both iPhone, Android & HTML5 web apps, which is REALLY so much cheaper than if you tried to pay a dev company to build and maintain those three platforms. I know one app maker (a client, actually, so I have this firsthand) who has spent over $100k on his mobile app and I think it’s only available for iPhone so far. App design and development can be quite costly. If you don’t have a designer handy, Shoutem will even design the app for you for $450 or $950.00, which is also pretty inexpensive (for example, if we designed the app screens and did setup for you at Fresh ID it would likely start at around $2k.) So the pricing is right here, and the features are awesome.

Conduit AppMaker is also a compelling platform. Pricing is a little better than Shoutem’s – they offer options from $29 to 79 a month, or unlimited one-time fee of $1299 gets you all the Premium features with no extra cost. They have many features and third-party integrations available, like Yelp! reviews for your restaurant or business and ecommerce integration. So for some of you this may be the best option. In April 2012, J.P. Morgan paid $100 million for 7% of Conduit, so I feel good about their long-term viability.

If you want to research, there are many, many app platforms like these, and there may be some platforms specific to your industry that make getting an app out the door both affordable and reasonably easy to execute. But do your homework – look into the company history and investment so you don’t get stuck with something that shuts down in two months.

Why? The Stats Suggest You Need to Start Experimenting with Mobile

I promised you some stats to help open your eyes, and here are a few that have helpful information to ponder:

• 11 Incredible Marketing Mobile Stats & Why You Should Care
• Mobile Marketing Statistics
• Consumers Spend More Time with Mobile as Online Growth Slows

What are you doing to either extend your marketing reach to your customers and prospects using mobile devices, or meet existing customers needs by allowing them to perform tasks on mobile devices?

We’d love to hear what you’re thinking about, and will be blogging about the experience of launching mobile apps as we get them online and venture into this new world of design and dev. We will also be talking about monetization experiments and what we learn from others regarding making money with mobile apps.

I’m currently reading App Empire by Chad Mureta and recommend that you get it if this is a totally new universe for you too. For just $2.99 there is an interesting looking Kindle ebook called Create iPhone Apps that Rock by Alicia Morga. It’s a year old but has some advice that seems solid about the process involved in app creation, from naming to publishing, so might be helpful.