96 – 5 Tips for Selling on Digital Marketplaces with Isabelle Wood

Laura

0:06
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.

Nikki

And this is Nikki May with Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.

Laura

We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.

Nikki

0:30
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.

Laura

0:39
Last week, we introduced you to Isabelle Wood, a perfect example of a Startist and also an accountability partner for Nikki and I that we met a couple of years ago.

Nikki

0:49
One of Isabelle’s big goals was to create digital products and sell them on Design Cuts. And she made that goal come true. And she’s going to share with us today her five tips for getting started selling on digital marketplaces.

Laura

1:05
Isabelle, welcome back to the Startist Society.

Isabelle

1:08
Thanks again for having me.

Nikki

1:10
What’s your first tip for us?

Isabelle

1:12
So I would say my first tip would be to choose one or two platforms that you want to sell on. You don’t want to have too many, because most platforms, well, I don’t know about the other ones. But for Design Cuts in the contract, they require Design Cuts to be the best price out there. So I would suggest not having too many marketplaces, because if Design Cuts puts your product on sale, you have to match it in the other marketplaces. Yeah, on all the other marketplaces. So if you have like your own website, and two or three other platforms, that just takes a lot of updating to do it. And you might forget one and then break your contract. And you don’t want that you don’t want to do that.

Nikki

1:53
No. It’s also just harder to manage when you have things on so many different platforms.

Isabelle

1:59
Right? And then you got your Instagram and your social media. And it’s like, yeah, many things.

Nikki

2:04
Yeah, like I have worked on different print on demand shops. And then when somebody buys something from my website, I have to remember which platform it was. And you know, so yeah. Yeah, it’s good advice. What’s your next tip for us?

Isabelle

2:19
The second tip would be, once you’ve picked your platforms, go to that platform and see if they have an artist FAQ section, and see if there’s anything that you need to do in order to get approved by them, like, what do they suggest? Or do they have any requirements or what you need to get together to apply to their platform.

My third tip is, no matter what the platform you decide to sell on, even if it’s your own, your own website, I would say go to Design Cuts, go into the Learn section and go through the Product Academy. It’s nine lessons. And it’s a step by step guide that teaches you how to create digital products to sell on digital marketplaces. And it’s really fantastic.

Nikki

3:00
And it’s free, correct?

Isabelle

3:02
And it’s free. Yeah, it’s free. Yeah. We love free. Who doesn’t love free?

Nikki

3:10
I love free.

Laura

3:12
All right, what’s your fourth tip for us?

Isabelle

3:14
Well, I would suggest doing a little bit of market research. So use either community platforms, Facebook groups, Instagram polls to see what your people, the people that follow you… What kind of products are they looking for. And I did that. I didn’t get too many answers, but I did it. I still think it’s a good idea. And I’ve seen people do it and get lots of response. So either my followers just don’t want to talk to me or I don’t know.

Laura

3:45
Well, I think also as you grow your following and you have a broader base, and people learn about your products, then you start to gather that group of people together that will give you that feedback for sure.

Isabelle

3:57
And I know that I need to put myself out there and for them to see my face. So to create the connection with with my followers, right, but yeah…

Nikki

4:05
We just released an episode on that.

Isabelle

4:10
And the last tip that I would say is when you create your product, try to give value to your clients. More is better. So if you’re creating digital assets, and you know how to create fonts, add a font in there, or absolutely create a PDF with instruction sheets with like, step by step, but with images because a lot of people are visual, creatives are very visual. So do like, you know have images, have examples. If you’re even up to it, have a video tutorial on your YouTube and link it to your PDF, an interactive link. And I think you know, just give value to your customer so that they feel like they’re getting a lot of stuff for their money.

Laura

4:54
Yeah, and I find that when I buy a product, it’s like you can look at two similar products but if one is giving you like three extra things in the bundle. You’re like, Ooh, that’s a better value, I’m gonna go get that one. So yeah, makes sense. All right. Well, thank you, Isabelle for coming back and sharing your experience with us. We’re so glad to have you here.

Isabelle

5:15
Thank you so much.

Nikki

5:16
Thank you. It’s always good to see your face. You can’t see her face, but we can. To get a downloadable PDF with Isabelle’s five tips on selling your products on digital marketplaces, visit startistsociety.com/digitalproducts.

Laura

5:34
Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.