My Muse

[jpstephens]

Ok so after reading the book and thinking about a muse I think I found it.

The muse I am going to make is a DVD/Book combo that has to do with learning common tasks for Apple Computers, targeted at switchers.

What are good ways to test this product before i build any tutorials?

Also what you all think of the idea targeted at a price of 50 bux?

[MiniBlueDragon]

Hmmm... I'd probably do a little market research first and find out rough numbers for the number of switchers per day... If there are only 100 per day worldwide and you get 1% of those that's 1 sale per day... IF! :(

I for one have always thought Mac were a waste of time based on my previous experience with one (back in 1998!) but I've heard recently that Macs have come a long way since then so I'd consider one but the main problem for me is the lack of gaming on Mac :(

The other thing is finding figures on how many Mac users there are currently and what sectors they're in. I'd assume that most Mac users are in design/publishing which means you'll probably be targeting people moving into those sectors.

Basically you don't want to go to the effort of recording, editing and putting a soundtrack over a DVD plus writing an eBook if nobody will be buying.

[jpstephens]

Being very intune to the Computer industry I can tell you first hand that the Mac platform is not a waste of time and that people are switching at a rate that is increasing.

The reason I said the mac switcher market is apple is consistently growing at a rate that is faster then the competition. Also there are highly successful PC tutorials that I feel I can leverage off of.

Back to the original question, what is a method of testing this muse without actually creating a slew of actual screencasts? I want to see if the idea works before I put the labor in....I know the market is there, its a matter if the market would convert their interest into purchases....I was thinking about making 1-2 videos and putting it up on a website for free with some descriptions, etc and then having an order form and saying place order and after they place the order we say "out of stock" and that they will be contacted once we receive more.


Is this method good? I think 60 dollars for a DVD tutorial, a spiral bound book and a laminated quick sheet is a good price, what do you think? should I not package as much?

Let me know

[MiniBlueDragon]

I never said the Mac was a waste of time... I said that the last time *I* used a Mac it was shite but I know they've come far and if it wasn't for the lack of gaming I'd think about one.

If you know people are switching and you know that they need a tutorial on how to use a Mac then you're fine.

Personally the only reason I'd bother looking for a tutorial would be if I was having issues... If I was having issues I probably wouldn't be able to find your tutorial on the web anyway! lol

Many marketing ideas use free video's as teasers or free "snippets" of the full DVD for people to become interested. Many times have I been on an email listing and recieved loads of free videos and podcasts from people in the build-up to the "grand opening" and it creates a hype of people waiting for the whole thing to be released.

Your idea of "sold out" is a good one!

[jpstephens]

Ahh that makes me nervous now that you said if someone cant use the mac why would they be able to find my product....that is a valid question....

Any thoughts anyone?

[MiniBlueDragon]

If you market the product more at people who are looking into switching that may be better as they'll be able to find and purchase the product on a PC before they switch?

An awesome idea for you would be to create a DVD "teaser" which shows someone the basics of getting onto the web using a Mac and uses your Muse site as the example website. When people do it they find that there's a nice cheap FULL guide to all their Mac questions waiting for them there :)

Also you could potentially hand tons of these teaser DVD's into computer shops to be given out free when users purchase a Mac...

The reason I thought of that question by the way is that I was looking into writing an eBook for new computer users (my grandparents are buying a laptop!) and I suddenly realised that they wouldn't be able to download the file to read if they didn't have the skill to.

I decided the best approach in that scenario was to make the doc a printable format document for people to purchase, download and print as a handbook for new users rather than an eBook.

Also remember to make sure the DVD is multi-format, plays in different devices and can be used on both Macs and PC's; if you don't get that right you'll have disgruntled customers when they can't sit and watch the DVD on their PC/DVD Player. :(

[jpstephens]

These are all very good and helpful ideas.

Heres my gameplan:

1) do research into current PC tutorials DVD's and see how they are marketed and how they get over the whole "I am new to the computer how do i order problem?"

2) Put together 2-3 videos on the most highly coveted features of the Operating System.

3) Put together a website that has some positive feedback that I get from friends and family that review the site and product (it wouldnt be lying if they were real people who said it, regardless if they are my family or not)

4) Have an order form on the site that will help me track my conversion rate.

5) Run a 500 dollar campaign on adwords to see the actual market response to my product.

6) depending on how the product does and if I make a profit I will register an LLC and finish the DVD packaging and begin selling the product.

Let me know if I am missing anything?

[MiniBlueDragon]

If you were to decide on the colour scheme, graphics used etc for your DvD cover you could have the site designed with the same theme. Once it becomes popular that also leads people into recognition purchases of new products where they know the brand and are happy to buy from previous satisfaction.

Another option for generating extra traffic/sales is to use YouTube to post small snippets of the DVD.

And yet another idea would be to hand out a free copy of the DvD to people/companies/schools etc who you know would benefit from it. That will put you in the position where they only have 1 copy and cannot use illegal copies so if it's useful they'll buy more.

Imagine one single school loves it for teaching Media Studies to new Mac users so they order enough for a class plus some spares; let's say 40 purchases... You can then add a "The prefered way to learn, as used by Blah School"
Now lets say that during a staff meeting it's mentioned how well the kids have responded to the tutorial and how great it is and word spreads to another school who make a purchase.
And another school...
And another...

None of this is unrealistic either if you market your products correctly and it's of high enough quality and content to be classed as excellent. :)

Also I'm not too knowledgeable on LLC's - Why would you need one if people are paying with PayPal?

[jpstephens]

Well the LLC would basically be my company that I'd set up, it would help protect assets, etc...all that business mumbo jumbo hahaha

I love the feedback though, is there anyone besides you though thats listening!??! hahaha

no seriously any other suggestions?

[kindwomanxx]

well, yes, I'm reading this thread LOL

Make sure you have a lot of direct comparisons in your lessons,
i.e., this screen on Windows looks like this in OSX, and you get to
it this way.

I'm not your target audience, having used macs since they were born.
Unfortunately, I find the proposed price a bit high, but I usually go
to O'Reilly books for my info. I'd probably go for the $30 range myself.

Joann