Over the years, we’ve heard time and time again how important it is to diversify yourself in the Swag industry. As a distributor, I have focused on positioning our company as so much more than a cool up-and-coming Swag distributor. We’ve been offering video production, web and graphic design to our clients for years.
Here’s the secret in case you didn’t already know this - you don’t actually have to be able to do these types of services in house to offer them. For example, my homies run Playground Pictures in Silicon Valley. Playground is known for making viral videos on YouTube, corporate on-trend commercials and their musical talent. I’ve been teaming up with Playground since around 2015. Yes, SwagWorx offers video production but we don’t do the videos themselves in house.
3 Reasons to Diversify Your Swag Biz:
1. Win-Win Situations: In reality, It’s rare that our clients ever take us up on video production or web or graphic design. But, when they do it becomes a great way to offer value to clients while hooking up friends in business!
2. Prospecting: This has been a proven solid sales tactic to entice prospects. I’ve been known to send leads to Playground that they have closed, then the lead is so appreciative they always remember me and come back to SwagWorx making it a full circle when they are ready to order Swag.
3. Low Barrier to Entry: If you don’t have a company to partner up with to outsource these types of offerings - then why not try virtual assistants (VA’s)? I have a food show on YouTube called EatUp Silicon Valley. Almost all of our videos on the channel are edited by VA’s. VA’s do top-notch work!
As usual, I’m rambling and off-topic. The point of this blog post isn’t to encourage you to offer simple additional services to “agencify” your company. The point is to be ahead of the trend...
Enter E-Learning
The E-Learning industry is already a $100 BILLION Dollar industry. That’s right, 100 billion! How nuts is that? Want to know something even more astonishing? By 2025, the E-Learning market is expected to reach over $325 Billion dollars!
So, what exactly does e-learning mean?
Well, for starters online college courses would count for e-learning. But, here’s the niche I’m interested in… Online Courses. In 2017 Online Courses made over 46 Billion Dollars.
You’ve likely come across an online course by a content creator by now. Online courses have been a tremendous way for content creators to monetize their efforts.
Are You Creating Content?
A lot of us in the Swag industry work with small businesses. Sure, we have our huge clients that keep us afloat and get us excited about the massive projects. But, at the end of the day, we all have plenty of smaller businesses in our CRM. Well, here’s an interesting tactic to make up some sales from those smaller clients that doesn’t include selling Swag...
Offer your knowledge to them.
If you’re regularly creating content, whether it be podcasts, videos, blogs or anything similar like a vlog even then you are a content creator!
Surely your clients see you creating the content and admire the work you are doing. Why not teach them how to do it themselves?
(Remember, a lot of smaller businesses need help with marketing.)
It doesn’t have to be just content marketing you could teach. What else is your business known for? What do you do better and different than the competition? What would your current clients pay to learn?
How to Get Started
I’m not going to sugarcoat it, learning how to build, package and sell online courses is not an easy task. You will have to be committed if you want to go this route.
What excites me about offering online courses as a Swag distributor (or even supplier) is how it positions yourself.
If there’s one thing I know, it’s how to position yourself.
I was recently recognized in Silicon Valley as one of the 40 Under 40 most influential people in the region by The Silicon Valley Business Journal. I didn’t receive this honor from having a cool Swag agency. No, I earned recognition in the community as a Content Creator!
I changed the conversation.
I was no longer just Sam Kabert; the dude that sells cool Swag to legit companies in Silicon Valley. I became SwagSam the guy that started a Media network called WhatUp Silicon Valley that has over 4 podcasts, a YouTube show, and hosts an annual event at eBay’s HQ called PitchTank. Now, that’s interesting. That raises eyebrows.
I’m telling you, doing online courses will be an amazing way to position your company other than just another Swag agency! I would do this myself, but I’m focusing on building online courses to monetize my current podcasts/videos.
You know what, you could even teach how to do drip campaigns and marketing automation (if that’s something you excel in). The key is being able to relate it back to your business somehow.
Action
If you’re ready to learn how to build, package, and sell online courses then hit me up! (Sam@SwagWorx.com). I’d be more than happy to strategize with you.
AND if you’re interested in learning about how to start working with VA’s (virtual assistants), then please sign-up for my Online Course about working with VA’s.
After all, if you’re going to be taking on a new project as big as online courses, it might help to have some reinforcements. ;)
To Always Learning (& Teaching),
Sam AKA SwagSam
Sam Kabert is the creative director of SwagWorx and the creator and co-host of the podcast “WhatUp Silicon Valley!” A risk taker who embraces permanent beta, Sam is leading the transformation of his family-run office supplies business into a promotional products powerhouse. Sam can be reached at Sam@SwagWorx.com.