Over the years, weāve 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. Weāve been offering video production, web and graphic design to our clients for years.
Hereās the secret in case you didnāt already know this - you donāt 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. Iāve been teaming up with Playground since around 2015. Yes, SwagWorx offers video production but we donāt do the videos themselves in house.
3 Reasons to Diversify Your Swag Biz:
1. Win-Win Situations: In reality, Itās 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. Iāve 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 donāt have a company to partner up with to outsource these types of offerings - then why not try virtual assistants (VAās)? I have a food show on YouTube called EatUp Silicon Valley. Almost all of our videos on the channel are edited by VAās. VAās do top-notch work!
As usual, Iām rambling and off-topic. The point of this blog post isnāt to encourage you to offer simple additional services to āagencifyā 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. Thatās 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, hereās the niche Iām interested inā¦ Online Courses. In 2017 Online Courses made over 46 Billion Dollars.
Youāve 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, hereās an interesting tactic to make up some sales from those smaller clients that doesnāt include selling Swag...
Offer your knowledge to them.
If youāre 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 doesnāt 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
Iām 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 thereās one thing I know, itās 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 didnāt 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 eBayās HQ called PitchTank. Now, thatās interesting. That raises eyebrows.
Iām 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 Iām 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 thatās something you excel in). The key is being able to relate it back to your business somehow.
Action
If youāre ready to learn how to build, package, and sell online courses then hit me up! (Sam@SwagWorx.com). Iād be more than happy to strategize with you.
AND if youāre interested in learning about how to start working with VAās (virtual assistants), then please sign-up for my Online Course about working with VAās.
After all, if youāre 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 āWhatUp Silicon Valley!ā 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.