Package Information Creatively For Fun And Profits

Package Information Creatively For Fun And Profits

Got knowledge? Got an enthusiastic target market? Then there's no reason to stick to books, ebooks, audios and videos to convey your expertise. Many more creative options abound, and give you the chance to entice an unsure buyer to make an initial purchase as well as have something appealing for followup sales.

Creative packaging also gives you a significantly better shot at magazine and web publicity. Years ago, for example, I reformatted the contents of an audiotape as a 10-installment seminar on colorful postcards. Entrepreneur Magazine thought it was cute, and ran a little story about my inventive new product, “The Procrastinator’s Penpal,” with a photo and my contact information.

For each creative packaging option, I’ve provided links for resources or examples.

1. Reminder Cards

Imagine colorful, well-designed “cheat sheets” that lots of people would find it useful to refer to often, and you have a product. Years ago I repurposed a sidebar from my book Persuading on Paper into a proofreading checklist. I printed it out on one sheet of good quality paper, both sides, laminated it and included it as a component of an information product kit.

Bankers Online sells a colorful, postcard-sized reminder card on the telltale signs of bogus IDs in packs of 50 for easy reference by tellers and other bank employees. The more highly designed such items, the less temptation buyers will have to snitch your idea and duplicate it on their own. You’re best off going with a printing company that specializes in postcard production for this printing this type of card cost-effectively in large quantities.

Laminated Reference Guides - http://www.barcharts.com/
P.L.E.A.S.E. System Reminder Cards - http://www.bankersonline.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=397

2. Posters

Posters are as popular today as they were when you were you were in college and for the same reasons – they can decorate a wall and convey a message better than anything smaller. They can also serve as larger-than-life-sized reminder cards. Nearly anything amusing or educational can be made into a saleable poster.

Special poster printers can create full-color posters for you in bulk for resale, while Cafepress and Zazzle are suitable for creating posters in ultra-small quantities or on demand.

Cafepress - http://www.cafepress.com/cp/customize/product.aspx?clear=true&no=54
Zazzle - http://www.zazzle.com/design/

3. Puzzles

Just about any kind of puzzle you can buy ready-made, you can also commission as a puzzle containing content that you specify. That includes jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, word-search puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, mazes, word jumbles, cryptograms, etc. Sell thematic puzzles with insider clues or content one by one or in a collection.

Crossword Compiler Software - http://www.crossword-compiler.com/
Custom Jigsaw Puzzles - http://www.jardinpuzzles.com/jppuzpic.htm

4. Stickers

Stickers in your product line can be humorous or practical. The category includes bumper stickers, stickers intended as labels, warning stickers, name tags, promotional messages, indicators of credentials or affiliations, reward stickers for kids, business reminders and more.

Custom Made Stickers - http://www.websticker.com/
Personalized Bumper Stickers - http://www.timsbumperstickers.com/

These ideas just scratch the surface of the possibilities! There are at least 97 more options for creative product and service formats in which you can package and sell what you know.

BONUS : Pahl Overcomes Heartbreaking Winter To Capture Bronte Prize

After a three-month span that included the sudden and early deaths of both the canine companion he called “daughter” and his beloved father, indie lit penmaster Nelson Pahl deserved a break.

He finally got one—even if it pales in comparison to his heartbreaking winter.

Pahl’s Bee Balms & Burgundy, published on independent imprint Café Reverie Press, won romantic fiction’s biggest award, the Bronte Prize. The accolade recognizes the best love story published in the U.S. and Canada annually. Pahl’s debut title was chosen victorious by a jury of three.

To win the coveted award, Bee Balms & Burgundy beat out novels from two of mainstream literature’s biggest sellers, Angels Fall (Putnam) by Nora Roberts and Finding Noel (Simon & Shuester) by Richard Paul Evans. Pahl’s novella also bested fellow indie lit titles Tear Down the Mountain (Soft Skull Press) by Roger Alan Skipper and Water for Elephants (Algonquin Books) by Sara Gruen.

Bee Balms & Burgundy (www.nelsonpahl.com) is the tale of Mia Lawson, a 30-year-old post-mastectomy breast cancer survivor who, in the aftermath of her diagnosis, realizes her lifelong love for childhood neighbor Nick May. Narrated by “Nicky,” the story weaves the reader through Mia’s three dilemmas. First, how will she tell her childhood buddy of her feelings? Secondly, if he feels the same, how will she cross the necessary bridge to her first intimate encounter since her mastectomy? Thirdly, if all else works out, will she live long enough to savor the culmination of her lifelong love for him? The story is set in St. Paul’s Lowertown and Highland Park neighborhoods, as well as Vancouver's Yaletown district.

For winning the Bronte Prize (www.bronteprize.org), Pahl receives $12,500, which he’s already earmarked in full for his Palace of Light Foundation, where the monies have been allocated to breast cancer awareness and research.