Steph Smith talking to Nathan Barry about how brilliant creator product offers are developed::
I feel like if you sat down with Neal for long enough, and you just, like, probed him on what he finds interesting, there would be products in there.
And, the key, really, is— where I feel like people go astray when they enter the product space is, they diverge from, like, what their audience loved about them in the first place.
So, they’re like, ‘Oh, I guess we sell merch,’ or ‘resell, like, yeah— an energy drink.’ And, maybe there’s some alignment there for some creators. But, with Neal, it’s like, why do people like him?
Well, it’s like, they learn about things that they otherwise wouldn’t have if they didn’t stumble upon his project, or they just feel like something’s so clever.
And, so whatever he builds would have to allow them to signal that same thing, or feel that same thing, where they’re just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so clever,’ or ‘I just like need to, like, gift this to a friend’ — which is the same feeling when someone’s like, ‘I need to share this website with a friend.’
Nathan:
Yeah— oh, that’s interesting — the tie-in. Anytime you’re— right, like, an audience is all about creating a feeling — the best audiences, the best communities — and so, when you’re trying to make this connection between a product, or monetization of any kind and the audience or community, then it really— to be successful, it needs to evoke the same feeling. And, well, I think that’s a really important point.
Great insight by Steph (and bravo to Nathan for highlighting it).
As a creator trying to figure out what to offer your audience, you should begin at the emotion your product will likely evoke.
If you can find (or develop) something that aligns emotionally with what feelings your audience is already coming to you for, you’re golden.
By the way, there’s no reason you can’t apply the same emotional analysis to every piece of merch you choose to offer. Rhett & Link (and team) appear to have mastered that.
— Tang
Steph Smith’s owned platform is: Internet Pipes and StephSmith.io.
Nathan Barry’s owned platforms are: ConvertKit and NathanBarry.com.
