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No matter what type of products you’re creating or what market you’re in, you should seriously consider offering your products in a variety of formats. This is relatively easy to do and is something you can phase in over time (so you don’t necessarily need to hold off releasing your product because you’re waiting to add an additional format).

Here are just a few reasons why it makes sense to offer your products in multiple media, including benefits for your customers and for YOU:

1. People consume content in multiple formats
You never know how your customers will want to consume your content. Some people are more visual (video). Some people are fast readers and can retain more from print media (PDF). Others listen to info while on the road or working out (audio). By offering your content in multiple formats, you can allow your customers to learn from your product however they want, which fosters consumption and reduces returns.

2. Some content is better presented in certain formats
Just because you can create a DVD product doesn’t necessarily mean that video is the BEST format. First of all, if it’s an unprofessional looking DVD, that’s not going to win you any points. Second, if there’s not a lot of visual content to present, a PDF or audio might be a better option. Sure, there’s the whole perceived value thing, but consider which format is really the best value for what you’re delivering.

I know I’ve paid for video products that covered some obscure thing I needed to learn quickly and it turns out that a simple PDF with screen shots would have been a much better format. For example, it was a pain to go back and make notes on what the steps were for doing specific tasks. Wrong media, plain and simple. Not to mention that there were navigation problems with the DVD and it was of so-so quality. Sure, I didn’t return it, but I also probably won’t be a repeat buyer of other products. NOT the goal!

3. Some content requires customers to reference back to it later on
Related to the last item, some portions of your content will probably need to be referred back to for a quick refresher by your customers. A good example of this is installing software. I can’t stand it when I need to go back and watch a video on how to do something with a piece of software when a simple PDF document would be much more useful.

Of course a video is certainly useful at first, because some people might not know exactly how to do a particular task. But once you see it done a couple of times, you can probably get by with just a short PDF checklist of the various steps versus having to scan through an entire 30 minute video again to find that 15 seconds that answers you question. The same limitations can be said for audio.

4. Multiple media increases the value of your offer (and maybe the price too)
By adding multiple formats to your product, you automatically increase its value. You could use that additional content as a bonus, an upsell, or just include it as part of the package. If you deliver physical products, you could offer an online version of all (or a portion) of the product while the customer waits for the actual CDs or DVDs to arrive (instant gratification). That could either be an additional fee or just part of the offer. Lots of options if you decide to do this and another great reason for multiple media.

5. Portions of each type of media can be used to promote your product
I’m a big fan of repurposing content. This is even easier to do if you have it in multiple formats. You can take clips from your video and distribute them via YouTube or by using a service like TubeMogul.

You can take chunks of your PDF, rewrite slightly if needed, and use those as the basis for article content. Then get Steven Lohrenz’s snazzy new (and free) article marketing software and go nuts.

You can take your audios and offer them as podcasts or create podcasts covering some of the benefits of your product, why it’s the easiest/best solution and so on.

You can use all of these as lead generators, giving away little chunks for free to build a list (like when authors give away the first couple of chapters for free). Not to mention the fact that all of those efforts can be scaled infinitely if you offer that same content to your affiliates too!

Just a few things to consider as you go about creating your next product.

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