A digital product ecosystem has four layers and they go in a certain order. When you build them in the wrong order, you end up with a random collection of things that don’t sell. Build them in the right order and you get a system that works for you.
The four layers of a digital product ecosystem are authority, support, core revenue, and expansion.
The digital product sector of the creator economy is now worth roughly $32 billion and growing 22-28% a year. Casual. No big deal, right? So those digital product you’ve been putting off for so long? You might want to revisit that idea.
More service business owners are building digital products now but they are starting in the wrong place. I see a lot of lead magnets, freebies, throwing out our core offers, some lead to something, and some are just floating out there when we are hoping to make a little extra.
Most service business owners are still starting in the wrong place. Take a second to think about what order you think you need to build.
What is a Digital Product Ecosystem?
A digital product ecosystem is a connected set of knowledge assets built from your expertise. Your lived experience with clients, your knowledge, and the years you’ve spent building your business. It’s not a random pile of PDFs or downloads. It’s not a course you built when the course craze was everything. It is not the one freebie you have on your website.
This is a system where every piece has a job, leads somewhere in your business, and connects to how you serve clients. And I will tell you, it’s challenging to build it while you are running a full time business.
It is NOT the random planner/calendar/sticker/(insert random product here) you decided to create instead of watching Netflix one night.
The difference between a product and an ecosystem is architecture. A product sits alone. An ecosystem has purpose and moves people from product to product. They start with the first free thing they find then move to a paid offer that transforms their business. That’s the goal anyway!
Every ecosystem, no matter what industry, is made up of four layers.
But they aren’t built the way you might think they are so be sure to read through to the end.
Layer 1: The Authority Layer
Job: To build trust before someone pays for your services.
Your free or low cost resources live in this layer. They show how you think by demonstrating your real expertise. It does the positioning work so you’re not doing it from scratch on every sales calls. When potential clients download one of your freebies or lead magnets, they are getting value which starts the trust building process. This is not your basic, boring lead magnet.
Products for this layer: A podcast (like Katy Calls BS), a how-to guide for a specific part of what you do, a framework that gives value.
Examples: Some are from my own Digital Product Ecosystem
- Digital Product Guide:
- Gives a comprehensive list of digital product ideas and how to use them.
- Kickstart Your Course Bundle:
- Directly from my signature course, Course Creation Formula but restructured for a freebie. Still gives tons of value but not everything.
- 10 Brand Photoshoots that Convert (And Why)
- Break down client photoshoots and the strategy behind them
- How to Use Your Brand Photos
- You probably already have this for clients! Such a good freebie to lead people into your world.
- 27 Things Killing Your Website Conversions
- A site audit people can run themselves but it shows their design process issues. Do you know how many people would say, “I quit!” and hire you?
- The SOP Starter Kit: 10 Processes Every Service Business Needs Documented
- Shows your operational thinking without making the user do much work.
Layer 2: The Support Layer
Job: Work with your clients, make them successful, and don’t repeat yourself all the time.
As service businesses, we are really good here. Most of us have this layer down. Our Google drive or the files on our computer is full of templates, checklists, documents, onboarding, and whatever else we use for our clients. It is everything we’ve built in the years since we started running a business.
It is the easiest layer to build first because the material already exists. You don’t have to create anything new. The support layer requires you to document what you do and turn it into something reusable. When this layer is solid, your client delivery gets faster, results improve, and the assets you built for one client become the foundation for a product you can sell.
Products for this layer: Toolkits, client prep guides, templates
Examples: These are built for people paying you to extend the results they are getting. These do not have to be paid!
- The Lazy Launch Guide (from my Digital Product Ecosystem)
- An add-on for clients launching a digital product, can also be purchased separately.
- A pre-shoot prep guide for a brand photoshoot
- A content collection kit
- Think templates for copy, images, and bios clients need to submit
- This could work for website designers, copywriters, brand designers
- A meal planning template for clients
- Sessions can focus on adjustments instead of re-teaching
- A client onboarding guide or template
- Give your clients this ahead of time
- OBMs could give clients this system to use as a package
Layer 3: The Core Revenue
Job: To deliver the big transformation, the aha moment.
The signature courses, main products, programs, memberships, the thing you are known for lives here. It’s not your client work but what comes from your client work. You aren’t taking everything you know and putting it into a product, that would be too much. You are building from real client experience and years of testing. Many service business owners start here and it doesn’t end well. The knowledge is there but the experience is not.
Products for this layer: A signature course, DIY courses, memberships, coaching programs
Examples:
- Course Creation Formula (my signature course)
- Turn your idea into a profitable course with the 6 week self-paced course walking you through the process.
- A signature reset program
- Great for coaches
- Delegate Like a Pro
- VA/OBM course idea teaching business owners how to hire help and what to hand off, creating SOPs, etc
- DIY website-in-a-week with templates for the client who isn’t ready for custom
Layer 4: Expansion
Job: Reaches beyond your network to people your one-to-one can’t
Not everyone has this layer or ever builds it. It needs credibility to exist which means the other three layers needs to exist first. If you skip to this layer, you are going to be on the struggle bus. The best part of this layer is using what you have in your business and repackaging it. You aren’t really creating new products for the expansion layer but you are reaching a new audience.
Products for this layer: template resources shop, starter kits for others in your industry, template memberships, license your signature framework
Examples:
- A licensed version of a training video or your framework for other coaches to use
- A client onboarding template bundle
- A low-cost recipe or meal-planning membership
- Ongoing content, no coaching, serves the audience who don’t book 1:1
- A Starter Kit
- Sold to others in your industry
- Think: intake forms, contracts, onboarding docs, other backend docs
- Great for OBMs/VAs
- A template shop (Every industry could do this!)
- Website templates
- Hiring docs
- Photoshoot plannning
The Order Matters
Most service business owners build in reverse. They trust the core products first because it feels like the real business move. When nothing sells, they get frustrated and quit on digital products.
Most Do This:
Core Revenue > Support > Authority > Expansion
The Right Way:
Support > Authority > Core Revenue > Expansion
You need the support layer first. Without it, you’re building your signature something from what you think people need, knowledge you have, and a whole lot of hope. You need to test it with clients first. If you start with the core revenue layer and you don’t have the authority or support layers in place, nobody trusts you enough to buy your signature offer.
Document what you repeat with clients. Build and package the digital products that demonstrate the transformation once you know exactly what they need to be. Creating a digital product just to create one is not the way to go. Expand your system once it proves itself. And it will prove itself in the work you do.
You don’t need all four layers at once! Goodness, that’s too much.
Start here
Look at what you already have in your business, the offers, the freebies, and lead magnets.
- What do you repeat with clients? On calls, in every project, etc. —– SUPPORT LAYER
- What could you give away that shows how you think without giving away the whole method? —– AUTHORITY LAYER
- What’s the one transformation you give your clients, the one they pay you for? —– CORE LAYER
- (After the other two are in place!)
Most service based business owners have two to three of these in place, maybe half-built and a little disconnected. You have everything you need already. It’s about finding what you have inside your business and repurposing it.
Check out Ep134, Digital Products Are Not Your Side Hustle and Ep 138 How to Build a Digital Product Ecosystem That Works for Your Service Business on Katy Calls BS.
