Setting Things Straight About “Nano Continuity”. Is It Hype?

30 | Posted In Marketing by David

So, as my readers know, I’ve been promoting Ryan Lee’s Nano Continuity product for the last week or so. During that time, I have observed some comments that are a bit off the mark, IMO.

Some are just looking at this as more hype – slapping a new label on something and acting like it is something new. Others seem to think the entire world has changed. Others seem to think a nano continuity program is merely slashing your price.

I never promote anything I don’t believe in. I’m not a hypey guy, either. So, I’m going to use today’s post to clarify some things about nano continuity.

Sound good? OK, then. :)

Nano Continuity is Not A New Concept

All it is is a recurring monthly program with a small price tag. As Ryan has defined it, less then $5 per month.

But, this isn’t a new idea. Many, many sites have implemented this model and did so years ago. Ryan just happens to be the first guy to give it a brandable label and introduce it as a unique concept.

It isn’t the concept which is new. What is new(ish) is how the world is adjusting so as to lend more credence to the idea. I talked about how the Apple pricing structure for iPhone apps is re-training people to be accustomed to small micropurchases of content. Apple recently released their subscription billing model which is, in essence, nano continuity. Not only that, but the world economic condition has also shifted mindsets.

So, what Ryan is getting out in front of – and what I’m helping YOU get in front of – is the fact that external conditions are creating an adjustment in how we approach some of these older online marketing concepts. I think this is a case of good timing.

Nano Continuity Is NOT Price Cutting

I think this might be one of the biggest misconceptions about this model. Simply put, it would be marketing suicide to take a higher priced program that is truly worth the higher price, and simply slash the price to turn it into a nano program. That’d be simply idiotic.

You’ve really got a couple of different angles I’m seeing here:

  1. Most of my audience is in a position where they either offer a cheap ebook for sale, or they plan to. In this situation, I strongly encourage you to consider a nano continuity model. The best way to do it is to offer that ebook as a front-end offer, then either bundle or bump them into a nano continuity model as a value-add.
  2. If you have a developed sales funnel and/or higher priced products, do NOT turn them into nano continuity without a damn good reason. A better model would be to (if it makes sense) introduce a nano continuity model as a separate offer. Then, you will use it as a value-add upsell or downsell to existing products.

In other words, you use nano continuity where it makes strategic sense to do so. I think a LOT of people could stand to build it into their sales funnels.

A Nano Continuity Program Still Takes Work

When I first started promoting this product, I referred to it as the future of blogging income. I meant it. See, today, the de facto method of making money with a blog is banner ads. This model alienates the overwhelming majority of bloggers who put out great stuff, yet only pull enough traffic to make a couple bucks per month with Adsense. If they’re offering real value with real solutions for an audience in need, then a nano continuity program is a MUCH better approach to monetization than Adsense.

That being said, it isn’t for everybody. And that’s because it still takes work. You have to offer value in your continuity programs, and Ryan actually discussed the 4X rule in his program – the idea that you should deliver 4X the value to the subscriber than they pay. At a minimum.

You have to be ready and able to deliver 4X value. If you’re not, then continuity will be a bad fit. This isn’t the same as writing an ebook one time, then hope for the best with it. If somebody signs onto a nano continuity program that you offer, you still need to provide value to them. Just because it is cheap doesn’t obfuscate that requirement.

On the flip side, I think some people think that the things people offer in higher priced programs are the only way to do things. Once again, that is an incorrect assumption. A higher priced program is still subject to the 4X rule, so if you’re going to charge $97/month, you better deliver like crazy. But, you do not have to deliver the same quantity of value in a nano program. If you’re not OK with this idea – if you think that everything you produce has to be the most awesome thing ever – then nano continuity might not be a good fit for you, either.

Once again, it isn’t for everybody. You use it when it makes sense for you and your strategy.

The Strategic Value of Nano Continuity

I’m going to talk here mainly to those of you with more advanced marketing chops, perhaps with more advanced and developed sales funnels.

You simply have to consider the strategic value of a nano continuity program before jumping in. It is true that, on the whole, low-ticket buyers can be more hassle and more work than higher-ticket buyers. Typically, when you charge more, you’ll get a better customer. So, a very legitimate concern would be that you’re simply opening yourself up to an army of high-maintenance complainers.

It is all about setting and managing expectations. When you have a more developed funnel, it is easy to position a nano program as what it is – a form of ongoing connection which is automated. You’re not going to get any 1-on-1 attention as a member of a nano continuity program. It is designed to be simple, ongoing, and maintenance free (as much as possible). Use an automated system to allow people to easily cancel themselves. If you don’t want support questions, there are ways to manage that.

But, here’s the other thing…

A nano members list is a BUYER’S LIST. And a list of buyers is a much more valuable list than a public opt-in list with a free ebook offer. You feeling me?

So, here’s what you do…. you use a nano offer as a strategic upsell bump, or a downsell offer. You do this with complementary products in your sales funnel. You can also offer it as a stand-alone, but what you’re really doing is building a pre-qualified list of buyers.

I hope more advanced marketers can see the value of that. This isn’t about low-balling your price structure.

Final Thoughts On The Product

Some people have commented on Ryan’s upsells. Yes, he offers a few upsells in the checkout process. Can you blame him? It is a $37 product and he’s paying half that to affiliates. So, to those of you complaining about the upsells – gimme a break, people. If you don’t like it, simply press “No”. A much better attitude would be to watch how he upsells and learn from it – rather than bitching.

Another thing… Ryan covers the model very well, but this is not a hand-holding course where he’s going to talk you through setting up your site. He covers everything from the most simplistic setup to more advanced setups, but he doesn’t make the choice for you and he’s not going to walk you through it in detail.

The product is solid and a damn good value. I highly recommend it to you. The purpose of this post is simply to make sure that you’re making a good decision for yourself.

My bonus offer remains, but it ends on March 18th. If you buy Nano Continuity through me, simply forward me the receipt. I will be setting up a private email group (powered by Google Groups) for us to engage in a remote mastermind group on nano continuity. I think it could prove to be a valuable resource as you implement the information and set up your first nano continuity program.

Click To Pick Up Nano Continuity for Only $37 – Before March 18th.

 

 

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  • Joemerchant

    I’ve been around the net for a long time and I’ve studied a lot on internet marketing. When it comes down to making money on the internet, it can be done if you do three things;
    1. Find a topic wherein you have a passion. It’s much easier to stick with it.
    2. Find a topic where there is a market. If you have a passion for pocket lint, you probably won’t find a market.
    3. SPEND THE TIME WORKING. I don’t care if it’s on marketing or writing but whatever it is related to your site, DO SOMETHING. This is where many people fail. “I worked on it a few weeks ago” is not the same as “I work on it every day.”

    Nano Continuity was a product I was cautious about. I have a particular blog with decent traffic but little monetization. I’d heard about going the membership route but wasn’t sure. Having been a long time reader of David’s site (though rarely a commenter), I trusted his judgment and went ahead and bought NC.

    I’ll be honest, the upsells after selecting my purchase almost made me give up. But, I went ahead and bought. 100% money-back and all, so I figured worse comes to worse and I just get a refund.

    Then I watched the videos.

    Then I was glad I spent the $37.

    In my case, Ryan spent the time going into detail where needed and gave me a ton of new ideas for the membership concept as well as direction for my site. Also, the bonus by David for a forum/group will be very helpful for tossing ideas around.

    I’m writing this for a few reasons;
    1. I think NC is worth the money.
    2. While I do think 3 blog posts on Nano is a bit much from David (sorry D.), based on what he says in his third post supporting his other two posts on nano, I’m ok with it.

    If you are wondering if NC is a product for you, then I say give it a try. I’m really glad I did.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thanks, dude. And, yeah, I wasn’t going to write about nano today, but really wanted to correct a few things. After all, I take my product recommendations seriously.

    But, this will be my last blog post specifically about Ryan’s product. 3 is enough. :-)

  • http://www.diycomputerrepaircom.onefireplace.com Monte

    Hi Dave,

    I have decided that this idea is a viable solution to my ‘membership’ site.

    I have been struggling to get my site past 30 members for about a year, this may be the idea that pushes it over that barrier.

    So I put my money down on Ryan’s offer, glad I did.

    He has some unique views on pricing and how to get the ball rolling.

    I have split up my site in to two distict levels, Premium and Standard.

    Standard give you access to the site where as Premium gives you access to the goodies I give away.

    So if you don’t want or need the goodies it costs half as much, how ever if you want the goodies and One-on-One Personal Tech Support you get to pay for it.

    Another thing that Ryan pointed out was the people that cancell, instead of deleteing their account he mentioned that giving them limited access for free.

    I have done that three times in the last week, two times I recieved emails back from the customer thanking me for letting them keep their access.

    So is it hype?

    Not in my world…

  • http://twitter.com/HelenLindop Helen Lindop

    I’m one of the people who bought Nano Continuity and in my opinion it was $37 well-spent. I’ve been wanting to do a membership program for a while but the time and level of commitment I would need to invest in it was holding me back. Nano Continuity is changing all that for me. Looking forward to that private email group…

  • http://securemyblog.com John Hoff

    I think the NC idea is a great idea as a down sell if you already have a membership site. So you sell your front end offer, then upsell a membership site, if they don’t want that, try the nano version of your membership site.

    And in regards to what you said about remembering that this is also about capturing a lead into your list….

    We all need to remember, typically you need to give something away in order to sell something. And I’m sure that’s exactly what Ryan is doing ;-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Yeah, if you look at Ryan’s stuff, you’ll see that he promotes higher end things. This NC idea was almost out of character for him, so I emailed him and asked him about it. In essence, in this market, he uses nano primarily has part of the sales funnel, not necessarily alone. I’m not sure how he does it in the fitness niche, but Ryan is as aware as anybody of the perceived value issue if you just blanketly start low-balling people on price. He always talks in the course about the front-end offer and how it is better than marketing an NC program directly.

    So, I think people just need to think it over, and also see how other people do it. I wish more people would stop complaining about being the recipient of marketing, and instead sit back and LEARN from it. :-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Just remember that it is still a commitment. You still have to produce. :-) Just not as much as if you were charging $20 or $30 a month.

    Perhaps, after you get into it and see some results, you’ll be better positioned to put in the additional work to make something higher ticket. Ultimately, the way to really strike gold is with higher ticket items – there’s no disputing that.

  • http://twitter.com/HelenLindop Helen Lindop

    Absolutely, I’m happy to produce consistently, I’m just not sure I can keep it up at the $20 to $30 level at the moment. As you say, I’m hoping that this will lead me up to the higher ticket items.

  • http://twitter.com/bcoelho2000 Bruno Coelho

    David,

    Thank you for taking the time to show at a deeper and more detailed level, your vision about Nano Continuity.

    Since I did comment and ask you about how “Nano Continuity” could backfire into a price wars and, finally a race to the bottom, I didn’t want you to see it as a critic to the value or relevance of your recommendation about “Nano Continuity”. I didn’t think that you were promoting a hype! It really was the other way around!

    Since I’m interested and seriously thinking about buying Ryan’s product, and since I trust your experience and know-how, I wanted to know your point of view about it.

    Besides, I’m glad that I did ask it because now you’ve wrote this killer post! :)

    Best regards,
    Bruno Coelho

  • http://www.pocketvideopower.com jules

    I bought it, and definitely feeling inspired about nano continuity to attract family hobbyist type buyers.

  • http://twitter.com/TradingHeroes Hugh Kimura

    Thanks for recommending this David, I picked it up as well. Looking forward to the mastermind group. I did some research this weekend and I’m going to purchase vBulletin to create a nano subscription forum. I was initially going to make the forum free, but Ryan made me realize that I could monetize it this way and even the small cost will help keep the bums out.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Could work. Forums can be a chore to get moving, though, so you’re definitely going to want to put some content out and a good email list. :-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    No problem. You’re not the only one to bring up a point about it, though. :-)

  • http://www.paulg2.com/ paulg2

    I have to say that I am pleased that I bought Nano Continuity. The idea may have been around for a while, but I would have had to search and compile everything that Ryan has done and that would have taken time that I simply do not have.

    The up-sells were a little ridiculous I’ll admit, but the man is a marketer and it’s his job to sell you things. I just sat back and saw what he did and made a note of it for myself as to what I could possibly use in the future to help promote my own products. Although I must admit that I am signed up to a ton of “guru” lists just to see their methods of selling to me so maybe I’m just a geek.

    Personally I was looking at how I could really start to monetize some of my niche sites and was looking at the membership route. I feel that the Nano Continuity program can really fit into what I was already thinking of doing.

    Now about the package. The PDF is pretty good, it just hits on basics of the program. The videos are where the good stuff is. I mean in one video alone he breaks down how you can get started in 24 hrs and tells you what to do each hour.

    He also goes into detail about the importance of having a strong front end offer and how that ties in with a nano continuity program.

    Overall I’m glad that I purchased the program. For $37 bucks I think anyone interested should give it a go.

    If there is one thing I have learned about internet marketing it is that David promotes quality material. Again I am signed up to tons of “gurus” lists and am bombarded with junk everyday. I can see just by the emails who is shilling products just to make a dime. David always provides the “whys” of the program and how he feels they tie into his overall message before promoting products and you have to respect that.

  • http://www.paulg2.com/ paulg2

    I agree with the family hobbyist comment. My mother has a craft site and I think this would be a great program to help her monetize her site. I could see people paying $5 bucks a month to learn how to do certain craft projects with down-loadable ebooks, mp3′s etc.

  • http://www.allthingsgerman.net/ Graham Tappenden

    I’m not one to complain about an upsell, but I think there were 3 in a row, which I felt was a bit of overkill.

    No question about the quality of the content once you’re in, but my main criticism would be that some of the bonuses are videos embedded on the “thank you” page, and they total about 3 hours to watch. It would have been nice to have had these as links that I could come back to, to watch when I have time, or at least a short comment to say that you can return to the thank you page at any time without losing access after a certain number of days as some systems do.

  • Justin

    Is Nano Continuity a good idea for new blogs with low traffic such as mine?

  • http://www.bloggingteacher.com Paul Cunningham

    The most annoying thing about the upsells was that I wanted to get into the content quickly and the damn things kept popping up! I think there was 3 in total, if anyone is wondering.

    Once I actually got through them and started watching the videos I was happy. There is some really good insights in there that have turned a few flat ideas of mine into much more viable projects.

    Good stuff. Good education at the price.

  • http://www.roundtableadvantage.com Mastermind Group

    I think there is no one person with sufficient experience and ability to succeed in the life without the cooperation with other people. Its true that starting or joining a mastermind group can provide business support, resources and accountability to promote the business as well as it is important for business owners to find a mastermind group that meets their specific needs and desires.

  • http://www.informationjunkiesanonymous.com Ryah Albatros

    I think I missed all the upsells somehow! Having watched only one video so far I’m glad I bought the course. It’s only the second thing I’ve forked out money for in the past 10 months, and it seems worth it so far.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Hmm… perhaps he’s split testing upsells and not doing them on some people. Who knows.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    I’m not going to say no, but realize that you will need to hustle to build up your traffic. Having nano continuity isn’t a magic pill…. you still need a good offer, marketing and, ultimately, traffic.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Thanks so much, Paul. :-)

  • http://www.productlaunchvault.com/ Gavin

    Check out Gary Vaynerchuk’s Daily Grape as a perfect example of the sort of thing we are talking about here now with nanocontinuity pricing. His newsletter is now- $2.22 per month increasing to $4 or so in the next week or so

  • NomoreIMLies

    Bought this, and hate it. It’s not worth $37 bucks to anyone not new to internet marketing. More crap from someone who doesn’t really understand internet marketing and only sells through JV’s.

  • http://twitter.com/Qoyyuum Abd Qoyyuum

    I think you’re missing the point. What he’s doing is training you to understand and build from either a basic nano-continuity program system or an advanced one. Or to be blunt, teaching you how to build a paid membership site. If you can learn how to build one yourself and know how to manage your product/content/service to different access levels of memberships/subscriptions, then you don’t need Ryan’s program. Actually the idea is pretty simple if you know what you’re doing and how to do it. I’d buy it but I find that I’m already on the right track on building one up myself.

  • http://twitter.com/Qoyyuum Abd Qoyyuum

    Actually its a good idea no matter what your position is at. The better question would be, do you have something for paid registered users besides content? Perhaps valuable tutorials on building something (e.g. a house, a robot, or another membership site?) or maybe exclusive web templates? Whatever it is, you can have it as part of your nano continuity program for your upcoming new members. But just as what David said, yes, you still need traffic.

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    Abd, thanks for the comment, man… but that guy’s comment isn’t even worth a reply. Its laughable at best. :-)

  • http://davidrisley.com David Risley

    $2.22. Now, that’s a weird price point. :-) But, yeah, that’d certainly be an example.

  • John

    HI David,

    I feel that the key here for nano continuity is to target mass market in order to make good money every single month. The idea is good but what topic is suitable for nano continuity is another question. Any suggestion or comment on this?