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 He was totally baffled. He couldn’t comprehend the money you generate as an information marketer.
Let me back up a bit. I was at a meeting for the Florida tourism industry, having lunch with the CEO of a large magazine publisher. It wasn’t a one-on-one lunch; it was one of those lunches with 10 people seated at a round table where they serve rubber chicken.
I can’t tell you his name or the name of the magazine because I’m going to share some of the details of our conversation. He attended the meeting to support his advertising sales team since there were several large advertisers there.
I asked him about the other industry events he attends and some of the education programs his company sponsors. He was proud of the fact that he’d recently been a featured speaker and had been recognized for his publication’s innovative layout and design. Evidently he was well known for creating “cutting edge” magazine layouts.
When I asked him about increasing circulation and his subscriber base, he told me design is the key to building readership. And when I asked how potential subscribers know your design is any good if they haven’t read the magazine, he told me his marketing features free sample magazines. Then, when I asked him about the rate at which his subscribers renew their subscriptions, he told me it was in line with industry averages. That’s when things got interesting.
I asked, “So, you are one of the foremost experts in publication design in the country, and your renewal rates are ‘in line with industry standards,’ which is another way of saying ‘average.’ If the best designed publications get average retention, then is innovative design driving subscriptions?”
He said nothing. After a long, uncomfortable pause, he turned to the person seated to his left and started a conversation with her.
But that wasn’t the end of it. We were stuck with each other at that table for a while, so finally he turned to me and asked, “So, what do you do?”
I told him about my work in Florida’s tourism industry and then about information marketing. He had seen info-products and was aware of coaching and seminars, but he had no idea how anyone could consolidate so many different businesses. He has reporters around the world writing stories, a nationwide advertising team selling advertising and a publishing department focused on distributing the magazine to subscribers on deadline. That, along with the design work, keeps his 85 employees really busy.
After my third attempt to describe the info-marketing business, this is the explanation that seemed to resonate:
Information marketing is a business for small entrepreneurs that’s one-quarter personality and entertainment in the same way a great radio show host engages his audience; one-quarter cheerleader encouraging your subscribers to take the next step toward their goals; one-quarter marketing expert in generating new customers and keeping the ones you have; and one-quarter publishing great information for subscribers on the web, in newsletters, through coaching and during seminars.
With that he seemed to understand, or he gave up trying and said he “got it” to avoid suffering through a fourth explanation.
Think of what you know. There are entire industries devoted to making their products look prettier. They send employees to conferences to listen to average performers describe what they do to maintain average results. That’s like seeking marital advice from Tiger Woods or Charlie Sheen. Meanwhile, they all avoid the fact that consumers are moving away from their magazines and moving toward other media for information.
You are here because you already know more than the brightest stars in the magazine publishing industry. While they “innovate” small improvements in their 1950s business models, you are building the businesses that will become their replacements.
Imagine the early days of the auto industry. There were hundreds of manufacturers. All striving to provide transportation for the masses and equipment for farmers. Back then the auto industry was full of innovation, fun and profit.
That’s the time you and I are in with information marketing. In 20 years you and I won’t be “niche publishers”—we’ll be the big players. The information you know will put those Neanderthals out of business. The innovation and education you are doing now is creating the next great industry in America.
What do you think about the future of the info-marketing business? Do you agree the industry will grow to be a lot larger and include several corporate publishers? Let me know your thoughts. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and post a comment. I read every comment and reply when appropriate.
Best wishes,
Robert Skrob
Converting From 60 Hours A Week To 20 Hours
And Generating A Lot More Profit
After building an $8 million dollar info-marketing business, Chris Pizzo became concerned. He was working harder than he had in his life, his 15 employees (plus 15 outsource service providers) were scrambling around, yet everyone was falling behind. He sought the help of several business experts and hired someone to take a look at his company.
While they were impressed with Chris’ ability to create a lot of revenue, they couldn’t evaluate the business because there were few fundamental business numbers. Although Chris’ accountant tracked revenues and expenses, he couldn’t create specific management metrics normally used to make business decisions. When they did, they discovered Chris’ business model wasn’t sustainable in spite of his excellent marketing skills.
Chris was forced to start over. He closed his company and started from scratch with new products, new advertising and a new company from the ground up, but this time he focused all of his attention on the 8 parts of his company that really matter. Also, he became aggressive about tracking and studying his marketing numbers to make business decisions about where to advertise. Plus, he created a set system to maximize his customer value rather than coming up with new back-end products every month to generate cash when they may or may not be profitable ventures. Now, he works less than 20 hours a week (with only one employee) in his business and it’s already more profitable than his old company with about half the previous revenue, just 1 year after start-up.
This Information Marketing Best Practices call focuses on strategies for building a business with business management and sound financial management techniques so you can get more results out of everything you do. Learn the advanced strategies for how to build a strong lifestyle business using social networking to reach new customers on this IMA Best Practices in Information Marketing call.
Here is a summary of what is covered on this call:
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Creating an outline of items to focus on within your business to prevent distraction
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How to make marketing results-driven decisions without emotion or second guessing
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The crucial data to collect within your business, and how to analyze it to make fast and accurate decisions
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Building your business with an exit strategy at the beginning, so that you build it with systems from the beginning
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What is the “easy money” in your business and how to avoid chasing it so you stay focused on your goal of creating a strong, long-term company
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What it means to build a completely scalable, non-person dependent "business" that has real value and equity now and in the future
You can listen to the call online, download it for your MP3 player or read the quick-reference transcript online at Converting From 60 Hours A Week To 20 Hours And Generating A Lot More Profit.
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