Each week one of our members building their serious business online has questions around one aspect of Internet Marketing or another…terrific right?
The only issue is that 99% of these questions show tactical level thinking, when their online business strategy is nowhere near baked.
Here are some examples…
- I have $500 to spend on advertising, where do you think I should best put my money?
- I have a new weight loss ebook ready, I want to price it at $5 and market it on Facebook, is that a good idea?
- I have material for a new advanced training program on finance, do you think I should pay someone $1000 to convert my content into an interactive training format?
- I’ve got a terrific idea for a health-related product that I know people need, where should I market this?
I could list hundreds and hundreds of others…what type of website, product or marketing they should work on next.
At the right time, there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these questions, they are usually well thought out, show that our members are actively thinking and working on their internet marketing business and I never have any trouble with questions no matter how basic they are, BUT…
Each one of these shows a fundamental problem with how people tend to think of Internet Marketing tactically instead of strategically.
Strategic Internet Marketing
Having a strategically based Internet Marketing business means having a well thought out plan around what value you will offer to a specific market for what expected return.
In other words, you have a set goal of earning $50,000, $100,000 or more from your target market this year and know exactly what value you will bring to the market (in terms of products and services) that will see you achieve that goal.
On the other hand, putting one website up, choosing one product to promote, placing some ads…those are tactics…if they are not supporting an online business strategy, then chances are you will underperform in your internet business.
For example, how could you possible invest $500 for advertising correctly if you don’t have a well positioned market or if you are not 100% sure of who you are targeting OR you understand extremely well the value that you are going to exchange for profit within that market?
Another example, targeting a market with a $5 mass ebook is fine IF you have a well thought out Internet Marketing strategy on the back-end to improve your profit per customer beyond that initial $5 sale. Simply creating a bunch of $5 customers is leaving significant money on the table and gives you less flexibility to reach your market.
Imagine if your strategy was to pull in mass numbers of $5 ebook customers who immediately get an upsell offer to a $97 home study program where 40% go for that offer. Then, within 3-days another offer is made for a $297 initial coaching option followed by offers for JV products…now you have a strategy where you can measure the ultimate return on getting that original $5 ebook customer.
In the end, what this means is much more profit on that original $5 ebook sale than you would make ONLY from the ebook sale…and we call this an information marketing strategy that can be launched, tested and refined as you build your online business to bigger profits.
Have you designed your internet marketing strategy or are you operating your business with tactics?
