After being asked this question at LEAST a dozen times in the last month, thought I should probably address it here.
The question is “Is online marketing an effective way to make money?”
Let’s start with the short answer – “Yes, of course!”
Digital marketing, e-commerce, information product marketing – call it what you like, but you are talking about a multi- $Billion industry that continues to grow at double-digit rates.
As usual though, the short answer isn’t overly helpful, so let’s dig in a little deeper.
Online Marketing IS Marketing After All
The #1 mistake people make when they think about getting into online marketing, internet marketing or digital marketing is that they think of it as a business in and of itself.
Instead of Online Marketing being known as another method of marketing your products and services, it became known instead as an “Opportunity” – and for those of you who have experience MLM or Business Opportunities (Biz Op) – you may want to run and hide now.
Like bees to honey, business opportunity folks, hucksters, tricksters and scam artists saw a new niche market emerging – those people who believe there are riches to be made online, and if they just had the ability to get traffic they could somehow magically make their Millions.
Lost in all of this are the subset of the market who have REAL BUSINESSES – graphic designers, business consultants, health and fitness teachers, chiropractors, dentists, accountants, sales trainers, etc… who wanted to take their offline marketing and expand their reach by marketing their businesses online.
That, in fact, is what online marketing really means…taking an existing business that offers a product or service of value to a target audience and helps market that business online reaching a potentially global audience.
Yet there continues to be massive numbers of people who believe that by putting a website up, perhaps offering some affiliate or partner products or sell ads will make them entrepreneurs and give them the business they so badly want, but have never learned how to properly start.
What To Do Then…
Look, if you really like the idea of an online business, of marketing online, of reaching into the computers and mobile devices of Billions of people, grabbing their attention and then putting an offer in front of them that you truly believe is of tremendous value and that provides the basis of a substantial business for you…then you are in the right frame of mind.
However, if you believe you can join a program, set up websites and blogs, or even just sell other people’s stuff and build a $Million + business without getting to the bottom of what business you really will run, what value you will offer to your market and what your medium to long-term goals are for your business – then do yourself a favor and either use your time for something else more fun or go find another or a better job.
Before you think about online marketing, you need to have:
- A crystal-clear vision and strategy for what business you are in
- What is the value that your products/services bring to the marketplace
- What do you see your business evolving into 1-year, 3-years and 5-years from now?
- What is the exit strategy you see for your business – are you building something that can be sold to someone else?
- Why will customers continue to see value in you and your business…will they buy more from you in the future? If so, what?
- What market will you dominate and what will your brand be?
- What adjacent businesses might you get into if your first one is successful?
- What product or service are you offering? If it is not yours (affiliate product or licensed product), when will you branch out into your own?
In my experience helping people grow their businesses over at InfoMarketer’sZone – only a tiny fraction of people have thought through these questions…but when they do they finally understand what it means to be in business and THEN (and only THEN) can they understand the role of online marketing and how that can help them reach additional markets, bring in new profit and turn their business loose.
Do you have a new business idea that you think will work online and can benefit from online marketing?
