Learn Internet Marketing Strategies For Your Business

Being a former high school teacher, I’m a big fan of acronyms. So when I created my flagship training program, I decided to call it SIMPLE – School for Information Marketing Profits – Live Event.

However, SIMPLE stands for a lot more than just an event. In fact, it’s a set of elements that guide how a business can be run.

If you believe like I do in helping people profitably, and you want to succeed based on your brainpower instead of gimmicks or fads, you should consider a SIMPLE business.

You’ll know you’re following this model if your business is based on these 6 elements:

• Specialization
• Intelligence
• Monetization
• Portability
• Leverage
• Experiences

Let me explain a bit more about each one.

Is It Specialized?

A primary reason businesses fail to get customers is a lack of specialization. When I first started my business, I was all over the map! Even my teacher friends asked me, “What are you selling this week, Bob?” Without a clear direction, I couldn’t build up trust in the market place. And because I wasn’t focused on one thing, I never practiced the patience I needed to see things through to profit.

Make sure your customers know “the thing” that you are great at. You don’t have to be the best when you start – but it should be clear that what you do is the best thing you should be doing.

What if you’re a Renaissance entrepreneur? There’s nothing wrong with offering a variety of services to the marketplace. But to the individual buyer checking out your sales page, listening to your teleseminar, or meeting you at an event, make sure one specialty is on the table.

Is It Intelligent?

With such a crowded marketplace, you have to give your customers something your competition can not: your intellegence. When your brain is central to your business, you make it very difficult to be ripped off.

Turn what you know into a business that actually helps people. Once you start marketing based on your own brain power and expertise, you will see much better results.

This is the power of information marketing, consulting and coaching. You’ll discover a faster rise to authority because you aren’t afraid to stand on your knowledge, experience, and passions.

Is It Monetized?

Do you know the #1 reason why businesses fail?

They run out of money.

So your business has to be monetized or else you can’t last! If people aren’t willing to buy what you’re selling, always expecting it to be free, then you won’t be able to survive your first year in business.

Sure, giving away some of your products for free is a great way to build rapport and attract more potential customers. I’ve certainly done well with this model. But that’s because I’ve always referred free customers to relevant and high quality products as an affiliate; and I’ve always offered premium products or services soon after they receive something free.

Don’t be afraid to ask for the sale. Then make sure you return to existing customers and provide them with additional products and services.

Is It Portable?

Some entrepreneurs are perfectly content serving a narrow geographic market, or working from an office.

But what happens when external factors interfere?

Having a business that’s portable is critical if you wish to enjoy more freedom than you would have with a job. With a portable business, anywhere you can connect to the internet, you can operate. Since understanding this principle, I’ve been able to “work” on cruise ships, in foreign countries, around the United States, and even at the neighborhood coffee shop.

Also, if you or your partner/spouse want to relocate (called by promotion, grandchildren, island living, Presidential appointment, etc.), you won’t be restricted to customer-based geography. And if oil spills, hurricanes, or other disasters strike, you won’t be prematurely shut down.

Is It Leveraged?

Most entrepreneurs escape the wage-earning life of a soul-sucking day job only to replace it with a time-for-dollars trap in their own business. So you need to focus on creating leverage in your business. This means a few different things.

First, a leveraged business allows you to get paid repeatedly for work you do once. So instead of trading time for dollars, you are earning dollars for products. For example, instead of being paid to speak to an audience once, you might give your talk on a teleseminar that can  be replayed by anyone anywhere at any time from your website.

Second, you’ll have a leveraged business if you can borrow attention and credibility from others in your field or in compatible industries. Instead of doing all the promotional work yourself, you’ll have referrals coming in from your partners.

And third, you can form joint venture relationships where you and others actually combine forces to serve your market with products and services.

Is It Experiential?

Like you, I receive endless emails on a daily basis that promise a 4 hour work week, auto-pilot income, set and forget profit machines – you name it. And while in theory those sound great, they really seem kind of boring to me.

Don’t get me wrong – I love vacations as much as you do (I spent about 13 weeks on vacation in the last year) – but like you I also enjoy working hard and helping people.

So it’s important that your business is fun to do. The more experiential you make your business for your customers, the more they enjoy what you do for them.

Don’t just create products that are essentially one-way streets. Incorporate interactive products and services to truly connect with your audience. These may be live workshops, teleseminars and webinars, or membership sites where members can participate in forums or within comment zones.

Do you have a SIMPLE business yet?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these 6 elements of a SIMPLE business. Comment below, and share which elements you’ve already mastered, and which you need help with.

And if you’d truly like to succeed with your own information-based business, learn more about my SIMPLE Training programs, where I teach you how to turn this theoretical structure into a practical, profitable business.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. You have plenty of choices for how to run your business. I hope this SIMPLE framework fits the way you think about the ideal business environment!

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