What is Information Marketing and How Can It Boost Your Income?

I asked my friends Gail Saseen and Diane Conklin to guest blog for me today about something that can absolutely create an additional income stream for many small business owners.  Information marketing (commonly called info marketing) is sharing your expertise with clients and customers who need what you've got in your brain.  Gail and Diane recently won the Glazier-Kennedy award for Info Marketers of the Year, so listen up!

I asked “what is info marketing, and how can it boost your income?”  Here's their answer!

One of the most common questions we get asked is “What exactly is Information Marketing?”  What does that term mean? What is it all about? Some people call it information products, some people call it information marketing.  It’s been a struggle to figure out how to describe what exactly Information Marketing is to people who don’t know.  It’s sad too, because it is the best business in the world.

Information marketing is really how you take the information and knowledge you already have in your head and turn it into something you can share with your clients and prospects.  And, it’s important to note here, this information doesn’t even have to be related to your job or profession. You can turn your love and enjoyment of a hobby, or just something you enjoy doing in your spare time, or something you have specialized knowledge about into a free report or a small book, or other type of information to share with others who might have the same interest or who want to know more about that topic.

We believe that every business should have at least a part of the business be some sort of Information Marketing.  It can be both an additional income stream and a lead generator for your business.  You can turn your knowledge and information into something you can share as free offers, or you can sell it.

Sometimes people say to us “That might work for other people, but I'm not an expert at anything.”  We don't find that's true.  If you're in business for yourself you almost undoubtedly have a passion for at least one topic.  You might have a love for marketing, or a love for photography, or dentistry.  And we're here to tell you that you know more than at least ten percent of all the people out there on this topic.  And that, in and of itself, makes you an expert to at least some people who can benefit from your expertise.  You can always look around and find somebody who knows more than you about a particular topic, but we sometimes forget to consider those people who may know less than us.  And, there will probably always be people on both sides of us – those who know more than we do and those who know less.  That’s ok – it gives you the ability to keep learning and it allows you to develop products and services for those who know less than you but might not be advanced enough to learn from those who know more than you do.  Besides your expertise, the way in which you deliver your info –  how you teach it or  how you have fun explaining it to others – will also  attract people to you. 

Information marketing really can be the information and knowledge you have in your head that you turn into a profit. You now can take the information and knowledge you already possess and turn that into passive, ongoing, leveraged income that will be there for you for a long time to come.  And, one of the best parts about an information business is it’s the ultimate lifestyle business. You can have go anywhere, live anywhere, travel anywhere you want to go and your businesses will continue to make money for you.  Anywhere you can fire up a laptop and get online or make a phone call will allow you the luxury of checking on things in your business.  That’s what makes the information business the best and most perfect business in the world.  Well, that and the fact that you don’t need a building, inventory, very much staff, or a lot of equipment…and you can make a lot of money, while living the lifestyle of your dreams – whatever that means to you.

Diane Conklin and Gail Saseen are co-founders of Complete Marketing Systems.  As marketing and business strategists they specialize in showing entrepreneurs and small business owners how to use direct response marketing to integrate their online and offline marketing strategies, media and methods for maximum results from their marketing dollars.  Their goal is to help you consistently outperform your competition by measuring your marketing and strategically using multi-media campaigns to stand alone in your marketplace as the go-to provider for your products and services.