Inside the Information Marketing Business

by Dan Kennedy

There have never been greater opportunities in the field of Information Marketing – for everyone from very experienced, successful entrepreneurs to rank beginners. As something of a “father” of the industry, I’ve been invited to contribute a series of articles about these opportunities.... And I thought I’d begin by defining what Information Marketing is … and giving you a quick preview of what you can expect in upcoming installments.

The Information Industry is responsive to and fueled by the ever-increasing pressure on people’s time. It provides “how-to” information to businesspeople and consumers alike in conveniently packaged forms:

• products like books, audio programs, videos and DVDs, which you might buy in a store, from a catalog, or online
• magazines, newsletters, e-books, and membership websites
• teleseminars and webinars
• telecoaching programs
• seminars and conferences
• and combinations thereof

The possible topics are almost endless. People are buying information on every imaginable subject – from better sex, to teaching parrots to talk, to gardening, to investing in real estate foreclosures, to running businesses. Information Marketers identify a responsive market with high interest in a particular area, package information products and services matching that interest, and devise ways to sell and deliver them. (If you can name it, somebody is packaging and profitably selling information about it.)

I work very closely with more than 50 private clients in such businesses, and less directly with several hundred more. The Information Marketing businesses I am directly involved in generated millions of dollars in income in 2005. They doubled 2004, and are projected to again double in 2006. My “Platinum Group” of 18 info-marketers and my other private clients combined did over $200 million in business last year [2005]. But what’s important to these entrepreneurs is that much of this is “lone wolf.” They are small, quiet operators, many with home-based businesses, most with zero to no more than a few employees, working only part-time … and netting 7-figure profits.

These businesses cover subjects as diverse as:

• yoga for golfers
• investing in tax lien certificates
• extreme fitness
• persuasive speaking skills
• how to get the opposite sex to approach you
• how to make money on eBay
• business-building information for restaurant owners, dentists, chiropractors, auto repair shop owners, real estate and insurance agents, retailers, pest control operators, and even professional magicians

Consider one of my Platinum Members, Rory Fatt, who owns Restaurant Marketing Systems. More than 100 restaurant owners each pay $10,000 yearly to be in his top-level coaching program. Nearly 4,000 buy and use his advertising, marketing, and business “kits” (information products that range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars), and subscribe to his newsletter. Nearly 500 attend his annual multi-day conference. He also provides pre-fab websites, a loyalty points program (like a frequent flyer program), new-mover mailings, and other products and services. These products are all sold to restaurant owners by using print ads in trade journals, direct mail, websites and e-mail, and teleseminars.

It is a multi-million-dollar-a-year business that Rory built from scratch in about five years. He has only two employees, and he works from home most of the time. He takes a lot of time off to be with his family, and takes at least two extended vacations a year. But maybe what’s most significant about his business is this: Rory’s never owned, operated, or managed a restaurant.

Then there’s Gene Kelly, who made over a million dollars last year selling gunsmithing and related home-study courses to hobbyists. And Dr. Paul Searby, a dentist who sold his practice only two years after creating his information businesses from scratch. Bringing in as much as $200,000 a week, Dr. Searby makes more in a month in Information Marketing, part-time, than he used to make in a year, full-time! Ron and Jill Wolforth have a similar income, selling information on “hitting” to parents of Little League baseball players.

I could go on and on and on.

I have been involved in Information Marketing for almost 30 years, and have watched the industry go from “mail-order” to the much bigger, broader, hugely profitable arena of opportunities it is today. I’m pleased to say I have literally invented some of the business models that people now routinely use to go from zero to $10,000 to $100,000 a month (and more) in just a matter of months.

One of the most important things you can learn from me about Information Marketing is how to create “business loops.” For example, I have two new books coming out in just a few weeks [in January 2006]: No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs and No B.S. Direct Marketing for Non-Direct Marketing Businesses. These books will drive readers to websites and free teleseminars, where they will be introduced to my newsletters and become subscribers and members. Then, when my next book is published, it will be promoted to these subscribers via my newsletters. In other words, whenever I have a book published, it’s already got a built-in audience.

There are a number of other “business loops” you can create with Information Marketing, each providing you with multiple streams of income. Whether your interest is in a sideline or retirement business with no stress, complete flexibility and portability, and a few thousand dollars a month of easy income … or a full-time business providing a high 6-figure or 7-figure income and (if you so desire) prominence, celebrity, and a saleable asset … one of the Information Marketing plans I’ve devised and perfected will fit you to a “T.” I’ll be telling you more about them in upcoming issues.

[Ed Note: Dan Kennedy has enjoyed great success as a professional speaker, consultant, information marketer, and published author. Dan has been called the "Professor of Harsh Reality," because he's provocative, irreverent, sarcastic, and tells it like it is in a disarmingly humorous way that cuts to the core of the issues. His faithful followers also refer to him as the "Millionaire-Maker." He moves with remarkable ease from one very different field to another, working with clients in dozens of different businesses, industries, and professions, and helping them earn as much as $400,000 in a single month.]

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This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #1630, 01-19-06], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.