Thursday, December 4, 2008

Deepen Your Sales Funnel-Dan Kennedy Information Marketing Secret

By Neeraj Varma

Milana Lushinsky is a musician who has figured out the secret to making several six-figure income streams from just one information product.

Rob Toth interviewed Milana as part of the "Future Of Information Marketing" interview series sponsored by Dan Kennedy as part of his Info Riches course. Milana was among several top information marketers that were interviewed.

Coming from Ukraine with degree in classical music, Milana had no idea of what a computer was and knew nothing about business or Internet marketing. When she developed an interest in the subject, she decided to take courses in web-design. Ultimately she discovered that web-design isn't what is needed to be successful in doing business online.

She's come a long way from that point. Milana has written three digitally produced books along with a physical book that is now available on Amazon.com. She started the Association Of Coaching And Coaching Professionals On The Web and runs the Coaching Super Summit, an annual, live event for coaches and coaching entrepreneurs worldwide.

Milana's own business reflects the principals she teaches. She says "providing information is not enough. People want a 'human browser'...somebody with credibility and a great reputation".

Information marketing, she says, is shifting toward personal branding. It's possible to make a few extra bucks with some mini sites and selling an ebook or maybe an audio recording, if you are doing it as a hobby. But "if you really want to build a highly profitable information business you must brand yourself and become a thought leader", says Milana.

If you are in a profitable niche there are dozens or sometimes hundreds of competitors you are up against. As an information marketer, you don't want to have just another ebook site. "You want to be the person people turn to when they need your type of information."

"What's going to get you noticed? What's going to make people want to invest with you? It's your credibility, your reputation and positioning in your market," says Milana.

Milana says there are four steps that you need to take to differentiate yourself from others... to become a "thought leader":

1. The first thing you need to do is to create a digital publication of some kind for your market.

2. Then you need to organize a virtual event to attract lots of people. Like the "coaching telesummit" Milana created.

3. Now its time to set up a live event. Since most information marketers are shy, introverted types they don't want to do this step. But this is exactly what will launch your income into the six figures quickly.

4. Write and publish a physical book.

The thing to understand here is that your goal is to "deepen the funnel". A lot of people go into the information business trying to make it big by selling an ebook or an audio product. The more motivated ones go the extra mile and try to sell products in several different niches. But according to Milana "the truth is that it is virtually impossible to have a (highly) profitable information marketing business selling just one product." "You want to have a product line and develop multiple income streams from your product." "Instead of a bunch of unrelated products create a line of products that helps your client grow from A to Z."

By doing this you build a lifetime relationship with your customer. No matter what kind of competition comes up they will prefer to buy from you. Milana says "my customers are saying that they want to buy from me. They've already been getting my newsletter, they trust me, they've bought from me. They're much more likely to buy a product from me than from someone else that they don't have any history with".

She goes further by saying that "if there is something that I do not or cannot offer I find other people to create strategic alliances with". When people think of the coaching business she wants people to think of Milana as a one-stop-shop.

Deepening your sales funnel gives you a recession-proof business. Your customers will keep buying from you over and over again to take advantage of the great products you offer. You would be a reliable source in your market. That's effective personal branding. That's what gives you a competitive edge and allows you to dominate your niche. - 15254

About the Author: