A few weeks ago, Derek Halpernâwho has made millions of dollars selling online coursesâannounced that he was quitting information marketing.
He said he was burnt out. Heâd lost track of why he was in the business in the first place. His information marketing business didnât light him up.
He announced a sort of digital fire sale of all his courses, one final time, and then took them off the market.
Over the last 3 episodes, Iâve been running down what I see as the top trends shaping small business in 2019 based on the interviews Iâve done over the last few years. Because of my behind-the-scenes view here at What Works (and yours, too!), I often get to see trends happening before they tip into the mainstream.
Todayâs trend is no exception.
I can relate to Derek and the circumstances that prompted his decision.
Two years ago, I was burnt out on advice culture and information marketing, too.
I felt pressured to be constantly turning my personal experience into something useful for thousands of people.
And? It just wasnât. I didnât have all the right answers for everyone who was following along. I didnât have brilliant life lessons to share every day. I wasnât an expert on all the things people wanted me to be.
I believe that information marketing, advice culture, and the expert brand ecosystem is going through a reckoning. Not only are people like Derek and I burnt out on it. Consumers are overwhelmed by it.
Consumers are becoming more interested in trusting themselves instead of some stranger they found on the internet.
Now, maybe all this sounds like a pretty bleak prediction for the future of information marketing.
After all, already two of the trends Iâve highlighted for 2019âfocusing on real relationships and reapproaching high-touch services–are in direct opposition to the way information marketing has been executed for years.
But I donât think thatâs the case.
Information marketing is not dying.
Instead, there is a growing list of options for business owners who want to run lean and mean, make a great profit, and prioritize flexibility. But they look a lot like how small business was done before information marketing!
The option I took was to create value by making it easier for small business owners to talk with each other, by facilitating those conversations, and by creating tools for shared experiences.
The option Derek took was to harness his marketing prowess into a wellness company with a mission that lights him up.
But a big trend I have been seeing bubble up is creating physical productsâtoolsâfor self-exploration and learning.
I believe 2019 is the year weâll see this hit the big time.
Now, those tools for learning and self-exploration arenât always literal tools. Sometimes theyâre the perfect pieces for a capsule wardrobeâlike Jay Adams and Katie Doyle created with Brass Clothing. Other times theyâre the perfect greeting card or gift when nothing conventional would fitâlike Emily McDowell created with Emily McDowell Studio. Or, they could be sports bras designed specifically for women who enjoy an active, outdoor lifestyleâlike Bridget Kilgallon and her co-founders did with Aret Basewear.
You can find all of those interviews in our archivesâbut my choice for todayâs interview is a little more literal.
Tonya Dalton started Inkwell Press to equip creative people with the tools they need to become more productive and achieve their goals. She combines physical products with learning resources to create a fully immersive experience thatâs designed to enhance results.
In this conversation, we talk about how services and information are translated into physical goods, as well as how her brand has evolved as her product line has evolved. We also chat about how she uses content marketingâher podcast, called Productivity Paradoxâto spread the word about her products.
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