20 Things You Should Know About belkins lead generation

Traditional Publishing, REST IN PEACE ™

This is the headline that greets you when you land on a web page erected as a memorial to commemorate the decline of Traditional Media. A photograph of a man who seems to be in distress and who's possibly just lost his job accompanies this headline. If this does not paint a bleak picture, go on to read the 548 headlines that all sing to the same tune as the following:

There's even a website entitled Newspaper Death Watch that chronicles all the publishing and newspaper houses that close down. All rather morbid wouldn't you say?

The Deadly Spell

Let's take a quick look at Traditional Media and how the Internet cast it's deadly spell.

Back in the old days, we're talking 500 years ago; Gutenberg revolutionized the printing industry by inventing the printing press. This meant bibles could be produced at a fraction the time it used to. This also meant more copies in a shorter time and the Word of God got further reach in a shorter time. Newspaper houses and Magazine publishers still use a printing press today (well thank you captain obvious).

Much later, shortly after the advent of electricity, the world was blessed with another few media breakthroughs, namely radio then a few years later, television. Marketers and Advertising agencies had it all figured out as they devised Integrated Marketing Campaigns with astronomical budgets. Ah, the good old days. Well, much to the dismay of many of these agencies, this media landscape started to change.

Behold! Enter The WWW

At first a website was seen as a cute way to put your company brochure online and on top of that the disastrous dot bomb era created skepticism that labeled the Internet as a bad media and business channel.

Fortunately, since then the Internet has matured. Now, in countries where broadband has achieved high levels of household penetration, the web has become the consumer medium of choice.

Why? Because people can do research, shop online, watch videos and connect with friends all in the comfort of their own homes. People can choose what media they want to consume, where and when they choose too, especially with mobile connectivity. Marketers can no longer dictate what advertising messages people get subjected too.

Social Media, The New Black

Then there is the phenomenon of Social Media. It changed the media landscape forever. Social Media websites have allowed consumers to connect with friends, family, colleagues and peers in ways that were never imaginable a few decades ago.

Technology has empowered the consumer to become the Prosumer. Prosumers are consumers who produce content such as videos, photos and blogs that can be instantly distributed and shared amongst millions of people via social media platforms. This is also known as user-generated content or UCG.

Here is an interesting bit of trivia about the reach of Traditional Media vs. the Internet and Social Media.

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 Million:

The Internet has decreased the need for Traditional Media because it enabled consumers to digital marketing join social societies within their neighborhoods, across their countries and internationally. It has empowered them to converse at their leisure, 24/7, with friends.

Considering all that's been said, the demise of Traditional Media can largely be attributed to the following factors:

Simply put. The Internet has revolutionized the way things get done today. It has revolutionized the way we do business, the way we communicate and has broken down the walls of Traditional Media.

A recent example is the decision by Unilever UK to fire Lowe, their Ad agency of 15 years, in favor of crowdsourcing - which means it has thrown the brand creative pitch open to agencies and basically any person who can think of an idea, worldwide. This is done on the Internet of course.

Traditional Media will still be around for a while, but the Internet is getting more and more integrated into our daily lives.

Think about this. You could do without the Mail & Guardian or the MensHealth Mag for quite some time, perhaps live quite happily without it? But you just dare cut that ADSL connection...

I get this question all the time: "Eric, I wanted to start an online business. However I don't know where to start from. Should I start from digital products, or should I start from digital services?" And my answer for all these while has been this: "always go for digital products."

You may be shocked to see my answer to be digital products. Countless of people have been telling me that they have certain expertise and it is wiser that they use their expertise in the form of providing service to others so that they can earn money from their expertise. I would like you to think even further, can't you package your expertise in the form of digital products and sell it online?

Here's one dirty little secret of these two options, or I should say, the dirty little secret of online business: Digital products can be automated entirely while digital service cannot do so. Simply put, when you have your digital products, you are making your system to be on automatic pilot. You no longer need to be in the equation in order to make money. You make money when you work, make money when you fish, make money when you hike, make money when you hike, make money when you eat, and the coolest part is that, you make money when you sleep.

But if you choose to go for the digital service, unless you are satisfied to work like an office hour in order to make money, then this option may not be suitable for you. When you can create your own digital products, you only do the work once. Once it is up there in the system, or commonly known as the sales funnel, it can be run automatically. You don't have to monitor the website 24/7 just to make sure money will come in. You don't have to assist the customers to check out from the sales funnel because everything is arranged and built systematically.

In the digital service world, here is the rule that is inevitable: you have to be in the system or equation in order to make money. Try to think of it. You are providing service to other people. If you stop working, who is going to provide the service to your customers? No one except you! That's why in digital service, your earning stop when you stop working. You may be arguing with me that to provide digital service will enable a stable income. This to a certain degree is true. But try to think outside the box. If you can sell your service in the form of digital products, can you increase your profit margin? And when you build trust with your customers (which I assume you are adding real values/solutions to their life), you can always promote them with backend products. Can you see how powerful digital product is now?

Here is one final bite between these two. If you ever dream of having the time freedom so that you can do more meaningful things in your life apart from work alone, then you need to take a look at digital products seriously.