Oddities — The Strangest Place Where You Can Get Ideas for Your Info Marketing Business

Dear Info Marketers,

It's no surprise that some of the best discoveries came by accident. Scientists, inventors, musicians...there are deep volumes of stories about how great things were created purely by accident. For instance, it’s hard to believe that comical story of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, theorizing away on physics, when an apple hitting him on head gives him the sudden inspiration needed to come up with the three universal laws of motion. But then you never know where ideas come from or what things – physical or otherwise – can cause ideas to form in your mind.

As an information marketer, your whole career is dependent on ideas and I have written about where to get them in the past. You might get stumped on what to write about in your next newsletter or what new product to create. Do not worry as this happens all the time. You just need new inspiration. Funnily enough, like the ideas themselves, they can be always come from new and very unlikely sources. You just have to be alert to them and make a note them once they come.

I am fortunate to network with a lot of people, as well being able to conduct my own independent research. I pound the pavement and search things out that interest me in order to write more about this subject. Over my past months of research, I have chatted with colleagues and network associates. Here’s some places you might want to try to get new ideas for your information marketing business. And they are all pretty unlikely.

--The junk and used book shop: I was a scavenger of flea markets, junk shops, and used records shops as a teen looking for old obscure albums and books. I was also curious about life before I was on earth and what things looked like before I was alive. It was a great experience and I found later that when I began writing, some of the old ad page copy, magazine articles, and album jacket verbiage gave me fresh ideas to instigate my own word creation. As well, by examining old product ads in magazines, I began to be analytical about why certain products succeeded over time while others did not. This can be a good tool for you too. If you get stuck, take a walk around the mini mall or used centres for things that might provide inspiration.

--Completely unrelated information or trade magazines: A guitar player I was reading about once mentioned that he never listened to the same type of music he played. Never. Rather than crunchy guitars or psychedelic improvisations that his band performed, he preferred easily listening classics and even muzak (!) while at home, alone with his stereo. Why? It was completely the opposite of what he was doing. There was nothing to compete with and even the most banal piece of an elevator melody would give him an idea for a riff. A fellow info marketer confirmed this claim. If you are writing about personal fitness, get a copy of a model railroad trade. Or a kitchen and bathroom refurbishing magazine. Or a vintage soft drink e-newletter. Reading this unrelated information will give you an objective eye to see how these people work their information marketing business and thus give you new ideas for yours. Check the layout, columns, and what special information they are providing their clients.

--Cookbooks: I know what you are thinking: “What??” This sounds weird, but I include this from the advice of another very successful information marketing friend. His reason for scouring cookbooks was to see how you can take very bland materials and create something that looks and tastes sensational. My friend saw it like this: you take the raw ingredients of pen, paper, and word processor to create a hot newsletter. It’s that simple. He would even note the look of the recipe itself on the cookbook page, as what kind of type it used and what paper it was printed on. Again, it sounds so odd. But this guy had the success to back his claim up.


--Children’s toy shops: A dramatic theorist whose name escapes me once said that the only purpose of drama, be it tragedy, comedy, suspense, or horror is to free the unconscious. You are being entertained by the story and it is only later that you realize how profound the dramatic piece was. Children’s toys are supposed to do this too. Their odd characterizations and playful colours are to create a fertile imagination in the child’s mind. Even if the plastic baby doesn’t really talk, it does to that child playing house with it. This is the objective for you too. Your information is supposed to come across as informative and insightful without being deliberately so. Therefore, check out your local toy shops and see what imaginative possibilities are there to make your product that much more appealing in the eyes and minds of your clients. You don’t have to create the next action figure, but you have to make your product inspire action in your client’s mind.

Most of these idea generators are things we all take for granted when we are out and about in our daily lives. They aren’t fancy and are very common. But taking a closer look at them can generate ideas for success that you would never, ever expect otherwise.

See you next week,

J.