5: Business Model Options

When it comes to the ways to monetize your brand, there are a variety of different business model options you have to choose from.

You can operate a very successful business with just one of these. Although, it is beneficial overtime and advantageous to implement more than one of these methods to increase the diversity of your income streams.

To begin with you should only focus on one, and then expand into more overtime. Straightaway you don't want to become overwhelmed or try to do too many things at once.

Additionally, your personal preferences can dictate which models you find best suit you and your goals.

What do you see in the picture above?

People... and advertisements...

The image was taken from Times Square in New York City.

This is an iconic, high traffic area that many people walk through each and everyday. Advertisers pay big money to appear in front of the eyes of these people.

Whenever someone comes to your website for your content, or YouTube channel... you could sell that attention to advertisers for ad revenue in return.

That is how Google Adsense monetization works in a nutshell.

Additionally, there are companies that will reach out directly to you for potential sponsorship deals in which you promote their product for an upfront commission.

This monetization path is incredibly popular in the entertainment industry.

It's a completely viable business model, and a nice method for additional revenue on top of the other models.

However, the downside to it is that those businesses paying for attention obviously are making a return on their investment, or else they wouldn't keep paying you.

Not to mention advertising revenue can be the most inconsistent and lowest form of monetization for a business. 

Additionally, if any negative media is published towards your brand, you could potentially lose sponsors and advertisers in a heartbeat.

Instead of solely relying on another company, you can be an entrepreneur who steps up and creates a company that delivers value directly to the consumer.

First and foremost, eCommerce is a business model in which you sell physical products in an online store.

This could be anything from clothing and merchandise focused around your brand, mountain bikes, plant pots, to even pet supplies.

There's a wide variety of the kinds of products you can choose to sell.

Now in order to sell physical products, you would also need a supplier for those products. This can range from suppliers overseas, or even in your local market. In short, these products are sold to you at a bulk or wholesale discount.

Then, you profit the difference (or margin) from the price you sell your products at.

It's important to notice you would need an eCommerce platform in order to build your online store.

The eCommerce platform I personally recommend you use is Shopify. In comparison to other systems, Shopify makes building your online store incredibly easy.

To get a 14 day free trial of Shopify, click here, now!

Once you have your free Shopify account setup, you can start building your online eCommerce store to sell your physical products.

Drop shipping is a popular order fulfillment method for eCommerce.

Definition: According to Wikipedia, drop shipping is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers the customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to the customer.

To put it simply, you are able to sell physical eCommerce products on your online store, with little to no upfront cost.

When a customer places an order for a product from your eCommerce store, that order is then forwarded to the supplier, they fulfill the order, and then ship it to the customer directly. Rather you only order the products once a sale has come in.

For this reason, drop shipping is an incredibly powerful method for sourcing products in your eCommerce store.

Among all the business models, an affiliate based business is definitely one of the easiest to get into.

Above all, an affiliate business operates by recommending helpful products to a specific audience.

As you can see in the picture above, if you were running a brand in the beauty space, you could recommend people different makeup products.

When someone decides to take you up on your product recommendation and purchase from your link, you generate an affiliate commission.

In fact a classic example would be at a dentist's office. If one of their customers needs braces, that dentist could recommend them to an orthodontist they trust. Through this recommendation, the dentist would receive a commission for referring the customer and generating a sale for the orthodontist.

The benefit here with this business model, is that the actual product delivery and sales aspect is handled by an external company.

In other words, you just deliver valuable leads and traffic to an affiliate offer and you create commissions.

Notably, a common affiliate network that many content creators, and brands use is Amazon Associates. Their payout percentage is not too high in comparison to others, but it's extremely easy to use and simple to understand.

Additionally there are many other affiliate networks to choose from such as ClickBank, or in many cases you can just go to a company directly and check through their website if they have an affiliate program.

Now, these affiliate offers or product recommendations do need to be of service to your audience at the end of the day. If a customer has a bad experience with something you recommended them, your trust would be negatively affected.

As long as you are genuine, and actually recommend these products effectively with excellence... you're on the path to being a super affiliate!

When it comes to a monthly or recurring subscription based business... the most popular example that comes to mind is Netflix.

Notably, Netflix charges a fixed monthly rate for their entertainment service in order to get access to various movies, TV shows, and exclusive content.

If you're able to create an ongoing value stream for your customers, this is one of the best ways to monetize your brand.

For example you could offer your subscribers the ability to gain access to exclusive live streams... or members only content you share inside that community.

Additionally you can offer those members special discounts for other products or services you offer as well.

Certainly there can even be different membership tiers, offering different levels of benefits and value. For instance a bronze, silver, or gold tier.

Given these points, a monthly subscription offering to your audience can be your most reliable and stable income stream.

If you have loyal members, and you treat them well month after month... you'll be able to count on that income.

Where other businesses may require more energy and work to maintain, a solid information product can last for years.

In essence, an info product gives a customer valuable premium content that is an upgrade from the standard information available for free.

These content upgrades could be in the form of anything from a checklist, eBook, audio experience, video course, etc.

The benefit of an information product is that it demonstrates the creator's expertise and ability to help people. Additionally, all the necessary information all in one convenient easy to find location.

Many brands and companies market themselves to give a personal feel for their digital courses. These work extremely well if you operate a personal brand.

In particular, one of the most common niches to utilize the information product model is the fitness niche.

A fitness related blog, or influencer may sell an information product that demonstrates their expertise and helps the people in their audience achieve their health goals.

All in all, an effective information product should be able to take people through a process to achieve an emotional problem that your information can help them solve.

Ultimately there are other business model options as well. For example, a physical "brick-and-mortar" business, client services, SaaS (software as a service), subscription box products, and many more. However, the other options are a bit more advanced and not so great for beginners.

Additionally, the business models chosen to be featured in this list have the best scaling opportunities and accessibility for most people.

Definition: According to Investopedia, "Scalability, whether it be in a financial context or within a context of business strategy, describes a company's ability to grow without being hampered by its structure or available resources when faced with increased production."

Essentially, you do not want to be caught up in business model limitations or struggles early on into your entrepreneurial journey. You want a business model that can easily scale, with low overhead cost, and simple growth.

In either case, you want systems in place that allow you to operate more as a business owner... versus an employee.

Of course if you would like to venture into the other advanced business models mentioned, go right ahead. However, they can be more challenging and tend to have a higher cost of entry.

Now that you understand the variety of different methods for monetization, your next problem is traffic. How do you get people to your website and business to purchase your products and services?

P.S. If you want to jump to another step, here are the links:

• Know Yourself
• Who Can You Help?
• The Main Offers
• Your Core Web Pages
• Business Model Options
• Content Marketing
• 7-Figure Case Studies
• Conclusion