Internet Marketers Predict Markets

Sam Parr shares his observation that internet marketers, despite their sometimes questionable reputation, often pioneer business models that later become mainstream legitimate businesses. He sees a pattern where "sleazy" marketing tactics evolve into respected business practices.

Key Points:

• Early Adoption of Business Models:

  • Internet marketers consistently identify and exploit market opportunities before mainstream businesses
  • What starts as "sleazy" often becomes legitimate when repackaged by startups

• Historical Examples:

  • Email Marketing:
    • Dating book sellers like David DeAngelo pioneered long-form email marketing in the 90s
    • Now email newsletters are considered a legitimate mainstream business model
  • Paid Memberships:
    • Have existed in internet marketing for decades
    • Now seen as a legitimate business model when done by respected figures
  • Online Business Marketplaces:
    • Flippa and Empire Flippers started with affiliate website trading
    • Now evolving into legitimate business acquisition platforms

• Modern Evolution Pattern:

  • Startup founders take existing internet marketing concepts
  • "Put some lipstick on it" - modernize the presentation
  • Make it "flat and beautiful" - improve the user experience
  • Scale the model using modern internet marketing techniques

• Key Insight:

  • Innovation often isn't about new ideas
  • Success comes from improving and legitimizing existing models
  • The core business model remains similar, but presentation and scale change

This pattern suggests that studying current internet marketing trends might reveal tomorrow's legitimate business opportunities.