6 Tips for Making the Most of Your Internet Marketing Education

Some of these marketing and continuing education courses are expensive, and should be considered investments. A couple weeks ago, a post here discussed Factors to Consider When Purchasing Marketing Education Products.  It was suggested that the post may be the most unpopular one on this site, not because the information is bad, rather, it contains practical ideas that aren’t so flashy.  Crazy stuff, like thinking through your purchase, seeing it as an investment, etc. But that is just how we roll here…  If you have taken the time to determine if a course is for you, went ahead and made the purchase, the next question for me is, what is the best way to consume the information and apply it to your business? Here are a six tips I find useful.

6 Tips for Making the Most of Your Internet Marketing Education

One – Schedule – Put It On Your Calendar

I find I get more out of a course when I:

• Decide to prioritize it scheduling time to go over the course materials.
• For webinar or teleseminar delivered content, put them on my calendar and commit to be there.
• Allocate an additional 15 minutes a the end of each session, and spend 15 minutes strategizing possibilities of how the information can be applied to my business.
• Assign deadlines for the low-hanging fruit identified in strategy session.
• Allocate time to review suggested materials to prior to the next webinar.

If I am unable to attend a live webinar, I reevaluate my commitment in light of other projects, and then schedule time to listen to the replay, assuming it is available in a timely manner.

Benefit: With these approaches in place, I get to “application” aspects of the course much faster than without.

Two – Review Before Reading

I didn’t like studying growing up… it was just to SLOW and boring for me.  Years later I learned the value of tricking myself into learning.  It’s pretty straight forward.  Before reviewing materials for the next section, I review the notes from the previous session, including the strategy brainstorming session.

Benefit: I find myself going into the reading/studying time with more excitement, and it prepares my brain to receive the information in the next section or session.  Thanks to Dave Ellis for reminding me of this technique.

Three – Muscle Reading Exercise

I have only done this once since learning this from Dave Ellis, and it helped tremendously.  It is pretty simple idea, and it goes something like this, with a notebook, a pen, and the course  materials:

• Scan through all the materials in order.  No more than 1 -2  seconds per page.
• Write down things that caught your attention on a page in the  notebook.
• Write the text, section header, or chapter, and be  sure to include the page number.

Benefit: What I ended up having is a list of things I’m interested in.  I  found that absorbing the information was easier and faster when  I covered the materials in detail. Maybe it was a fluke…so far I’m pleased.

Four – Getting Visual with Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is something I’ve been doing for some time.  Recently I started doing it as I go through various courses.  Sometimes with computer software (MindJet, and just started testing out The Brain), but also with just pen and paper.

For me, pen and paper allows the creativity to  flow smoother when not having to deal with a keyboard and  mouse.
Here’s how I do it:

• Create an initial topic with an oval, it might be a chapter, or section of the course.
• Create links to subtopics that are connected to the main topic.
• Use stars or colors to highlight important points.

Once the mind map is complete, I make a secondary mind map  reflecting the action items and priorities of applying the information just learned.

Five – Notebook

Simply, a place to jot down important information about what it is I’m studying.  Recently I’ve combined this with my business journal  (lesson one).  As a wise person once said, “Writing it down helps crystallize thought”.  If the course is serious enough to invest time (an money), it is serious enough to write it down.

Six – Develop Goals

Not everything you learn in a course will apply to your business.  “Eat the meat, and spit out the bones.” When you see the meat, write it down, explore how you can implement it, and then put a time-frame on implementing it.  Consider ranking goals so that the ones that have the greatest impact while requiring the least amount of effort are at the top of the list.

Bottom line, I find I get out of a course what I put into it. These tips have served me well.  What are your thoughts on this?  How can I help?
Photo Credit: MOOby