What is Internet Presence Optimization (IPO)?

What if the key to dominating the internet was being everywhere, all at once?

Imagine if every corner of the internet echoed your brand’s message, capturing the attention of potential customers at every possible point of contact. This is what I call Internet Presence Optimization or IPO, a concept that reimagines marketing on the Internet. But before we dive into this new type of IPO, let’s take a moment to talk about another IPO—the kind that has been making business headlines for decades: Initial Public Offerings.

A Tale of Wealth: The Traditional IPO

But first, what is IPO? Imagine you want to be like Warren Buffett, one of the richest investors in the world. Warren made much of his wealth by buying shares, some kind of ownership of companies when they went public. When companies decide to let the public, you and me, the average Joe and Sally, buy their stock (a piece of the company) for the first time, it’s called an Initial Public Offering (IPO). It’s like opening the doors to let everyone become part owners of a company.

Some of the most famous IPOs, like Google, Facebook, and Airbnb, made many people very rich almost overnight. You can even buy shares in public companies today using apps on your phone, making it as easy as playing a game. By the way, If you’re interested in investing, a great book to read before you do that is The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. It talks about how our emotions affect our financial decisions and helps prepare you for investing smartly, just like Warren Buffett.

Now back to the traditional IPO, think about some of the greatest IPOs in history—companies like Google, Facebook, or more recently, Airbnb. When these companies went public, when they listed on the stock exchanges like NYSE, or NASDAQ, something magical happened. Employees, early investors (think Venture Capitalists like Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz etc) and even some lucky shareholders became overnight millionaires or billionaires. The thrill of an IPO was about more than just business; it was about transformation. People’s lives changed in an instant because they were part of a company that went from being relatively unknown to suddenly having global visibility and unimaginable value. An IPO offered the chance to be everywhere: on every trading floor, in every financial headline, and ultimately in the portfolios of investors worldwide.

The excitement of a traditional IPO is all about visibility and the transformation it brings—not just to the company, but to the people involved. This same transformative power can be applied to your brand on the internet, through a different kind of IPO.

Introducing Internet Presence Optimization (IPO)

Imagine your brand like Evelyn Wang in the film “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Evelyn, a middle-aged Chinese immigrant, is juggling family problems, a laundromat business, and an IRS tax audit, all while discovering that she must connect with other versions of herself across the multiverse to save existence. It’s chaos, but it’s also about being present in every reality that matters, influencing outcomes in every possible universe.

Internet Presence Optimization works much the same way. To succeed online, you must be everywhere your audience spends their time—reaching them at every possible opportunity. Just as Evelyn finds herself in every version of the multiverse, you need to show up in every digital space where your audience resides, whether that’s Instagram, Google, TikTok, LinkedIn, or email inboxes.

The Power of Customer Ikigai

But how do you know where to be, and why people would even care about your brand in these digital spaces? That’s where the concept of Customer Ikigai comes in. Customer Ikigai is a customer research tool I created to help you understand why a random stranger on the internet would choose to give your content attention, trust you, buy from you, and ultimately tell others about you. It’s about understanding the core motivations—the WHY behind the click.

One of the elements of Customer Ikigai is understanding the places where your audience hangs out online. It’s rarely just one place—people might browse Instagram while commuting, scroll TikTok in the evenings, and check LinkedIn during work breaks. Once you know where your audience is spending their time, IPO means being present in every one of those spaces. If Evelyn had to visit every universe to save existence, then your brand must be present in every corner of the internet to save—and expand—your business.

Simba’s Content Matrix and Perfecting IPO

The key to successful IPO isn’t just showing up everywhere; it’s about showing up effectively. That’s where Simba’s Content Matrix comes into play. This tool helps you analyze which of your content and channels are contributing the most to your goals. Are your Instagram posts driving engagement? Is your email marketing leading to conversions? Are your TikTok videos going viral but not bringing in sales?

Simba’s Content Matrix will help you identify which channels are working and which are “zombie channels”—places where you’re present but making no meaningful impact. If a channel isn’t performing, you have two options: change your approach or stop investing in it altogether. Internet Presence Optimization is about strategic ubiquity—being everywhere that matters, not just everywhere for the sake of it.

Going for the IPO on the Internet

Just like a company lists itself on the stock exchange to gain visibility, a brand or business has to imagine the internet as a vast digital stock exchange, with the public being the internet users. To achieve Internet Presence Optimization (IPO), your business must effectively ‘list’ itself online using content, ensuring visibility to gain attention from everyone who might be interested. But before IPO, just like a traditional company needs to do a lot of preparation before going public, your business needs to prepare by creating content that gets attention, builds trust, and ultimately drives people to buy from you and if you get it right, they will tell others about your business.

To do this, you need to understand a few key elements:

1. Customer Ikigai: Knowing why a random stranger on the internet would choose to pay attention to your brand, trust you, buy from you, and tell others about you. This involves understanding your audience’s motivations, where they hang out, and what they value.
2. Simba’s Five Forces: Similar to traditional business analysis, Simba’s Five Forces help you understand what might hinder or accelerate your IPO on the internet:
   1. Threat of New Content: New content is constantly being produced; your content needs to stand out.
   2. Threat of Different Types of Content: Videos, blogs, podcasts—each content type competes for attention differently.
   3. Competition for Attention: Countless brands are fighting for your audience’s attention. What makes yours unique?
   4. Bargaining Power of Content Platforms and Creators: Platforms like Instagram or YouTube dictate the rules; understanding this can help you optimize your strategy. Content Creators are highly influential on the internet today.
   5. Bargaining Power of Internet Users: Users have all the power to decide what content to engage with. You need to give them a reason to choose you.
3. Know All the Digital Marketing Channels: To truly achieve IPO, you need to leverage every relevant digital marketing channel available. These include: 1.
   1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Making sure your content appears when people search for relevant terms on Google or Bing and to some extent on AI search engines by ChatGPT and Perplexity.
   2. PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising): Paying for visibility through ads on platforms like Google and social media e.g. Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok Ads.
   3. Email Marketing: Sending messages directly to people’s email inboxes to build relationships and drive sales.
   4. Content Marketing: Creating valuable information (blogs, videos, infographics) that attracts and engages potential customers.
   5. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): A mix of SEO and paid advertising to improve your visibility on search engines.
   6. Ecommerce: Selling products directly online through platforms like Shopify or Amazon or your own website e.g. WooCommerce on WordPress.
   7. Esports Marketing: Partnering with gaming influencers and teams to promote your brand in front of large, engaged audiences during esports events.
   8. Influencer Marketing: Leveraging social media influencers who already have a large, dedicated following to promote your brand.
   9. Mobile Marketing: Reaching your audience through mobile-optimized content, apps, or SMS to ensure that your brand is visible on the devices people use the most.
   10. Video Marketing: Creating engaging video content for platforms like YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram to connect with users visually and emotionally.

Once you have a grasp on these elements, it’s time to create content, ensuring it’s tailored to attract your audience’s attention. After that, you use Simba’s Content Matrix to measure how each channel is performing—tracking metrics like clicks versus conversions. This helps you figure out if you need to change your approach on certain channels or stop investing in “zombie channels” that don’t provide value.

Internet Presence Optimization or IPO is about ensuring that your brand is everywhere on the internet, all at once. It’s about leaving no stone unturned, no content platform untapped, and no audience untouched. While traditional IPOs turn companies into household names by listing them on the stock exchange, this new kind of iPO takes your brand, your business, and spreads them across the internet—building a persistent presence across search engines, social media, email, video platforms, and beyond.Embrace the Power of Being Everywhere

In the digital era, attention is currency, and IPO is how you secure it. By optimizing your presence across every relevant channel and understanding where your audience is and why they care, you’re not just participating in the internet—you’re mastering it. Like the greatest IPOs, where fortunes were made overnight, Internet Presence Optimization is about transforming your brand into a digital powerhouse, capturing attention and value at every corner of the web.

So, are you ready to be everywhere, all at once?

If you want to dive deeper into how to master IPO, consider picking up a copy of Clickonomics: How to Win Customers and Influence People on the Internet. It’s packed with strategies and insights on how to optimize your digital presence and grow your brand online.

And if you’re subscribed to ChatGPT Plus, you can ask any questions about IPO and digital marketing directly to the Clickonomics bot. It’s like having your own personal marketing consultant right at your fingertips!