Inspired Marketing

Sean Malarkey came into the e-learning and digital marketing space through Twitter training courses in 2008, but it was his partnership with Lewis Howells that truly launched him into the industry. Lewis was one of the early LinkedIn experts, and together they identified an opportunity: their existing training was five figures and focused on multiple platforms, but there was demand for something more affordable and niche-focused. They decided to launch LinkedIn Influence, a dedicated course teaching people how to grow their business using LinkedIn—a platform that was emerging as critical for B2B networking and lead generation.

The course was delivered as video training hosted on a Wishlist membership site, giving customers access to a comprehensive handbook-style playbook covering the entire LinkedIn platform. The training addressed multiple use cases: building contacts, driving traffic to websites, creating communities, and establishing thought leadership. The product was positioned as an accessible alternative to their higher-priced offerings.

Their launch strategy was deliberately grassroots but strategic. Rather than relying solely on their own audience, Sean and Lewis reached out to key influencers and experts in their network with a clear philosophy: build goodwill first, ask for promotion second. They offered free help in various forms—promoting other people's products, improving their social media, even handling operational tasks. This relationship-first approach paid off. The initial launch, while described as "really tame," generated around $100,000 in revenue within three weeks, primarily driven by affiliate promotions from their carefully cultivated network.

The affiliate model became their growth engine. Of the over $2 million the LinkedIn Influence course has generated to date, 60-70% came from affiliates—influencers with established audiences who promoted the course for a 50% commission. Sean also discovered the power of audience data intelligence. By uploading their 100,000-person email list to Facebook and using the platform's matching technology, they could identify that 80% of their emails matched Facebook users. They then used process-of-elimination targeting (filtering by gender, age, education, geography) to build detailed demographic profiles of their ideal customer, enabling precision ad targeting.

On the direct marketing side, Sean made continuous improvements to conversion. After nearly two years, they redesigned the LinkedIn Influence sales page—updating the design, look, feel, and copy—and saw conversions nearly double. Rather than guessing which elements drove the improvement, they committed to systematic A/B testing going forward using Visual Website Optimizer.

Inspired Marketing now sells multiple courses (LinkedIn Influence, Facebook Influence, YouTube Influence, Email Marketing, Webinar Marketing, and more) with LinkedIn training leading the charge. Last month, the LinkedIn course alone brought in 400 customers and approximately $40,000 in revenue—about 25% of the company's total revenue. The business is at an inflection point: Sean mentioned "exciting shifts" coming to the business model that prioritize more value for customers and simplification of the business itself, though he couldn't publicly discuss details yet. The vision is clear: continue the affiliate-driven model while scaling direct marketing efficiency, all while reducing reliance on any single founder or face brand.