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Major Communications
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Major Communications
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Friday I showed you that it is not necessary to sell Absolutely Unique products on the 'Net. In fact, trying to compete with other horizontal marketers for the same mass market can put you in a much worse position than aligning your site around a Theme.
A Theme, if you remember, gives you some of the advantages of horizontal marketing, and some of the advantages of vertical marketing.
Now, Themes are, of course, exchangeable, like any other concept. For instance, there are MANY companies that claim to be able to help you make money on the 'Net. The claim, the idea is out there. The question is, whom do you choose as the company to work with?
That's why you need to position your Theme Store uniquely in SOME way. You want to operate from a position of maximum POWER. You aim to:
* Be perceived as the NUMBER ONE problem solver in your field;
* Be perceived as being the ONLY ONE who has a solution that really makes sense;
* Be perceived as giving the best VALUE for your customer's dollar.
How do you accomplish this? It seems like an impossible task to achieve!
If you are like most business owners, you are watching your competitors closely... and admit it: Every move of theirs stresses you out... gives you the choking feeling that THIS TIME they might have come up with something that puts YOU out of business altogether.
In short: You let your competitors control the way you run your business.
I used to feel that way. I used to change my plans in a flash just because a competitor had developed something that I hadn't thought of.
But I no longer feel that way. I no longer lose sleep over how unique my Internet business is. You don't have to either.
Here's my strategy for ensuring peace of mind. Enter "Perceived Uniqueness."
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KEY POINT: If your site can't be Absolutely Unique, ensure
it has Perceived Uniqueness.
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First, what is the "market" anyway? People talk about "markets" all day long -- "we have to conquer this market" -- "this market is already saturated" -- and on and on. These sweeping generalities cause worries -- unnecessary worries when you do business on the web.
Because your market is not some unknown, esoteric "battle field" out there that only one business can dominate. Instead, for the purposes of your Theme Store, force yourself to think of your market as your ezine subscribers.
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KEY POINT: It helps you tremendously to forget about the
"M" word and think of your ezine subscribers as your market.
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Face it: Unless you run a broad-based, media campaign with banner ads and print ads present in general interest, high-traffic places all year around, your main traffic comes from your ezine subscriber base. Of course, it would be beneficial to run such a campaign... but you probably won't be able to afford that in the beginning.
So, think of your 500, 1,000, or 5,000 ezine subscribers as your "market." Forget about the "big battles" out there. They are not your worries. What your competitors do with their ezine subscribers is their choice. You've got to do what you've got to do.
Your ezine list embodies the bulk of the people who check out your site on a daily basis. Usually, because you have written something in your ezine that compels them to visit a certain page.
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KEY POINT: The bulk of your website visitors are on your
ezine list and vice versa.
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And you WANT the greatest possible overlap between ezine subscribers and visitors! You WANT every visitor to be a subscriber and every subscriber to be a visitor! The whole gist of our super-successful Theme Store idea is that you:
* First, capture an audience, and
* Second, sell them a CHAIN of solutions
...because it's so much easier to catch a customer ONCE... and then never let him or her go again!
All of a sudden the "monster" of a market "out there" collapses to something very specific... something tangible... something that you can give an exact count of: Your ezine subscriber list!
The listserver we sell gives you an exact count of subscribers every day. If you have 4,745 subscribers today, then your "market" consists of 4,745 people.
All you need to worry about now is whether or not those 4,745 people perceive you as sufficiently unique. You only have be unique to THEM... to those people to whom you have EASY ACCESS, through your ezine... and that's an EASY task to accomplish!
Because you have UNLIMITED chances to make CONTINUED IMPRESSIONS on your audience. Thanks to your listserver that broadcasts your messages every day, every hour, if need be.
Whatever you say, whatever you write in your ezine (or your website, or your discussion forum, which is visited mostly by your ezine subscriber base)... everything's a puzzle piece in a greater picture... the picture of WHERE you stand in your customers' minds.
And if you know what you're doing... and you are passionate about it... and you write in language that is direct and personal... you'll be AUTOMATICALLY perceived as unique... and as having a unique, even SUPERIOR offer, compared with what your competitors sell.
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KEY POINT: This works under one condition: You need to keep
giving MORE value in your ezine than your competitors.
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That's easy to do, isn't it?
Remember, you're not trying to convince "the market in general" that you're the woman or man to do business with. NO ad, NO brochure, NO sales letter, NO postcard can EVER achieve this. There simply isn't enough space. There simply isn't enough time. To change a person's mind, you need time and a sufficient amount of communication.
For instance, I know that many of my subscribers subscribe to competing ezines. Fair enough. Do I worry about it?
Not a bit. Because I am convinced that my ezine gives more value than other ezines... and as such, ties my audience closer to me. Sooner or later, even those who bought from my better known competitors will come back to me... they might realize that they've been taken for the money they've just spent and that there's another company out there that really cares about their goal of making money on the 'Net.
You need to do the same. Your ezine should baffle, provoke, divide, unite, push, pull, prod, enlighten, and motivate your audience UNTIL THEY WAKE UP... until they realize that what you say has at least SOME merit to it.
If you do that, you cannot help but be perceived as unique. And again, it only matters that a FEW SELECT PEOPLE, a relatively TINY MAJORITY of all your potential prospects on the Internet, see you as unique. That tiny group is your subscriber base. Focus on them ONLY. It's easy to do. Because they are easy to reach.
Don't worry about "the battle for your customers' minds." Forget about recruiting 120 million Internet users into your ranks of customers by tomorrow before supper. It's not going to happen anyway. And you don't need it to happen to make a six-figure income on the 'Net. So relieve yourself of this pressure.
Such worrisome mass-market concerns are not your problem until your operation grows well beyond the six-figure stage. (Big plans should be on your strategic long-term plan, though.)
Is there anything false or phony about Perceived Uniqueness? Absolutely not. You STILL need somewhat unique SUBSTANCE behind the perception. You have probably developed a solution that is better than your competitors. Or, it delivers more value for the dollar. Or, you have something that goes into a (if ever-so-slightly) different direction. Or, your solution is of interest to a different target group.
To develop this uniqueness, just ask yourself these questions:
* What are the common complaints I hear about my competitors? Can I do better in those areas? Would it pay off (not every complaint by an Internet Insider warrants immediate abandonment of your tried and true methods).
* What communications/advertising vehicles do my competitors avoid? Could I focus on THAT audience instead?
Just a small adjustment can make your Theme Store competition free.
But WITHOUT true competitive advantages under the hood, Perceived Uniqueness would be a promise that you couldn't keep. It'd be a sham. Behind the perception, there must always be reality.
Of course, some of your competitors won't care about reality behind their promises. (I know!) They might have been around longer. So they can get away with exaggeration. And they can charge exorbitant fees - just because they are a household name -- and use up the last bit of trust they have left. Why not? A sucker is born every minute!
Those competitors are the easiest to overcome. If you really have the substance and success stories to back up your claims to uniqueness, then you are already half-way there.
All you need to do now is add PERCEPTION of uniqueness to your real uniqueness. Without perception, nobody will know about the uniqueness of your offerings. But WITH perception AND real competitive advantages, you don't have much to fear. You *CAN* make nearly $1,000,000 per year on the 'Net like we do.
Learn how we do it. Join our growing community of Internet entrepreneurs who aim to do the same this year. Our approach IS unique... and we don't promise the moon for a nickel, either. Try us out! http://www.profitstream.com
Until next time, Think Big! -Nicholas Schmidt
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