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How do you create barriers to entry?

by David Tugwell
5 replies
So... you've got a great product, your site's great, your marketing funnel is on fire and you've got more traffic than you know what to do with. You now have a big target on your back! Many business people are now going to try and replicate product (legally) and duplicate your process to steal your market share. They have more money, employ a bigger team and before you know have taken you pretty much out of the picture in your niche.

Sound familiar? The only way to stop this is to have your barriers to entry set-up. What do you have in place that stops a competitor being able to compete with you on a level playing field... How are you protecting your product/business/idea?

Some things that I use include technical sophistication (most people cannot create what I do, certainly not a quickly as I can and certainly not by the time they see my product launch. I also ensure that my IP is protected with trademarks where appropriate and I have harsh penalties in all of my commercial agreements with other agencies I deal with prior to launching my product.

For many of you, most of this isn't applicable, so it got me curious about what you use as your barriers to entry?
#barriers #create #entry
  • Profile picture of the author ChrisNosal
    Banned
    Same ways as Steve Jobs used to when he ran Apple - you understand the core elements of customer-centric design, delivering exceptional customer service.

    Basically, you develop skills other people don't have, which make you irreplaceable, to the point where others can't compete with you.

    For example, if you study content and writing, and simply know how to design better, more effective content, other people can't simply "look and copy" your content, and have it be as strong and effective as yours.

    The answer is simply to be better than anyone else at what you do - when you understand, for example, how to design a good website, you know exactly what about your website makes it good, and user-centric, others can't just look at the website and see the "x factor" hidden inside it that makes it so easy to use.

    You just need to love what you do, be determined to be the best, and you'll naturally rise to the top.

    True greatness can't simply be "imitated".
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  • Profile picture of the author Chett
    I don't really know the answer to your question. It's something I've been thinking about recently and want to learn more about. Affiliate marketing/digital product creation has a very low financial barrier to entry which is good in some ways, especially in the earlier days when there was less competition but bad in others as it means much more competition now. I guess this is the nature of economics though, so it's to be expected.

    These days there are all sorts of tools you can use to reverse engineer other peoples work (selling tools to all those people trying to compete with each other is good business I guess).

    With a physical product you can protect your invention. Some industires people work in like legal have a barrier to entry as it's not easy to qualify in the first place. I'm not sure how affiliates/digital product creators create barriers to entry.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lurk
    QUESTION TOO SOPHISTICATED FOR THIS AUDIENCE. GREAT QUESTION "CONVERSATION PIECE" NEVERTHELESS.
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    DONT USE TIME CARELESSLY FOR IT CANNOT BE RETRIEVED. -LURK

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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    A solid brand based on solid relationships is the STRONGEST BARRIER TO ENTRY you can create.

    Seriously.

    Let's face it-content can be reverse engineered.

    Look and feel can be copied.

    However, perceived value due to a strong brand is very HARD TO COPY.

    Start building a solid brand TODAY.
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  • Profile picture of the author beiter
    In my humble opinion, it all comes down to speed of execution
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