OFFLINE help needed -A lot of competition

Charles Washington

16 years ago

Originally Posted by beareroftruth

Steer, not stear.Perhaps proper spelling could be your competitive edge?

Thanks for your highly intelligent, informative insight into my situation. It is much appreciated. :rolleyes:

Thanks

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Imran Naseem

Banned 16 years ago

[DELETED]

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Kay King 16 years ago

I'm not surprised you would find that in Mobile and I think many trying this method will find some strong competitors in more highly populated areas.

Why not head up highway 65 and try some of the smaller towns? Or over to the panhandle (staying out of larger cities).

One thing you might consider (just off top of my head) is to focus on ONE type of business that would allow you to work up a great plan you could present to more than one business.

kay
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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

shkad, you see what looks like a lot of competition because you are thinking about offering a commodity. Spend some time looking at what this so-called competition is really offering.

Find something that is uniquely yours to offer. Put together customized solutions for people. Maybe one merchant needs a way to draw business on a slow day, another needs to move some old stock without announcing it to the world. Maybe they need to find out what other people are saying about them and how to keep the record straight. Think 'social marketing' and say 'reputation management'.

Offer a bundle of custom service that no one else is offering, and you have no competition. If you aren't selling a commodity, you don't have to worry about commodity pricing, either.

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1 reply

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Charles Washington

16 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

shkad, you see what looks like a lot of competition because you are thinking about offering a commodity. Spend some time looking at what this so-called competition is really offering.

Find something that is uniquely yours to offer. Put together customized solutions for people. Maybe one merchant needs a way to draw business on a slow day, another needs to move some old stock without announcing it to the world. Maybe they need to find out what other people are saying about them and how to keep the record straight. Think 'social marketing' and say 'reputation management'.

Offer a bundle of custom service that no one else is offering, and you have no competition. If you aren't selling a commodity, you don't have to worry about commodity pricing, either.

I hat e to admit this, but I am completely lost.

Here is my biggest competition Magnolia Media, LLC :: Customized Website Design in Mobile, Alabama :: Internet Marketing Company

Thanks
3 replies

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

I hat e to admit this, but I am completely lost.

Here is my biggest competition Magnolia Media, LLC :: Customized Website Design in Mobile, Alabama :: Internet Marketing Company

If this is truly your biggest competition, you are in good shape. You have two keys to setting yourself apart.

First, you can focus your approach where it belongs. On the business owner. Magnolia has their sights firmly fixed on their own navels - everything on their home page is about them.

The other key for you is in this sentence from their home page:

Our websites are built with the purpose of branding and each one exhibits the image that the customer wants.

In other words, they focus on what I call "Paris Hilton" websites - pretty to look at, but pretty much useless for anything practical.

They are all about image. Put yourself on the other side of the coin and focus on delivering results the business owner can fold into a money clip. In other words, direct response marketing.

Do that, and you are no longer competing with them directly. Where they focus on things like "cascading style sheets" and "database design", you can focus on "bringing buyers back more often", "getting them to spend more" and "getting them to tell their friends."

Make sense?

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1 reply

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Charles Washington

16 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

If this is truly your biggest competition, you are in good shape. You have two keys to setting yourself apart.

First, you can focus your approach where it belongs. On the business owner. Magnolia has their sights firmly fixed on their own navels - everything on their home page is about them.

The other key for you is in this sentence from their home page:

In other words, they focus on what I call "Paris Hilton" websites - pretty to look at, but pretty much useless for anything practical.

They are all about image. Put yourself on the other side of the coin and focus on delivering results the business owner can fold into a money clip. In other words, direct response marketing.

Do that, and you are no longer competing with them directly. Where they focus on things like "cascading style sheets" and "database design", you can focus on "bringing buyers back more often", "getting them to spend more" and "getting them to tell their friends."

Make sense?

OK, so you are awesome!

I still have a problem with all these businesses doing email marketing... This is tuff!

Thanks
1 reply

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areustle

16 years ago

Just because it appears as though they are collecting email addresses doesn't mean they are actually doing any email marketing.

I have found a niche that I am researching. So far, I have signed up on 5 websites. Only 1 requested a double opt-in. Of all 5, I have not received a single email and it has been 3 days.

Check it out. This might be the angle to use. I know I am getting ready to approach these 5 businesses. These businesses could be losing potential customers because they are not hitting their prospects soon enough.

Best of luck,
Albert

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1 reply

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phey12

16 years ago

Anyone who does pay-per-click advertising knows the cost to acquire a customer is rising. Forrester Research tells us that web sites have become the main hub of marketing for businesses large and small. 60% of the people who visit your web site are not ready to buy. They are doing their research and creating their "short list" of who to go with. So this is your time up to bat..... Maybe you will get on base or hit a home run. Yes, 60% defect before their first purchase. 40% will defect before their second purchase... So it is important to keep in touch with your clients. If you can reduce your customer loss by 5% your profits will be up by 20%.

Thanks
1 reply

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oneempowered

16 years ago

Originally Posted by phey12

Anyone who does pay-per-click advertising knows the cost to acquire a customer is rising. Forrester Research tells us that web sites have become the main hub of marketing for businesses large and small. 60% of the people who visit your web site are not ready to buy. They are doing their research and creating their "short list" of who to go with. So this is your time up to bat..... Maybe you will get on base or hit a home run. Yes, 60% defect before their first purchase. 40% will defect before their second purchase... So it is important to keep in touch with your clients. If you can reduce your customer loss by 5% your profits will be up by 20%.

Spamming to build post count? Or just to advertise your sig?

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oneempowered

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

I hat e to admit this, but I am completely lost.

Here is my biggest competition Magnolia Media, LLC :: Customized Website Design in Mobile, Alabama :: Internet Marketing Company

They aren't your competition at all.

NONE of their customers in their portfolio have any sort of customer capture mechanism. NONE have opt-in forms!

They mention marketing and SEO but they don't do marketing, they just do flashy graphic design.

All of the sites they build are about brand-building and NOT about the customer. None of them are making the small business owner any money. You could go to every one of their customers and say, "I can see that you spent a lot of money on a pretty website, but I can also tell that it isn't making you any money." And you'd be right every time.

Use marketing techniques to position yourself as the expert and start signing up clients. For example, give a seminar, do a guest spot on a radio station, speak at local associations or BBB, write a white paper, report or book about small biz marketing.

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Glenn Leader

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

I hat e to admit this, but I am completely lost.

Here is my biggest competition Magnolia Media, LLC :: Customized Website Design in Mobile, Alabama :: Internet Marketing Company

Hi shkad14,

Have you actually visited the sites in their portfolio
and looked at the onsite/onpage SEO? I think you'll
be in for a surprise.

Glenn

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Wah Bhatti

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

It would appear in my area that there is a lot of competition for web design, list building, and SEO. Nearly every local biz I contact has a form in their biz to capture emails a website and a opt in form on their site.

Is this normal in all areas? Should I stear away from this due to the competition?

you could offer
website content, ghostwriting, article writing, press releases, and ebooks

im sure you know some one who could delever that stuff

ps i cant spell so no god spell checking me beareroftruth

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Charles Washington

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

I'm not surprised you would find that in Mobile and I think many trying this method will find some strong competitors in more highly populated areas.

Why not head up highway 65 and try some of the smaller towns? Or over to the panhandle (staying out of larger cities).

One thing you might consider (just off top of my head) is to focus on ONE type of business that would allow you to work up a great plan you could present to more than one business.

kay

Originally Posted by Wah Bhatti

you could offer
website content, ghostwriting, article writing, press releases, and ebooks

I can offer the ghostwriting, ebook creation, and the like. My problem is figuring out how to sell these services.

I like email marketing and SEO because I can see the value in that, and I can really help local biz owners save money in this economic situation.

I cant figure out an approach to offering content creation and the other services mentioned in this thread.

Thanks

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Pete Egeler

16 years ago

I'm wondering, are you spending as much time looking at prospective client's websites as you are worrying about competition?

Are you checking to see if they show up on the first page of Google? If not, they NEED SEO.

Are their sites drawing them more business? If not, it probably needs re-structuring.

I'm not trying to be mean, but it appears that you're spending far too much time worrying about competition, and less time really looking at prospective clients and their needs.

I had contact recently with a web design company that offered "SEO" at no extra charge. I asked them about it, and they said they guaranteed to put their clients in the top-50 on Google. When I asked them to explain why their client (and mine,) didn't show up at all, they said it must have been the client's choice of keywords.

In other words, they didn't really have a clue!

Take your time, analyze your prospects website yourself, and find out what can be done to make it better.

Pete

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oneempowered

16 years ago

shkad14,
Those guys also don't really do email marketing. They just build a "custom-designed HTML" email template and leave it up to the customers to craft their own emails, use their own auto-responder, create their own campaigns, and build their own customer database.

oneEmpowered

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artwebster

16 years ago

shkad14

From where I am sitting the only competition you have is yourself!

There isn't a single service or commodity for sale today that does not have competition but they do have their own unique selling proposition.

My offline clients receive a written statement of the cash they will save when they impliment my suggestions and they are told where they will have a better chance of finding a buyer rather than a visitor, and why.

Develop your own usp!

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Charles Washington

16 years ago

Originally Posted by artwebster

shkad14

From where I am sitting the only competition you have is yourself!

There isn't a single service or commodity for sale today that does not have competition but they do have their own unique selling proposition.

My offline clients receive a written statement of the cash they will save when they impliment my suggestions and they are told where they will have a better chance of finding a buyer rather than a visitor, and why.

Develop your own usp!

Dont you have to know what they are spending in advertising first? Or, do you just give an average figure?

Can you PM me more details on this approach?

Thanks

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Vince Runza Online

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

It would appear in my area that there is a lot of competition for web design, list building, and SEO. Nearly every local biz I contact has a form in their biz to capture emails a website and a opt in form on their site.

Appearances are deceiving! First of all, that "Magnolia" company is all about branding, not marketing.

Just because a company's website has a "capture form" doesn't mean it has a properly set up email campaign behind it. Click on a few of them and you'll see what I mean (don't bother to fill out the form -- just click SUBMIT).

A real autoresponder will tell you that you failed to enter some info. If you do decide to sign up for a few, see how many have a pre-loaded series of follow up emails. Chances are, none of them will!

These are your prospects...

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oneempowered

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Vince Runza Online

Just because a company's website has a "capture form" doesn't mean it has a properly set up email campaign behind it. Click on a few of them and you'll see what I mean (don't bother to fill out the form -- just click SUBMIT).

... and if you look at the sites they have built, NONE of them even have capture forms.

Vince is right - these people are your prospects.

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hotlinkz

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shkad14

It would appear in my area that there is a lot of competition for web design, list building, and SEO. Nearly every local biz I contact has a form in their biz to capture emails a website and a opt in form on their site.

Is this normal in all areas? Should I stear away from this due to the competition?

You may need to bone up on your research.

From your post, it appears you are approaching businesses that have websites and opt-in forms in place. What about businesses that don't have websites at all? Are you actually approaching the business owners?

If you have an aversion to cold calling (like me

), write a compelling educational pre-sell letter and do a 100 letter direct mail campaign. But only to businesses that don't currently have an online presence.

As far as competition - the only things you will find that have no competition are things people aren't interested in.

Kind regards,

Calvin

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TimothyW

16 years ago

How about offering this service...

A/B split testing of their website headline.

Most of them probably don't even have a headline (yet)!

-- TW

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Scott Burton

16 years ago

I can't help but get a chuckle from this slogan

If we build it, they will come

Just because a site gets built, doesn't mean ANYONE will see it.
Pretty and branded sites are meaningless without traffic.
You don't get traffic just by existing.

As others pointed out, Magnolia is about building pretty sites and 'branding', not about marketing. Likewise just because an opt in form exists doesn't mean it is building a list that's being properly utilized.

On a lark, I hit the submit button on Magnolia's opt in form (without entering an address.) and it responded with "Thank you for submitting your email address for our monthly newsletter. "

If their site doesn't get you into an autoresponder, what are the odds they've done this for their clients?

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JMLebeau

16 years ago

Try using Social Marketing to approach new customers. You'll be surprised on how many business owners are using Twitter, Facebook and Myspace.

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AndrewCavanagh 16 years ago

"Nearly every local biz I contact has a form in their biz to capture emails a website and a opt in form on their site."

That's not really competition.

The bottom line when you work with small businessies is to create real sales and profits with them.

You'll find a lot of those business capturing emails are not doing anything effective with the emails they capture to turn them into real profits.

Also as has already been mentioned there are a pile of different ways to help a business with it's online marketing including press releases, SEO, social bookmarking, online video marketing etc etc etc.

You can also look at the many ways you can integrate online and offline marketing for a business to increase its profits.

When a business has already spent some money on creating a website they're often better prospects.

You know they've spent money willingly in the past.

What you need to get past is your mindset that you need to offer some fixed service to a business.

Your objective should be to customize solutions for each specific business that help them make real sales and profits.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh
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- Georgann McCrosson 16 years ago
  
  I suggest you offer to do some work in exchange for 'warm' referrals.
  
  Find a business with a web site that you know you can improve. You might choose several - one for seo, another that doesn't have an opt-in form, or one that has opt-in but no real follow-up. Do the job, verify the results that are a direct result of your work. Take the evidence to the business owner and ask for your 'payment' of the referrals.
  
  I define a warm referral as one that the person giving me the name has personally contacted the other party about me, has recommended me and told their friend/collegue that they will appreciate them taking time to talk to me when I call in the next day or so.
  
  Along with a specified number of warm referrals, you can also include the condition that if they are satisfied they will do a video testimonial for you.
  
  If the companies that you consider to be your competition are the big players in your area, it's unlikely that they provide focused and personalized attention to each client. Being independent, you have that ability and that is a significant advantage.
  
  Best wishes for your success.
  
  Georgann
  
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Jmn187

16 years ago

expand your services. And knock on doors. Youll get them.

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Shane N

16 years ago

If you need help, I am currently offering an offline coaching/mentoring opportunity that is helping a lot of people make money "offline."

The link is in my sig if you are interested, I would love to help out.

Best,
SHane

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laird

16 years ago

What you see on the surface isn't necessarily what's best for the customer. Maybe they don't do anything with their names. Maybe they send out one "special offer" each month or so (whenever they get around). Maybe they HATE their design. Lots of Maybe's that you could be overlooking...

Need some "competitive" ideas to drive business? No WSO needed - just start offering:

Website Development
Form Templates
Downloadable Documents
White Papers/Case Studies
Mailing Lists
Autoresponders
PPC Marketing
SEO/SEM
Landing Page Optimization
Site Analysis and Reporting
Sales Letters
Press Releases
Backlink-Building
Social Media
Twitter
Blogs
Forum Development
Article Writing
Squeeze Pages
Upsell/Cross-Sell Offers
Streaming Videos

Del

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OFFLINE help needed -A lot of competition

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