Competition vs No Competition Markets: Which Has Made The Most Money For You?

Innovators create a market out of no demand. Could that be an exception? Like a product you've never even heard of, nothing you have no need for, and something you usually don't want to be associated with but suddenly becomes a big deal to the global community all of a sudden. Competition happens when imitators follow/imitate these Wonders.

Hands-down, without a doubt, take it to the bank, we're talking a profits comparison of thousands of dollars to one, low competition is the winner. At least for me.

The key is understanding why there isn't much competition.

Too often newbies assume it is because there is a lack of "demand" based on search volume for one keyword. They run some numbers with the Google tool and quickly skip gold nuggets and move on to niches they get clobbered in without doing any strategizing or thought..

I made over a hundred grand last year due to a keyword with less than 100 searches per month. How? My websites (note multiple) are all over the top listings, buyers are desperate, and I have a great backend.

Barriers to entry are very valuable and create profit centers. While the sheep are running off the Amazon cliff because it is easy to get approved, they ignore thousands of better opportunities.

Barriers created by needing specialized knowledge, financial hurdles, licensing requirements, selective admissions programs, time requirements, etc., all create opportunities.

Sadly, since IMers here tend to do the same thing, like sheep, a "barrier" may simply be doing what everyone is not. For example, you don't have a WordPress site with automated crap content, and you aren't promoting Amazon, but instead a selective merchant with products not available everyone.

Why do you want to compete against everyone and their monkey with an Internet connection?

If a niche is "high" competition you may want to put your thinking cap on and figure out how to "subniche" it and/or create your own advantage so that you find yourself in a low competition area.

Frankly, I think it is foolish not to. Do you run into a "high" competition niche saying "me too, me too, I'm just like everyone else?" Of course not. That is why USPs and other angles can be important. Which is another way of saying you are looking to subniche a high competition topic into a low competition one so you can stand out and shine.

Someone mentioned McDonalds earlier on the thread. Good example for my point. Everyone has to eat so there is a lot of food competition. There is a lot of demand for cheap, fast hamburgers. What do you think your chances of success are by creating a restaurant selling cheap, fast hamburgers? Not much. What are your chances of success if you sell cheap, fast, GMO-free hamburgers? Better IMHO, even though competition is less. In fact, it may be non-existent.

Someone else said it is a loser strategy to abandon a market when competition starts showing up. That may mean you blew it. Having a first mover advantage is important. You need to take advantage of it so any competition can never overtake you.

Or, it means you need to diversify. Again, look at McDonalds. Huge industry leader, yet it is forced to continually offer new products to fend off the competition. If McDonalds had kept the same menu it had in 1975 how many stores do you think it would still have open - more or less than today?

Or, it means something else, such as get out of the market and into something more profitable. Example, IBM got out of the PC market when it first saw competition and then projected what was going to happen to hardware prices. It was going to be a commodity destined for meager margins. The market leader quickly bailed out. What it bailed into are low competition markets.


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Maybe I'm the odd duck, but I don't look at how competitive it is if I am interested in a market.

I do look at if the buyers are purchasing and if they are purchasing a lot. When I say purchasing I also mean purchasing more expensive products.

That normally leads to more competitive markets, though.

I am more interested in being able to create many different products for that one buyer. I want a whole product line of expensive ($100 + range) high quality products.

If I can come up with products that help, well, then it's on like donkey kong.

Great point MNord. I also find that demand is critical. It's presence makes it possible to do well in a high competition niche.

From a marketing perspective, very few people understand what a niche really is.

They confuse niches and markets all the time. Often they use the terms interchangeably. They are not the same thing.

A market is a group of people with a common need, desire or problem. They are looking for an opportunity to satisfy that desire in some way. So if you are one of the many people with a desire to purchase a new car, you are said to be "in the market" for a new car.

People move in and out of markets often - as soon as they have a need or desire met they are no longer considered a part of that market unless they have other additional needs that are still unfulfilled within the market.

Niches are not markets. They are not subsets of markets either. Look the word "niche" up in the dictionary.

niche (noun and a verb) 1. an ornamental recess in a wall or the like, usually semicircular in plan and arched, as for a statue or other decorative object. 2. a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing; to find one's niche in the business world.

A niche is a recess or place in a wall where a statue can be displayed. Or as definition #2 states, it's a position for a person (or a business).

Said another way to make the mental picture more clear - a niche is a place within a market that we choose to position our business to allow us to cater to the needs and wants of a specific group of people with a common desire or problem.

You do not pick a niche from a list of all the possible niches in a market. It is not something you "pick" in the same way you would pick a book to read at the library.

You create your own niche when you position your business in a way that allows you to respond to the expressed needs of a market.

Until marketers understand that they create a niche by choice, they will limit their effectiveness because they will always be directly competing with other businesses as they try to sell the very same products and services.

I say, create your own niche. Position your business uniquely - differently than all your competitors. When you do that effectively, you eliminate all the direct competition! You know exactly what your customers want because they have told you. You set your own prices. You market from the enviable position that no one else has what you have to offer!

Steve

Thanks! I'd love to hear more about what you did... maybe we can share notes?

As a matter of fact, Lexis does have a competing product, but I regularly (believe it or not) win clients from them because they half-ass it, and I have the "Cadillac" product/reputation in the industry. No small accomplishment, and one I am mighty proud of. But it has taken years of hard work and consistency to build that credibility and positioning in the marketplace.

To the onlookers who think marketing is something you do from the beach while sipping a pina colada, I have a bit of a reality check for you.

Thanks again for your input guys. Frankly I'm mildly surprised. It seems the competition votes beat the no competition votes by 70% (10 to 3) by my calculations.

I would have thought it would have been a little more even, maybe even favoring the no competition crowd.

That's surprising also because a major part of this industry is built on one assumption. Finding no or low competition markets is -the only way to go ... period, if you want to succeed.

-And-

Saturated markets is a four letter word (so-to-speak) that guarantees failure.
The average person would be shocked to hear "marketers should look for competition."

Of course, I imagine if you can find or create a market with little or no competition that's ideal. Maybe that's the dream. But obviously that's not most people's story - even those who achieve a measure of success in most cases.

The reality seems to be the more long term and most achievable strategy comes from being in competitive markets.

I for one know many people who have spent months, even years searching and waiting to find a low or no competition market, before they do anything.

I think that's a mistake more people fall into than most people imagine.

I would have like to have seen more SEO people join the discussion perhaps they would have balanced the results more.

Maybe I'll reword the question and ask it in the SEO forum and see what the results would be.