The Internet gives you a worldwide market for your product and service. That's the good news. The Internet also gives you worldwide competition for those same customers. That's the bad news most companies don't realize or accept.
It doesn't matter what you're selling. You either have competitors right this minute trying to sell to your customers…or you'll have competitors within the next year. They are out to sell products and services to your customers so you're not needed anymore.
The only way to win in this overcrowded marketplace is to develop strong offers, great sales copy, and an enduring brand name. Of the three, developing a brand name is probably the most misunderstood and underutilized. Most people never realize they can create an enduring recognizable brand as a small business.
Sure, you may never have name recognition like Nike does, but you don't need to be that well known in the general population. Small businesses such as yours only want to be "branded" in their own little niche audience.
For example, the general population has no idea who "Terry Dean" is, but if you ask most e-zine publishers,they know exactly who I am. I don't sell to a general audience so I don't care if they know who I am or not. I only sell to people who are passionate about building their own small or home-based businesses on the Net. A large portion of this market knows my name quite well. My name is my brand to them (I'll explain how and why more in the information section of this special report).
People like to buy from brand names they can trust. Think about your own buying habits. All things being equal…you will go for the well-known brand names over the unknown competitors any day.
Products without established brand names are forced to go after only one specific type of shopper…the bargain shopper. This is the type of customer who gives you the lowest margins and very limited profits.
This is not the market you want to be in. Establishing your company as having the lowest prices is one of the most dangerous positions to put yourself. Although it can and will work for a while, as soon as a larger competitor with greater buying power comes into the market to compete with you…you're dead. They can quickly establish themselves as cheaper than you and wipe out everything that may have taken you years to build.
Look at most of the big brand name companies such as Nike, Reebok, Harley-Davidson, Adidas, and Microsoft.
None of those companies have the lowest prices in their markets. Look closely at few of them and you'll realize they're the most expensive companies in their markets. Does Nike make the lowest price sporting goods? No.
Is Microsoft the cheapest software developer? No. Are Harleys the cheapest motorcycles you can buy? No.
Harley-Davidson is a brand name synonymous with motorcycles. Say
Motorcycle to many people and the first image in their head is a Harley. They have over a dozen competitors, but they've ingrained their name onto people's consciousness. Even more interesting is the fact that most of their competitors cost around ½ the price for the exact same quality motorcycle.
They developed their brand name as the American Made motorcycle even though there were other American motorcycle companies. They built their entire mystique around this brand. They were American motorcycles and anyone who was serious about motorcycling needed to have a Harley (this also shows they built themselves on an exclusive appeal as well since they're the most expensive and have the longest waiting lists to purchase).
Most big companies don't figure out how to create a brand this well. For example,” Where's the Beef" may be a well known commercial in the US, but it didn't help Wendy's sales one bit. It was an expensive experiment, which entertained the public, but it didn't leave many people remembering Wendy's as having larger burgers than other competitors.
How does this apply to you…the small or home based business?
Direct Response Branding
Most direct marketing experts immediately ignore the word “branding” it because it has been so misused and misunderstood that we haven't wanted to have any part of it.
When most people think of "brands" online they think of cute little logos, corporate mission statements, and other useless items. We're not talking about any of that. We're talking about branding your name into the minds of your customers so they want to continue to do business with you. Then, they tell their friends to work with you as well.
Your Internet brand can't be focused on you or your company. It must be focused on your customer and only your customer. I've taught thousands of people how to write effective ad copy and the key to success with ads is focusing on the benefits. When writing an ad, online or offline, you focus every sentence and every line on your customer. What benefits will they receive? What can you do for them? What problems can you help them with? Every visitor to your web site is tuned into the station WIIFM which stands for
