The 10% Edge

Recently, I have been thinking about expanding my business.

And you’re probably thinking “Aren’t we all!” :-)

But there are many ways to expand a business:

1. Add another stand alone product or service
2. Add another backend product or service
3. Add a product or service where you get paid monthly
4. Sell affiliate products or services
5. Cross-sell or Up-sell existing promotions
6. Add consulting
7. Add mentoring

Anyway, lots of possibilities.

But lately I’ve been thinking about adding other products and affiliate products to my own product mix.

I’d like to have even more revenue streams to hedge against a slow down in sales in any one area.

So I’ve been looking for product ideas by examining existing markets.  I don’t just want to come up with an idea that I think is interesting.  I want to pick an idea that already has a good size market of people who are already ready and waiting to buy it.

Now, I used to think that if I came up with an idea for a product that it had to be totally unique and original.

But I don’t believe that’s true anymore.

Of course, if you can come up with a truly unique product that already has people eager to buy it, then you’re going to rake in the cash!

But these days that is harder to do because so many people are looking for that next *BIG* idea.  And its not as easy to come up with something totally original.

Take for example, the Microsoft DOS operating system.  For years, this was the primary way that people worked on their personal computers.  Then the Apple Macintosh was introduced.  It had a graphical user interface.  You just pointed and clicked, using a mouse.

This was a revolutionary approach compared to what people were used to at that time.

And of course there is also Microsoft Windows.

Moving from DOS to a Mac or to Windows was a real jump.  And of course both the Mac and Windows operating systems continue to be improved even today.

Anyway, like I said, I don’t believe that you have to have a totally unique and original product idea anymore.  In fact it is much easier to see if you can find a product that already sells well today and then think of ways to make it just a bit better.

I call this the 10% Edge.

You only have to be about 10% better than your nearest competitor to do very well as a business because people are always comparison shopping.  They are looking for the best deal or the best value that they can find. Especially in a very competitive market.

Think about the athletes that complete at the Olympics. They are all world class athletes.  In any race event, the difference between winning and losing might be only a few seconds or even fractions of a second.

So is the athlete that wins so much better than all the rest?

No! But they were slightly better and that gave them the edge on race day.

This is the 10% edge.

Let me give you a recent example of someone introducing a product into a market with well established competitors.

Have you heard of Camtasia Studio?  It’s a product that allows you to record your screen to create training, demos, and tutorials.

It’s used by many online marketers to demonstrate their products or to teach others about marketing techniques.

Well, recently, Armand Morin introduced a competitive product called ScreenCam Generator.  He even tells you in his sales copy that he got the idea because “… we realized there really wasn't any alternative to the most popular screencam software out on the Internet”.  But also “We didn't feel this particular piece of software had ALL the tools which an Internet marketer or online business would need in order to build their business with ScreenCam to its maximum potential”.

So he created another product that competes directly with Camtasia except that he has added some features that he felt were missing.

That’s the 10% edge.

Of course there are other benefits that Armand provides as well, but I hope this gives you an idea about how to create a product or even improve your own product to have that 10% edge.

And the best part about looking for the edge is that you already have someone else’s product to evaluate.  You can find all their weaknesses and improve on them to give you the edge!

Ok, so now let’s talk about some ways that you can differentiate your new or existing product to give it the EDGE.  This will be a brief list with examples because the ways you can differentiate is really only limited by your imagination.

• Benefits – Does your product offer more benefits?
  
• Features – Does your product have more features that are useful to your customers?  Sell the benefits of those features rather than the features themselves.
  
• Price – If you can offer a better price than your competitor it can give you a huge advantage. Think Wal-Mart!  However, you don’t want to compete on price only.  And sometimes it’s better to convince your target audience that your product is just plain worth more so you can charge a higher price.
  
• Service – Tell your customers why your service is the best.  Do you offer it 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Do you guarantee a response within 24 hours? Do you provide access to a help forum for free?
  
• Extras – What else can bundle with your product as a bonus for purchasing from you? Can you make these extras so valuable that they are worth the price of the product itself and more? Can you provide free shipping? Do you have an extra that is exclusive – in other words that ONLY you can provide?
  
• First To Market – Were you the first one to bring this type of product to market?  Or are you the longest established for this type of product. Being first or being around for a long time can bring you credibility because you can be viewed as the leader for that type of product.
  
• Leading Expert – Can you show that you are the leading expert or an expert in your field for your product category. This helps people trust you and your products.
  
• Raving Fans – Do other you have specific testimonials from customers?  Do celebrities endorse your product? Do other heavyweights in your industry recommend you?
  
• Brand Recognition – Is your brand and reputation well known enough that people automatically give look at what you have to offer, even if its a new product?  Do you have a “coolness” factor?
  
• Great Content – Do you provide valuable, free content at your site that helps people so they feel more inclined to make purchases from you?
  
• Guarantee – Do you have a completely, risk and hassle free guarantee?

By the way, the 10% edge is not limited to just selling your own products.  You can also apply it affiliate marketing as well.

What can you add as an affiliate marketer?

• Additional bonuses beyond those offered by the product suppliers
  
• You could do a teleconference with the product creator and invite people to the call.  You can even give them a copy and transcript of the call with resale rights if they purchase from you
  
• You can collect the name and email address of the person who is interested in the product and follow up with them by creating a short email course on the product you are selling as an affiliate.  This allows you to market to them again and again as well as giving them more information about the product they are interested in.  You can continue to follow up with them even after their purchase, perhaps giving them an additional, surprise bonuses
  
• You could create training videos to demonstrate the product as part of your marketing strategy to sell the product as an affiliate.  This shows them how easy to use the product is and you can even offer to give them copies of those training videos and additional ones if they buy from you
  
• You could write more compelling sales copy than the copy provided by the product creator and sell it using your own sales page

And this 10% Edge is even more important if you are a Big Ticket Marketer in a competitive business.  Your customers are going to be naturally more skeptical because of the higher price tag associated with your products.  Differentiating yourself from your competition by using any or all of the above methods is critical for you.

Go Create your 10% EDGE today!

Copyright (C) 2005 Chuck Daniel, Like Magic Marketing, LLC -- All Rights Reserved.

-Chuck

Chuck is a former Microsoft software designer and program manager who spent more than a decade happily working on Email and CRM. Admittedly a seminar, workshop and information addict, Chuck left Microsoft to pursue his interests in personal development, internet, direct and information marketing and to promote and work for charitable causes.

Chuck Daniel
Would You Like to Make BIG Bucks
With BIG Ticket Items Online?
http://www.bigtickethomestudy.com
http://www.bigticketblog.com

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