The Business of Online Marketing

Crating Your Competitive Offer

In this chapter what we're going to discuss about is quickly sizing up the competition. So by now you should be clear on what an online marketing company does as well as what you want to achieve by owning your own company.

Now is the time to start crafting your own offer to brainstorm. It's best to start scene by scene what the competition is doing. Now think about this when I say competition I mean other online marketing companies out there. The goal here though isn't to take on these companies directly or train it or train still steal their clients for sure take my word for it.

There is more than enough business out there. Don't fall victim to this scarcity mind-set. It will hurt the growth of your business. I'm just going to say it again. There is more than enough business out there. There are literally millions of companies out there that need your help and I'll share with you how to access them.

Coming up in a few years from now. But first let's just say it with me. There is more than enough business out there. So the main reason you're going to size up your competition or take a look at what others are doing is to get a feel for how they're actually doing the thing.

You're not going to copy them but you're going to be inspired by them. It'll help brainstorming and help you get around ideas of what you yourself want to do. So to get started pull up the Internet and start with some words like online marketing company or internet marketing company.

You could even use agency or firm or other words that are similar to see what you get. Try getting even more specific with words like video marketing and social media and reputation management. And at this point you should also begin to think of how you can niche down and perhaps offer specific valuable service.

If you already have an idea of a specific industry or vertical as they say you would like to zero in on them be sure to add that to your search. For example maybe already have a lot of contacts in the legal space and you're thinking about working with attorneys simply add those terms to the mix. For example you could look up words like online marketing for attorneys or social media management for patent lawyers.

Now what do you need to look for when thinking about this when you're doing your search take out notebook or my favorite pull up Evernote and then jot the following down. First of all we're going to look at Web sites business name Social Media colors logo tag line services and pricing.

Let's first discuss about Web sites; what comes up when you search for the keywords? Who comes up first? What do their Web sites look like? Are they nice? Are they professional? Are you personally impressed? And do you think their clients or potential clients are impressed as well?

Check to see the web with the Web sites look like on your phone and also on your tablet if you want to make sure that their sites are up to date and are mobile friendly. Moving on to business name what are the names of the businesses that you're seen.

Are they self-explanatory? Like marketing and services for a plumber, plumbers or are they more ambiguous. Pay attention to the names that you see as you start to think about your own business name social media. Do they link to their own social media platforms? Do they have followers?

Are they actually doing the marketing? Do they have a blog? Do they make good use of colors as part of their brand? More colors that appeal to you? This isn't a big deal. In this case in other industries it is. But you want to think about what colors you want to have in your own business as you can tell from the branding of this chapter that I have in this book that I have.

I like the color blue. What does their logo look like? Is it memorable? And how does it work with the rest of their brand and think about if their logo is even necessary. Or maybe just a company title would be sufficient.

A lot of times people in this space don't even have a logo. They just have a title that works great. Think about a tagline. So does the business have a tagline? If so what does it state what they do. Does it tell you what kind of benefits that you as a potential client are going to get for being working with that company next.

Look at the services. What kind of services do they offer? Are the industry specific or do they focus in on one particular service for example maybe they just offer services for just lawyers. Or maybe they offer just video marketing services for anyone. Now also look at the pricing. You want to see if they have prices listed on their Web site.

And if you do if they do you think that they are reasonable prices again things are a business owner mindset here that if you were to contact these people with these prices look fair to you. Would you want to pay for these also? Does it look at the contact information go to the contacts page or connect or discuss to us now whatever they call it.

Does the company drive a specific action like for example they should have something like? Click here to learn more. Or maybe they offer a guide like download your free guide for internet marketing and for lawyers something like that. Look at their contact page and think about is it obvious is it easy for a visitor to get in touch with the company.

And here's a hint it should be it should be very easy for anyone to be able to get a hold of that company whether it's by phone or by e-mail or an opt in form or whatever it is. So keep poking around. What else can you see? Look at everything you can and look at as many companies as you can take it all in a good way to look at your competition is to think if you were a business owner would you be turned on by what you're seeing.

And this is actually really important to write down everything you like. And in fact if you see a company doing something that you think is great.