Must Read: The Cycle of Business
Think about it this way.
Every successful business functions on 3 basic building blocks - attraction, conversion, and cashflow.
Without any one of them, the business will not survive.
The Biggest Roadblock is Attraction
These are the 2 most common misconceptions:
- a good product will automatically attract masses of people, and
- the product will attract the right people.
They could not be further from the truth.
In this day and age, we are overly exposed to ads and content.
The average person is now estimated to encounter between 6,000 to 10,000 ads in one day.
Businesses are spending boatloads of money to pump out the most hypnotizing and eye-catching marketing materials to get the conversion.
This makes good products much harder to find, especially by the people who will benefit from them the most.
Does this mean that it's the end for one-person businesses or small businesses? Definitely not.
I would even argue that this is a good thing for the small players.
In today's issue, I will break it down for you into 5 elements.
Please note that they will be brief, or else you'll be reading a really long piece.
Tectonic Shift for Good
Research and data is showing that consumer demands are changing.
With the number of options out there, consumers now want to know where their money is going.
This phenomenon is what Gen Z calls being “woke”. To always be clear on the truth rather than taking things at face value.
People now want to do good, especially the Millennials and Gen Z.
They want to buy from, work for, and invest in purpose-driven businesses.
And the good news is that the larger the business, the higher the expectation for a positive impact.
So, it's time for you to worry less about your offer and niche.
Instead, think about your purpose.
Storytelling Please
In the super noisy and crowded marketplace, businesses are starting to run out of things to say.
A ton of copycats left and right.
The solution? Brand storytelling.
It's not enough to have a quality product or service, businesses need to know how to talk about it in a way that differentiates them from the crowd. That's why brand storytelling is so important.
Facts, testimonials, and statistics are starting to get stale and even dubious.
By using storytelling, you can provoke an emotional response and be up to 22 times more memorable than facts.
Oh, and did I mention that emotions drive purchases more than logic?
Storytelling also allows you to build a tribe of like-hearted people.
No, that was not a typo of the term “like-minded”.
If people feel the way you do and can resonate with your story, they're more likely to support what it is you're doing.
Your story is something that no other brand, big or small, can copy.
Niche of One
The hottest piece of advice in 2022 is to find your own niche.
You're a web designer? Niche down. Be a web designer for beauty brands only.
You're a funnel builder? Niche down. Be a funnel builder for ecommerce brands only.
You're a copywriter? Niche down. Be a copywriter for SaaS brands only.
Don't get me wrong.
Niching down is a great idea. It allows you to be an expert in a particular area of your field.
But how many of us choose niches that have a high demand for what we do and have low competition?
Maybe healthcare, manufacturing, equipment and supplies, or tax?
I found myself going down the rabbit hole of niching down as well.
In 2022, I landed on the Food & Beverage niche because I am passionate about food.
I cook daily. I enjoy hosting parties and preparing food. I loved visiting new restaurants and trying foreign cuisines.
Growing up, I even watched the Food Network instead of Cartoon Network.
But having a niche did the exact opposite of what I'd hoped. It made landing clients a lot more difficult for me.
Niching down isn't a pick-and-go concept. It's a science.
So, I started to wonder what a niche really is and how to make it as low competition as possible.
As mentioned earlier, a brand's story cannot be copied and a purpose is in-demand.
Plus, businesses can be the same but brands will always be unique.
In conclusion, building a niche of one is possible by combining your story, purpose, and brand all in one.
Branding
There are 2 types of businesses:
- No fancy branding
- High investments in branding
The truth is, there is no right answer. It depends entirely on your personality and business model.
Example 1
Alex Hormozi made $100 million before ever considering his brand.
He built up his own gym business before selling the system to other gym owners.
He made 100 cold calls a day and even flew across the country to serve his clients.
He grew his business with pure grit and hard work.
Today, he's plastered on every social media platform there is because he'd realised the importance of his brand.
Example 2
Gary Vaynerchuk, or GaryVee, used the power of branding to take his family's liquor store to a $60 million business.
He created WineLibrary TV, where he leveraged his personal brand to review every single bottle of wine in the store.
Whether it was good or not, Gary said it as it was.
Today, Gary has a team of content creators around him to continuously document his thoughts, experiences, and work.
He has the most loyal group of fans I'd ever seen.
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Whether you'd like to be like Alex or Gary, it's completely up to you.
Another way to look at branding is through the lens of your ideal customer.
I call this lens the FLS Triangle.
Whether it's your profile picture, choice of typography and colours, or the way your copy sounds, they will evoke certain emotions.
How your business feels, looks, and sounds to the audience will have an impact on whether they will remember, like, and trust your brand.
Only when they know, like, and trust your brand enough will they convert.
I hope you can tell by now that branding is not just a logo.
Content Strategy
There is literally no reason why you should not create content online.
But what most people struggle with is to gain traction or build an audience.
The dopamine rush from the number of new followers and number of likes becomes a drug.
The desire to jump on the latest trends overpowers that of generating leads.
Sooner or later, the engine loses power and comes to a halt.
So before you start, please be clear of the audience you'd like to attract, whether it's prospective customers or those who want what you have.
For instance, if you're a fitness coach, would you like to attract people who need a fitness coach or fellow fitness coaches?
Next, what would differentiate your skills from the others in your field?
For example, as a fitness coach, maybe your approach is to never go on diets, or to back it up with cold hard numbers and data.
Lastly, think of how you can show proof of competency and not sell. The proof will sell for you.
The client or self transformations.
The product demonstrations.
The behind-the-scenes.
Your unique frameworks and thoughts.
Your content will attract and convert more than you know.
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The Purpose Powerhouse newsletters are focused around these 5 topics.
Stay tuned as I break them down further for you.
If you'd like, I provide Done-For-You and Done-With-You services to help you build your brand and attract the right people.
Let's take your business from #commodity to a #NicheOfOne.