I Got You

Can You Dominate Your Niche... Even If You're A Latecomer?

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:27 PM

Who was the first to create online bookstore?
Who was the first to create the automobile (car)?
Who was the first fast food chain?

If you answer: Amazon, Ford and McDonald's... you're WRONG!

In the new book I'll expose the "first mover advantage" myth... In reality, a lot of first movers/pioneers end up losing their market. The advantage doesn't lie with being the first. In fact, being the first has some great disadvantages!

Let me give you a couple more obvious examples:

Who is the biggest search engine on the Internet? Ans: Google obviously.
Were they the first mover in the search engine? Nope!

Who is the biggest software company in the world? Ans: Microsoft.
Did they pioneer their software? Nope! In fact, they have pioneered none.

What does this mean? Well, it means GREAT news for you if you're a latecomer or if you're just entering a niche. If you know what to do and how to do it, you can start late and become a niche dominator.

One of the key to become a dominator in you niche is to have better marketing strategies. Almost all of the dominant brands in any niche have superior marketing. This also applies outside of business. Just think of Obama. His campaign has much better marketing, a clearer message (part of a marketing strategy) and he won.

Another key to dominate your niche is to be different. Taking Obama as an example again, he did so many things differently. He is black. He reached out to the masses for donations instead of focusing on just a few which was the traditional way. He reached out to the younger generation which was largely ignored. His campaign used the social media effectively which other politicians didn't, etc.

And if you think he is a pioneer, being the first black man to run for president, nope he is not.

Do you remember the class joker in your school? If you do, chances are because s/he was different from the rest of your classmate. People tend to remember people or things or brands that are different.

So, the question is: Are you different from your competitors? Are you marketing yourself/your brand better? If you're not, it'll be hard to dominate your niche.

More to come soon...

By the way, do you know the answers to the first 3 questions? Who were the first online bookstore, automobile, fast food chain?

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