Why you shouldn't copy the competition

80% of any market is getting by or failing

You've probably heard of the Pareto principle or 80/20 rule.

?A couple of examples:

• 80% of land is owned by 20% of the people
• 80% of your profits come from 20% of your clients

?It's a rule that has been borne out by many studies.?

Breaking the numbers down more

If you dig a little deeper, for any given market the 80 and 20 break down even further. In the 80%:

• 60% are getting by, sometimes hand-to-mouth
• The remaining 20% are struggling or failing.

?However, in the top 20%:

• 15% are doing pretty well. They wouldn't complain, but aspire to do better
• 4% are doing really well, thank you very much, and…
• 1% are absolutely nailing it. They are the super successful.

?So 80% of any particular market - YOUR market - are getting by, struggling or failing.

Why would you copy them?

So why not copy the ones in the top 20%?

Well, there are a couple of problems with trying to do that.

And they are big ones.

?Firstly, the top performers are not always obvious.

Most high performers don't shout about it. They prefer to stay under the radar.

Often, those that shout loudest are just trying to big themselves up

They're just trying to give an impression of success.

Many a seemingly successful company has suddenly crashed and burned.

Anyone remember Polly Peck from the 1980's?

Secondly, it's really hard to copy excellence.

The businesses in the 1, 4, and 15% are there for a reason.

They have done the hard work that others couldn't be bothered to do.

All that you see is their "front of house", their stage.

What you don’t see is the engine room behind that stage.

• The years of trial and error.
• The carefully honed processes.
• The hours of split testing copy, ads, images etc.
• The pain of hiring and firing to get to the right team

Those things are hard to copy.

Any copy of their front of house would be superficial.

It would lack true substance.

?How do you get into the top 20%?

?You need to be different

The difference between the 80% and the 20% is not as big as you might think.

It's not about making huge investments.

It's not about doing things on a grand scale.

?But it does require a HUGE change in your mindset.

?The PPC bonanza

When Google introduced Pay Per Click advertising towards the end of 2000, shrewd early adopters made a killing.

They spent millions of pounds or dollars and reaped the rewards.

Those that tried to copy them spent millions for little reward.

?The successful adopters split tested everything.

They tracked the daylights out of everything.

They put in the hard work to learn about relevance, negative keywords etc. etc.

?Those that failed couldn't be bothered.

(ps for the right businesses that put in the hard work PPC can still generate great returns. It's just harder now)

?The social media minefield

The same happened when social media came to the fore.

The 20% put in the hard work to understand which platforms their target market used.

They understood their pain points.

They put out content and ads that addressed those pain points

?The 80% knew they should be using social media but didn't know which platform to use.

They wasted time and money.

They got pitiful results.

Even worse, they didn't know why.

What you need to do

You need to educate yourself.

Look at your competitors and do something different.

Track and measure everything.

Split test as much as you can.

Learn from those that really have done what you seek to do.

Listen to their stories of where they went wrong - it's where they learned the most.

?My first business was in the 20% - the wrong 20%

I started it in 2003 with a former colleague after we were both made redundant.?

We thought, "we are good project managers, people will buy us". But they didn't.?

Why? Because we had no idea how to run or market a business. We were a "me too" business just like the rest of the 80%.

?We eventually closed that business down. When I started again, I learned how to market a business properly.

?The real difference

The real difference is attitude – your attitude. If you have a “can’t do” attitude then the age-old saying will always be true:

"If you always do what you've always done,

You'll always get what you've always got"

?Be different from the 80%. Copy the mindset, attitude, and work ethics of the top 20%.

Educate yourself and your team.

Set aside time to work ON your business every day (tip: most business owners don't do this).

Start taking action.

Start with baby steps, but make a change every day.

?Time for action

Tomorrow is the 1st of March. What are you going to do differently from now onwards? What actions are you going to take to make March more successful than January or February? How are you going to stand out??

This might help….

This organisation I've been part of for over 8 years now is running a campaign where they're giving away a TESLA. I learned more about marketing from them than anywhere else.

I can get you a month of free membership and if you like it, we both get an entry into the draw.

They're closing it off at 500 people so odds are pretty good!

Here's the link - take a look:

?#marketing?#smallbusinessmarketing #marketingclar