Blog - Wilson K Lee

How to Be a Restaurant Partner for UberEATS and MISTAKES to Avoid (Get MORE Profit!)

Before you even consider partnering up and becoming a restaurant partner for a delivery app like UberEats or Foodora, you need to understand why you’d like to do that, and the benefits that it brings to your restaurant.

You need to be super clear in this.

This is because there is a lot of negative talk among the food industry about joining these delivery platforms. Like how many restaurant owners feel like they are forced to join or how it is a black hole that sucks all your remaining margins.

These claims may be true for certain individuals in certain situations and if you don’t utilize them properly. But these platforms are beneficial and can help certain restaurant owners expand their brand immensely.

It depends on the context and the mindset you go into the partnership – which is why you need to clear on your intentions first.

Now let’s get into it!

1.) Get More Exposure To Your Restaurant or F&B Shop

The first reason why you’d want to become a partner with a delivery app is because it brings you a lot more eyeballs and exposure to your brand.

These delivery apps have raised millions of dollars, and they spend a ton in marketing budget to get people to use their platform. The more people who use their service, the more money they make. So for them, they are much more incentivized to spend a whack load of advertising money to get people to use their apps.

If your restaurant is on their app, you would get exposed to people who may never heard of you before. So leveraging off their database is very important and one of the main key features of why you’d want to partner up with these delivery apps.

2.) Avoid Headache Of Hiring & Staffing

The food industry is notorious for high turnover rates.

For many restaurant owners, dealing with their own in-house staffing is already such a big headache.

So why would you want to deal with having your own delivery team when you can have someone else take care of that for you?

Yes. there’s going to be a fee involved using these delivery apps, but you don’t need to worry about employee benefits or insurance. You don’t even need to worry about their wellbeing, the culture – none of that. That’s for UberEats or Foodora to take care of.

You just need to make sure you give them their fee and they’ll take care of all the delivery. That saves you a lot of time and headache of dealing with your own driver.

3.) Offset Your Sunk Cost

Regardless of how busy your shop is, you’re already paying for rent and your staff to be there. This means the slow times as well.

So why wouldn’t you want to utilize these apps and fulfill orders during those periods?

Although you might not be profiting as much or make as much margins from your dining customers, it’s still a good way to offset your sunk cost.

Imagine this: A customer that never heard of you before and found you on the delivery app, while frantically looking for a restaurant to serve their late afternoon meeting. The meeting was a success and everyone enjoyed their meal. Attendees ask where the food came from so they can order from you again.

This means that you not only got to cover a bit of your sunk cost by fulfilling a late afternoon order, but you may also get new customers to either order from you again through a delivery app or to dine in.

It is when you think of how UberEats or Foodora can be part of your bigger overarching business strategy, it is when you see where these delivery apps have a place for your restaurant.

Yes, they have their pros and cons (like most things). But if you are aware of their advantages and disadvantages – of each delivery app – you can intentionally strategize how you can benefit from them and maximize your restaurant’s potential.

What Do These Delivery Apps Charge?

How to Be a Restaurant Partner for UberEATS and MISTAKES to Avoid (Get MORE Profit!) 1

They charge a percentage of your order, so anywhere from 15% to 35%, depending on the structure and the relationship that you have with these apps.

For example, UberEats charge around 30%. A lot of times you can actually negotiate down a few percentage points depending on the location that you’re at.

For other delivery apps, they go down as low as around 15%. Some of those services they just drive you the customers, not necessarily deliver for you.

So anywhere from 25% and to 35% is a very common percentage that I see a lot of restaurants being charged.

What Does That Mean?

That means that if a delivery app brings in around $10,000 in revenue for you, they’re going to pocket around $2,000 – $2,500 as their fee.

Now, in my previous video, I did talk about the margins that restaurant owners typically have. That floats around 5% – 10%. If you’re good at managing your cost and everything, it goes up to 15% – 20%, but that’s really rare. You’ve got to be like a super operator and super good with your numbers.

So what does that mean? You should not view these delivery app services as a strategy to increase your profits.

Instead, you should look at these delivery apps as a means to bring you new customers and get exposure. You calculate this as part of your marketing cost.

When you have these eyeballs and these customers, it’s your job and your duty to convert them into regulars that will come consume at your café or restaurant.

Now that we know why you’d want to partner up with these delivery apps and what are the percentages that they charge, here are five common pitfalls that you should avoid during your partnership

Pitfalls of Partnering With Delivery Apps

1.) Having Poor Logistics

How to Be a Restaurant Partner for UberEATS and MISTAKES to Avoid (Get MORE Profit!) 2

So many businesses that I work with, their staff completely hates working with these delivery services because it just seems like adding a wrench in their whole system, in their engine.

They’re already busy as hell and all of a sudden they need to care about this online order and they don’t want to be able to prioritize them. But, the driver’s already here to pick up the order.

This is a nightmare for the staff.

So it is crucial to have proper logistics and proper training to implement the online orders into your system. Iron out your operations, so your staff has less headache and actually wants to serve these online orders.

When you do sign up for a delivery app, you need to have the proper systems and processes in place to really take advantage of the service.

Failing to do so will only put extra strain on your staff and affect your brand.

2.) Neglecting What The Fees

How to Be a Restaurant Partner for UberEATS and MISTAKES to Avoid (Get MORE Profit!) 3

When you sign up for a delivery app, there is 0 or very little upfront cost. The charge is in each order. So if you fail to understand the fees involved, your numbers won’t work out and may be in the reds.

What that means is, every order that you receive, you’re going to end up losing money if you do not understand how do to manage them properly.

It is crucial for you to have a separate exclusive menu just for delivery.

You need to work out menu items that are high in margin and easy to produce. That gives you the flexibility and the room to play with, and for you to be able to bring in new customers.

For example, if you’re a dessert place, you’d possibly want to sell brownies that would cost you $0.40 to make and sell them at $5 a pop. That is super easy, you just need to grab, pack it, boom. It’s good to go, and the margins are there for you.

3.) Choosing The Cheapest Service

The third common pitfall is that people choose the app that gives them the lowest percentage. Understand that these apps are a big representation for your brand. If these apps don’t have a good customer service or a poor interface, that is a reflection on your brand.

At the end of the day, if the customer enjoys using the app and has a great experience – and you deliver on amazing delicious food – they will order from you again and may even come to your restaurant. This give you the potential for you to gain a loyal customer.

So choose an app that has a good interface, that has good customer feedback and good customer support.

It is worth a slightly higher percentage fee.

4.) Not Caring About Food Quality

How to Be a Restaurant Partner for UberEATS and MISTAKES to Avoid (Get MORE Profit!) 4

So many restaurant owners have this oversight.

They just think, “Hey, you just want something with high margins, something that is quick to make.” It’s a good start to have a specific menu for delivery apps, but a lot of times they need to also really study, “Is this item good for delivery? Is it going to be good by the time that it goes onto my customer’s hands?”

For example, if I’m selling french fries, it’s probably not a really great idea to have this as part of the menu because by the time it arrives in your customer’s hands, it’s going to be soggy it’s going to be gross, it’s going to be stale, and your customer’s not going to have a good experience at all.

It becomes a lose-lose situation.

You’re gonna be losing in terms of margins, and your customers are not going to come back for you (who likes soggy fries?).

You just lost completely because of this oversight.

So make sure whatever item that you decide to put on the menu, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and think whether it is good and it would retain its quality after delivery.

5.) Treating Them Like Regular Customers

Pitfall number five is treating your delivery app clients, the customers, like your regular customers. You do not want to do that.

Earlier, we talked about the importance of utilizing this strategy to pull in long-term customers. You’re not treating the delivery app customers like any other customers. You need to pull them and convert them into your loyal base. because if you don’t that, you’re going to lose on your margins.

Partnering with delivery apps long-term is not really a feasible strategy. You have no margins at all if they stick with a ~30% fee.

So it’s super important for you to understand that you don’t treat these customers like any other customers. You need to treat them like, “Hey, this is a new set of eyes. How can I convert them? How can I bring them into the store?”

For example, when you’re working with these customers, you’d want to maybe slip them a coupon for every delivery. Possibly a coupon for a free drink when you dine in. That acts as a really good motivation for these people that try your product and gives them a reason to come to your restaurant.

It also becomes a win-win situation.

You’ve just gained a long-term customer.

Be creative. Focus on converting them from being a delivery app customer to a long-term loyal fan.

Using delivery apps like UberEats, Foodora, Deliveroo is an amazing strategy and tool for you to bring in new customers to your store.

But you have it needs to be done right.

If you do not utilize this tool properly, for every order that you sell, you’re going to be losing money, and it’s going to run you to bankruptcy. So it is super important for you to be aware of the 5 pitfalls and do your best to leverage these tools for your benefit.

marketing restaurant management tips

Amazon Competitor Analysis: How to See Who You are Competing Against & Win

With how savage the competition on Amazon has become, it will be no stretch to describe the internet’s biggest marketplace as a warzone. Thousands of online sellers are constantly fighting for the attention of consumers. When it comes to eCommerce warfare, as with all warfare, one rule rings true – know your enemies.

So, in this digital age, how exactly do eCommerce sellers get to know their enemy?

The most effective way to do it is through an in-depth competitor analysis.

By analyzing what your competitors are doing, you’ll know how to stand out and outperform them.

There’s A Lot To Learn From The Competition

“You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die.”
~ Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba

To learn from the competition, you need to break down their online presence and thoroughly understand their overall approach.

You can then leverage this knowledge to develop a strong competitive advantage and sustain that advantage by always being one step ahead.

What You Can Gain From Tracking Your Amazon Competitors

Amazon FBA sellers have much to gain from performing an Amazon competitor analysis. The value of the insight that can be gained from your competitors’ successes and failures cannot be understated. Having a thorough understanding of the competition allows one to:

Improve the precision of portfolio scouting and sourcing decisions
Optimize advertising campaigns and maximize the efficiency of ad spending
Improve performance and profitability tracking

How to Conduct Your Competitive Analysis

Identify the competition.

You can’t analyze the competition if you don’t know who your competitors are. Knowing the competition will let you:

Use their strengths and weakness as a guide on what you should and shouldn’t do.
Better understand the Amazon FBA landscape and how to position your business above the competition.
Keep track of the competition so you are never caught off guard and can stay one step ahead.

Find Your Competitors

Making full use of Google and Amazon search engines is one of the fundamentals of how to do competitive analysis as an Amazon FBA seller.

Here’s an example of how to leverage the immense power of these two search engines to cast and wide net and get an accurate view of the current competitive landscape of your chosen industry:

Go to Amazon and search for your planned business name, product ideas, and overarching business ideas.
Take note of the top results as they will most likely be ones you’ll have to compete with.
Go to Google and search for the different social media channels, organizations and online communities of each of the competitors you’ve listed in the previous step.
Utilize a combination of free and paid tools to find more information on your competitors. Such tools may include:

SpyFu – a competitor analysis tool that helps you research and download your competitors’ most profitable keywords.
SEMrush – a tool that helps you to conduct competitive research on any domain name and to use the data to optimize your campaigns.
SimilarWeb – a competitive analysis tool for digging into a site, app or platform.
Alexa – a tool that provides deep analytical insights to compare and optimize businesses on the web.
Keyword Competitor – an all-in-one competitive analysis tool that shows you keyword opportunities that your competitors have been ignoring.
Social Mention – a tool that provides real-time search on brand mentions.
Rank Signals – a backlink checker tool that helps you uncover SEO backlinks & traffic sources of your competitors.
Buzzsumo – a social networks tracking tool that helps you find the most shared content for a given topic.

Categorize Your Competitors

After finding the competitors you believe will be a threat to your Amazon FBA business, it’s time to segregate them. You can divide them into three main groups based on their threat level:

1.) Primary Competition

Targets the same audience as you or;
Sells a similar product to yours

Example: A Nike retailer is a primary competitor of an Adidas retailer.

2.) Secondary Competition

Offers a high-end or low-end version of your product or;
Sells a similar product to yours but to a completely different audience

Example: A Rolex seller is a secondary competitor to a Timex seller.

3.) Tertiary Competition

Sells products tangentially related to yours

Example: A seller of gems and precious stones is a tertiary competitor of a jewelry seller.

Find and compile the following information for each competitor:

Name of store
Mission statement (if available)
Product offering
Strengths and weaknesses of their business
Category of competition

Examine your competitor’s website & customer experience.

Now that you know the basic information about the competition, it’s time to dig a little deeper.

Take a closer look and put yourself in their customer’s shoes. You can do this by finding the answer to relevant and important questions such as:

How good are their product images? How do they communicate the details of their product?
How detailed are their product descriptions? What information can be added and what information can be omitted?
How are their calls to action presented throughout the online shopping experience? Do they feel organic? Are they easy to notice?
Do they have an email capture strategy such as a newsletter subscription opt-in? If yes, how prominent is it?
Where are their social media buttons positioned?
Do they maintain a blog? How often do they post? What type of content do they publish?
Is their website optimized for mobile users?
What are the available ways of contacting them? Do they offer 24/7 customer support?
What is their average response time to emails, live chats, and contact form submissions?
Do they have reengagement strategies such as an ‘Abandoned Cart’ feature? If yes, how do they tell their customers about it?
What information do they include in their marketing banners and callouts?
How often do they run promotions such as discounts and freebies?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you identify what competitive advantage you have over your competitors.

Identify your competitor’s market positioning

Understanding the positioning strategy of your competitors will give you valuable insights into the prevailing demands and expectations of your target market. Knowing how your competitors position themselves will give you an idea on how to position yourself against them.

To do this, you need to look at their website and messaging and answer these three simple questions:

What is the main reason customers buy from them? Is it the price? Is it the experience? Or is it something else entirely?
How do they differentiate their product from that of their competitors? What feature/s and benefit/s do they highlight the most?
What, according to them, makes their product unique?

Here are a few tips to help you gather as much relevant information as possible:

Sign up for their newsletter and check out the messaging of their newsletter campaigns.
Subscribe to and follow their blog. Look at what type of content they publish and what tone they use.
Follow their official social media pages and analyze how they communicate with their followers.
Put an item into your shopping cart but do not complete the checkout process. Wait and see whether or not they will try to convince you to complete the purchase. Study the language and structure of each email in their ‘Abandoned Cart’ email series.
Purchase a product and analyze it. Determine how it compares with your own product.

Take a peek at pricing.

Your pricing strategy can make or break your Amazon FBA business.

There are numerous factors to consider when setting the price of your products. You can use the way your competitors priced their products as a reference.

Doing so will give you an idea on how much your target consumers are willing to pay. Check their prices on both Google and Amazon.

Keep in mind that your prices don’t necessarily have to be less than your competitors as long as you offer something they don’t. That extra value can come in the form of peace of mind, expedited shipping, better buying experience, etc.

Don’t forget to factor your startup and operating costs when setting your prices. It is essential that you earn enough to profit to make your time as an Amazon FBA seller worthwhile.

Take a temperature check with reviews.

Find out what consumers are saying about your competitors’ products and the overall customer experience they provide.

You can gauge the health of an ecommerce business by how good or bad the online word of mouth about it is. The number of available reviews also indicates how much interest consumers have on a particular product.

Knowing this information is essential to identifying the best items to sell on Amazon FBA.

Check the reviews on the competitor’s Amazon product pages, on their website, on review sites, and on social media.

Read the comments left on their blog posts too, if you can.

Customer reviews might show you something you can capitalize on or give you hints on something you have that you can turn into a competitive advantage. Identify the things consumers complain about.

Find ways to ensure they won’t make the same complaints about your product.

Review their social media.

Taking a closer look at a competitor’s social media accounts can tell you a lot of things.

The number of followers along with how much they talk about the product tells you how viable that product is.

You’ll also learn the general consensus consumers have about that competitor’s business. You’ll see which attempts at engagement fail and which succeed.

Check out as many social media accounts you can find for each competitor. Use the following questions to gauge how strong or weak their social media presence is:

How would you define their overall social media presence?
What social media channels do they use the most?
What tone do they use when speaking with their followers?
What are they posting and how often?
How often do they post something new?
What relevant social media channels do they ignore?
What percentage of posts talks about their business?
What percentage of posts is aimed at increasing engagement or attracting new followers?

Amazon is the largest online marketplace on the World Wide Web. It is also the most competitive.

Fortunately, you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch.

You can use the trials, failures, and success of your potential competitors as stepping stones for your own Amazon FBA business.

Your competitors are goldmines of valuable information. They can give you an idea of what the best items to sell on Amazon FBA are. They can tell you what you should and should not do. They can give you ideas on how you can differentiate your brand.

Understand your competition and Amazon FBA success will be well within reach.

How to Find Your Target Market for Your Ecommerce Businesses

Knowing the intricate nuances of your target market plays a crucial role in the performance of any eCommerce business.

Because there are so many competitors out there selling a similar product as you, you need to make your products stand out and speak to your potential customers and current customers. That way, they buy from you over the guy down the street (web).

Failing to put the work in doing the research and doing the testing may mean pushing the wrong messaging and wrong visuals to your intended buyers. Which means a lot of wasted time and money.

Know Who You’re Marketing To

It is incredibly hard to succeed as a business if your target audience is not clearly defined.

A big mistake beginner business owners make is trying to market to everyone. That is, using the same messaging and visuals towards each demographic cluster.

The problem is that a universal marketing strategy does not exist in today’s age.

Why bother marketing to consumers who are unlikely to buy your product? You’ll end up spreading your budget too thin.

Aim for consumers who are most likely to connect with your brand. This is the best way to use your marketing dollars and your best chance of succeeding in such a vicious industry.

What is “Target Market”?

You can find several variations of the target market definition on the internet.

I find Shopify’s definition is one of the most accurate:

“A target market is a group of consumers or organizations most likely to buy a company’s products or services. Because those buyers are likely to want or need a company’s offerings, it makes the most sense for the company to focus its marketing efforts on reaching them. Marketing to these buyers is the most effective and efficient approach. The alternative – marketing to everyone – is inefficient and expensive.”
-Shopify

Why Do I Need To Know My Target Market?

How can you sell to consumers if you have no idea what they want or need?

Each person has different demographic qualities, interests, and pain points.

Selling without a target market is like traveling without a specific destination. You’ll likely get lost and never achieve the goals of your journey.

On the other hand, if you target the right audience, success will be well within reach.

If you find an untapped market, you can even disrupt the market.

Let’s take a look at this recent success story.

Do it like the Dollar Shave Club

The Dollar Shave Club took the shaving industry by storm. It completely disrupted the personal grooming market.

How did it do this?

First, it found an untapped market. And which market is that, you ask?

It’s the men who don’t like the hassles of going out to buy razors and grooming products.

During that time, all sellers of razors and male grooming products required their customers to come to their stores.

Disruption is the Key to Rapid Growth

The Dollar Shave Club’s business model changed the face of the male grooming industry forever.

The company sends its subscribers razors and grooming products delivered to their house. Subscribers only have to pay a small monthly fee in return.

The Dollar Shave Club then topped this off with its memorable and catchy tag line, “our blades are f***ing great!”

The Dollar Shave Club became a well-known brand in the US within a few months.

It owed half of its success to its business model. The other half was thanks to it choosing the right target market.

How Do I Find My Target Market For My eCommerce Business?

The process of identifying your target market can be broken down into the four steps listed below:

Step 1: Define Your Target Market

This first step is all about identifying the problem you solve or the desire you fulfill.

You need to know the pain points you want your marketing to aim for.

Consider these tools and areas during your research:

Amazon Reviews – look at the negative review and positive reviews of a similar product a competitor is selling. See what works and what doesn’t.
Quora – a Q&A board where you can see what people are struggling with or curious about in the topic your product is in.
Answer the Public – displays all the questions people ask online about any term or topic.
Facebook Insights – input a Facebook page of a global company that caters to a similar target audience and see the interests and demographic information about them.

Write down all the key information you find in these platforms, specifically:

what are the biggest pain points people are having?
what is the goal people are looking to achieve?
how does the product make them feel?
what brands, books, known individuals are mentioned?
what demographic and psychographic patterns to do you see?

Let’s say your service delivers razors and other male grooming products to subscribers.

Who would be your ideal target audience?

You can target working adult males who are too busy to go to the department store only to buy a razor.

You can then use this to create your buyer persona. Buyer personas make it easier to make your marketing, product, and packaging have the same target.

Let’s say that our buyer persona is John, a 31-year-old working father of two.

Step 2: Refine Your Target Market

Now that you have a buyer persona, it’s time to refine it.

You need to factor in the demographics and psychographics of your potential customers so you can get into their heads.

Demographics can include gender, age, income level, education level, marital status, and the like.

Psychographics can include behaviors, attitudes, and the like.

Here are some examples of how to refine the buyer persona we’ve created above:

John, a 31-year-old working father of two who is separated and takes care of the kids on his own
John, a 31-year-old working father of two with a stay-at-home wife who does the shopping for him
John, a 31-year-old working father of two who is rich and has a housekeeper who buys groceries for the family

Step 3: Validate Your Target Market

Now that you have refined your buyer persona, it’s time to check its validity.

How? You do some old-fashioned research.

Proper market research is needed to ensure that there are no major flaws in your chosen target market.

So far, you’ve built your buyer persona based on assumptions. It’s time to put those assumptions to the test.

Here are some of the questions you should answer to ensure the eligibility of your target audience:

Are there enough people in your target market segment?
Can they afford your price tag?
Are there existing competitors?
Can you deal with them?

Step 4: Evaluate Your Target Market

Let’s say the research supports the validity of your target market.

Don’t jump the gun just yet. Don’t forget to test the waters.

Create a test launch were you try to sell only a few products here and there.

Or you can test it by talking to individuals who fit your target market. This means actually going out there to find multiple “Johns”.

If the results are positive, then you’re good to go.

If they’re disappointing, use the findings to refine and adjust your strategies.

The bottom line is that you have products you want to sell, but you can’t market to everyone.

No business has the budget for that.

To spend your marketing budget efficiently, you need to find the right target audience.

You need to find the segment of consumers who need and/or want your product. This will allow you to maximize the conversion rate of your marketing efforts.

Don’t make the novice mistake of ignoring this crucial step. Put in the work and figure out your target audience. It will be well worth it down the road.

branding basics ecommerce starting a business

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses

People love stories.

It’s why some stories originally told over a thousand years ago endure up to this day.

We’ve loved stories from an early age, back when we barely understood them.

Stories entertain. Stories inspire. Stories fuel the imagination.

Storytelling in Marketing

It’s no surprise that storytelling has become one of the most effective tools used in marketing.

Its ability to establish a deeper connection with consumers is unparalleled. Storytelling can humanize a brand and make it more relatable.

When done right, eCommerce storytelling can reach out of the computer screen and “touch” consumers.

It can also be the catalyst to mobilizing a legion of loyal fans.

What Is Storytelling For eCommerce?

Marketing is a necessity if you want to succeed in eCommerce.

There are countless competitors selling products identical to yours.

It becomes a race of who can capture their audience’s attention first. When it comes to engaging your audience, few can be as potent a tool as storytelling.

Capture the Imagination of Your Audience

Online stores can make consumers experience their stores physically.

So you need something else to reel them in. Engage them. Make them understand what your brand is about. Let them know what you stand for.

Tell a story that makes your audience imagine themselves enjoying your products.

Take Consumer on an Emotional Journey

A powerful story can do a variety of things for your brand.

It can compel your audience to trust you.

It can evoke an emotion that leads to a desire to buy your product.

A good story can make consumers feel like they’ve known your brand all their life.

Why do I need to care about storytelling?

Stories make your brand feel more authentic.

Stories can make your audience feel like they are talking to a trusted friend.

Stories allow you to converse with your audience on a more emotional level. Stories add depth.

They can make your brand seem more than just a product or service.

Stories can make your brand an entity that consumers want to be friends with.

Information overload

Let’s face it. Consumers today find most conventional advertising methods boring.

You can’t expect a consumer to read a boring wall of text. We’re in the digital age.

Consumers are overloaded with information:

Google receives over 63,000 searches per second
The average consumer processes around 100,000 digital words each day
A person encounters an average of 5,000 marketing messages per day
3 trillion online ads are sold each year

Most consumers don’t bother with marketing messages. Almost 80% of people scan content and only read the parts that interest them.

Ecommerce storytelling can compel your audience to read every word of your message.

Develop stronger relationships

Communication is a two-way street.

Consumers aren’t content with just listening to you.

They want you to listen to what they have to say too.

Tell a story your audience can relate to. This will make them feel that you understand them.

The more relatable stories you tell, the stronger your bond with them will be.

Make Your Audience Feel They’re a Part of Something Greater

Define your brand with a core set of beliefs. Make sure these core beliefs resonate with your audience.

This will build goodwill between you and your audience. It will add perceived value to your products and services.

This perceived value will allow you to charge higher than your competitors without losing your customers.

Consumers who feel strongly about your brand will also become your brand ambassadors.

For instance, Warby Parker has the mission to solve the problem with access to glasses. Their Buy A Pair, Give A Pair program encourages customers to be part of their initiative and help solve this crisis. This adds to the alure of buying a pair of glasses from Warby Parker.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 19 — Warby Parker Buy A Pair, Give A Pair Program

Similarly, LUSH is an active participant in donating and discovering ways to help solve various environmental and animal crisis. Their strong activist brand attracts those who share similar values and adds to the “feel good” state of customers when they see that portions of sales goes to LUSH’s many ethical campaigns.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 20 — Some of LUSH’s initiatives

Stories are motivational

Stories can move people. A good story can motivate consumers to do what you want them to do. Build a story around these motivations. To do this, there are three factors you need to consider:

What you want your audience to feel
What action you want your audience to take
What call-to-action (CTA) will be the most compelling

How Do I Start Telling A Story About My Business?

1.) Focus on emotions

Most consumers make buying decisions based on emotion instead of logic.

Paint a clear picture of how much they’ll love your product or service. Focus on positive emotions.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 21 — Casper focusing on how they help people get better sleep

Make consumers see themselves being satisfied with what you offer.

2.) Talk about how your product makes the customer’s life better

Focus on the benefits instead of the product or service.

Emphasize why your product or service is superior. Highlight why it is unique.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 22 — Casper’s Mattresses

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 23 — Bellroy showcasing how their wallets can handle wear and tear through time

Last, clearly define what consumers can achieve by getting it.

3.) Explain how your company solves customer problems

Attack the pain points of your target audience. Describe the problem in detail. Include its causes and its impact.

This will tell them you understand what they’re going through. Then describe how you’ve developed a solution for the problem.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 24 — Bellroy visually showing the difference from regular wallets and theirs – the pain most people have with their wallets.

4.) Make the story shareable

Build a story around the core values of your brand. Present the story in a way that makes readers want to share it.

Create a short hashtag that summarizes your core message or the story.

Encourage your audience to share their own stories using the hashtag.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 25 — Warby Parker’s story that makes you want to root for them

5.) Be more transparent

Consumers tend to assume the worst when there’s something they don’t know. So say tell it to them right off the bat.

Tell them about your company culture and how it’s like for the people working for you.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 26 — Zappos’ perspective on company culture

Describe your manufacturing process.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 27 — Warby Parker shows the full process from prototype to completion

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 28 — Everlane sharing their factory details for their products

Talk about where you came from and how you got to where you are today.

6.) Be socially conscious

Give back and pay it forward.

Get involved in local community events. Donate to charity. Sponsor a local project. Fund a few scholars.

Any good thing you do can be incorporated into the story of your brand.

Sharing this story will further endear you to your audience.

But make sure to be authentic with this. If you don’t believe in the event or charity, do not force yourself to be part of it. People can sense it.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 29 — Everlane’s ethical approach

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 30 — Patagonia’s Denim

7.) Highlight your brand’s origins

People love success stories. It inspires them.

Share a story about the evolution of your brand.

Highlight the challenges and setbacks you’ve had to overcome.

Talk about the mistakes you’ve made and the lessons you’ve learned.

8.) Humanize your brand

Don’t only talk about your company or your products.

Tell stories about your employees.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 32 — LUSH has video features of their employees that share their work and life

Highlight what they bring to the table.

Showcase the various ways they contribute to your company.

Talk about people who founded your company.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 33 — The story behind Huckberry

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 34 — Story of Yeti

9.) Enhance product descriptions

Many Amazon FBA sellers have trouble finding ways to tell their stories on the Amazon.

Ecommerce storytelling is harder to do on online marketplaces. So what should you do?

Use what’s already there. Use visuals and stories to describe what your product is and what it’s like to use them.

10.) Use real-life stories from customers

Encourage your customers to share their stories involving your company. Offer them a prize to encourage their participation.

This will give you a chance to collect user-generated contact. It will also add authenticity to your storytelling.

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 37 — LUSH user-generated content

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 38 — Daniel Wellington user-generated content

Why Storytelling is Crucial for Ecommerce Businesses 39 — Tweets and Instagram posts from Casper customers

Storytelling is vital to eCommerce success. It’s vital for a business’s longevity.

A good story will not only make someone want to read every word of it, but it will also connect with them on a much deeper level. It transcends what the product is about.

The beauty of a well-established brand is creating that connection where what you sell matters less than what you stand for.

And when you stand for something and mean something more than just a product to them, you build a tribe that will root for you in the long run.

amazon FBA branding basics ecommerce product differentiation starting a business

Amazon FBA Sellers – Why You Need to Build a Brand Before It is too Late

There’s a surprising number of Amazon FBA sellers who don’t think that branding is important.

They believe that it’s okay to sell the same product as everybody else as long as they offer a better price.

This strategy can be viable in the short term but it is rarely sustainable for the long term.

You do not want to settle for being the cheapest in the market. You don’t want to compete with other Amazon sellers that also think the same.

It will become a competition of who can set their prices the lowest. This will hurt your profit margin.

What you want is to be able to compete with other sellers even if your prices are not the lowest. And you can do that through branding.

Reasons to Start Brand Building Today

You need to get started on your Amazon FBA brand development strategy as soon as possible.

And here is why:

Stand Out from the Sea of “Me Too” Products

95 million Americans have Amazon Prime memberships.

Consumers purchased over 100 million products on Prime Day 2018. These two Amazon 2018 stats are proof that Amazon is a lucrative marketplace.

Amazon gives its FBA sellers the chance to make it big quick.

The benefits being so great is also a disadvantage. Everyone wants in on the action. Thousands and thousands of new sellers join Amazon each month.

This creates a sea of “me too” products, where everyone is selling the same white-labelled products and using the same strategies. Many of the listings end up becoming indistinguishable.

A sea of “me too” products

Escape the Saturation Plague

A significant part of Amazon sellers offers generic products.

This causes the marketplace to suffer from a high level of saturation.

Market saturation is one of the most glaring Amazon issues. This makes it a lot harder for a new seller to enter his desired niche.

After all, it’s hard to stand out when a thousand other sellers offer the same product as you do.

You can change this with branding and actually stand out.

This doesn’t mean just slapping on a logo. It means taking the deliberate path of creating a brand that means something, that has values, that has a story, and goes beyond just the logo.

Charge a Premium Instead of Being a Commodity

Selling is all about perception.

Make consumers think that what you’re selling is different.

This will allow you to make them buy even if your prices are higher.

There can be no better example of this than Yeti’s $300 cooler. People were shell-shocked.

It was surprising that consumers were actually willing to shell out 300 bucks for a cooler.

It was so baffling that it became a popular meme.

But even if it became a meme and was considered outlandish by many…Yeti is getting the last laugh.

Because while other people sell coolers for $80, they are able to sell their’s for triple the price. And it works.

Build a Brand That Demands a Premium

So what gave Yeti the audacity to charge so much for a cooler?

Yeti believed in its brand.

While most Amazon sellers focus on being the cheapest, Yeti did a 180 and decided to be the most expensive.

This was possible because Yeti was able to establish itself as a premium brand.

Yeti makes their products look premium and advanced

When consumers buy a Yeti product, they don’t pay only for that product. They also have to pay for the brand.

Develop Customer Loyalty & Build a Loyal Fan Base

When was the last time you bought a generic product online and remembered the seller?

It’s hard to build customer loyalty when your customers can’t even remember your name.

And what can’t they remember your name? You’re selling the same unbranded product as everybody else so why would they bother?

In the minds of consumers, there’s no reason to remember you.

They believe that they can get the same product from another seller. It won’t matter if they can’t find you again so there is no point in remembering you.

But if you spend the time and effort to build a brand that focuses on them, they will remember you and think of you.

Build a Brand That Inspires Confidence

The first step to building a loyal fan base is creating a brand that commands trust and respect.

Let’s look back at Yeti. Imagine a lesser-known brand selling a $300 cooler. Consumers would most likely dismiss it as nonsense. Some will even outright laugh at the foolishness of it.

The $300 cooler only worked because Yeti did it.

What did Yeti’s loyal customers do after they heard about the $300 cooler?

They rationalized that the cooler must be far superior to other coolers. They didn’t feel skeptical. They believe that Yeti always gives them the right value for their money.

Build a Superior Customer Experience

By having your own brand, you can offer your customers a unique experience.

You can engage your fan base on social media. You can convince them that you care for them. Show them you respect their feedback.

Yeti showcasing customer’s photos of their product

Consumers love the feeling that the seller actually cares.

Publish useful and/or interesting content on a regular basis. This will make consumers want to follow you. Make them look forward to new products you are planning to sell.

Yeti Youtube Channel

Become a Trusted Resource of Your Niche

Build a thriving community around your brand.

Become that dependable friend.

Be the first thing consumers think of when they need to buy something.

Think of ways to offer a customer experience consumers can’t find anywhere else.

For example, you can offer to send articles on how someone can make the most out of a product they bought. All they have to do is provide you with their email. You can then use the collected email as leads for your next marketing strategy.

Enjoy Creative Freedom Through Brand Longevity

It’s easier for an Amazon FBA seller to be creative when they know that they have a fan base that will give them a shot.

Knowing your loyal customers are there for you will give you peace of mind.

You’ll have more confidence to launch a contest or event. All you need is one viral campaign to make your popularity explode.

And each surge in popularity helps ensure the longevity of your brand and your business.

Don’t be Afraid to Defy Conventional Marketing Wisdom

Remember KFC’s 11 Herbs and Spices Twitter campaign of 2017?

All KFC did was follow only 11 people on Twitter: the five original Spice Girls and six guys named herb. Then KFC waited for someone to notice.

Remember what happened when someone finally did and twitted about it?

That original tweet had been favorited more than 700,000 times. It also received more than 300,000 comments.

Why did KFC come up with that campaign? It knew it had enough Twitter followers to make it work.

Branding is essential if you want to be a successful Amazon FBA seller.

You will be another generic seller in a wide sea of generic sellers if you don’t.

Building your brand should be one of your top priorities. A strong brand will give you the competitive advantage you need.

Your brand will ensure your business will remain sustainable for the foreseeable future.

amazon FBA branding branding basics ecommerce starting a business

The #1 Mistake Amazon FBA Sellers are Making and Why You Need To Build A Brand

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Are you making this costly mistake?

Amazon is one of the largest online marketplaces. They had an insane 49& share in the entire US e-commerce market in 2018. It’s no wonder why so many people started flocked to create businesses that focus solely on this platform.

But with so much attention and hopes of riches on Amazon FBA, there lie many opportunities for beginners to follow the wrong advice and come out of this journey at a big fat loss.

Today I’m going to share with you the #1 mistake I see novice and advanced Amazon FBA sellers make.

Let’s dive in!

Don’t Fall Into The Same Trap

Every aspiring online e-commerce entrepreneur dreams of a successful Amazon FBA Business and living those stories of reaching 7 or 8 figures. The number of FBA sellers is increasing and that, in itself, can be a problem.

As more and more people flood into the platform and listen to the same gurus, the growing competition makes it harder for everyone to gain a foothold.

But even with the influx of new sellers, time and time again, I see people continue to make one massive mistake that can completely kill their Amazon FBA business’ potential.

The Bane of Amazon FBA Sellers – Being A Commodity Business

Quantity! Quantity! Quantity!

This is the only thing most new FBA sellers only think about. You may think that selling more products is enough. But such a strategy is not viable for the long-term.

Don’t take shortcuts. Don’t skip branding. Otherwise, your Amazon FBA business won’t last long and only be a commodity business.

What’s a commodity business? One that focuses on selling and neglects building brand equity. This, in turn, puts them on a very dangerous position – where they could only compete on price to lure new customers.

Forgoing brand development is the biggest mistake an Amazon FBA seller can make. Here are the reasons why selling unbranded items (and poorly branded items) on Amazon won’t work as a long-term strategy.

Amazon’s Product Saturation Problem

Amazon FBA provides online sellers the opportunity to potentially earn massive profits. New sellers are flocking to this online marketplace every day with that goal in mind. But, most are content with selling a few generic items. This causes saturation of “me too” products.

When a consumer search for a product on Amazon, there’s a high chance that they’ll be given pages and pages of the same item but with just a different colour or logo slapped on. This makes it hard for sellers to stand out and establish a following of loyal customers.

1. Everyone is Following the Same Advice About Ranking

Many Amazon consumers only look at the first page of the results when they perform a product search (like Google search results).

So getting a top ranking can exponentially increase your sales volume and eyeballs on your product. But, doing so is easier said than done. Everybody seems to be using the same strategies to boost their Amazon ranking algorithm to improve the spot their listing shows up on.

Having specific keywords in the product title, description, and feature bullets
Running giveaways to increase sales signals
Get as many reviews as possible

Having everybody use the same optimization techniques is troublesome. You need to do the best practices, but it also has the same effect as nobody performing optimization.

2. You have to Adhere to Amazon’s Rules

There are limits to what you can do to get your products ranked higher and stand out from the crowd. You have to follow the same rules imposed by Amazon (assuming you’re building an authentic business). Such factors make it hard to get creative.

It makes it all the more challenging to stand out from the rest of the Amazon FBA sellers. By spending time and creating a brand (not just slapping a logo on your product), you are no longer like everybody else. You have your own identity and message that you can incorporate in your marketing and build a community that could eventually become your raving fans.

Vitacoco Amazon Brand Content Store

3. It is a Race to the Bottom

Imagine having to lower your prices again and again just to stay competitive…

Not something I’d ever want to do. But that’s the reality if you are a commodity business.

It is the most damaging aspect of selling unbranded or generic items on Amazon. You sell exactly the same product as everybody else. You offer the same quality of packaging and shipping (since it’s handled by Amazon and not you).

The only way left to compete is with the price.

The only way you make your products more desirable by lowering your prices. But chances are high that your competitors will fight back. How? They’ll bring their prices lower than yours. You can then only react by lowering your prices again. It will inevitably become a vicious cycle. It will be a cycle that is great for consumers but devastating for sellers.

And the person with the deepest pockets win. In most cases, it’s not you.

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Become A Premium Brand & Charge More

A big mistake I see business owners make is thinking that they need to spend the time and effort on branding AFTER they make revenue. But it’s backward. You need to be carving out the time from the beginning to create a solid brand and then let it build organically.

Never underestimate the importance of branding. Even though it is difficult to see its effect, it is an important factor in how we decide between one product from another. By building a recognizable e-commerce brand will let you get out of the abyss of selling generic products and the sea of “me too” items.

When people connect with what your brand is about and what it stands for, they’ll be willing to pay the premium for your product. It is why some brands are able to charge double the price of their products, while others need to go into a pricing war that continues to lower their margins.

Here are the 5 most powerful reasons why you need to be serious with building a brand on Amazon:

1. Cut the Need to Compete on Price

Establish your brand, then you won’t have to keep trying to undersell your competitors anymore.

You can even price your products higher. Why would you do this? To make yourself stand out while reaping more profits.

Yes, consumers generally go for products with a lower price. But that is only if you fail to make them perceive that your product offers a higher value.

For instance, if you search “water bottle” on Amazon, you’ll find these two very similar looking and described products beside each other:

BOZ vs. Mossy Oak water bottle

Although Mossy Oak isn’t a brand that is recognizable for the majority of people outside of their niche, doing a Google search and you’ll find that it is actually an established outdoor equipment business in Mississipi. They create valuable content like How-To Guides and host various events that connect with their target market. They are able to charge a premium by aligning their brand name as an authority.

Photo Credit: Mossy Oak

Whereas, Boz is just a standard “brand” you’ll find on Amazon that is doing all the ranking strategies well. Because they have not spent more time in creating an outstanding brand, they have to continue to compete on pricing.

2. It’s All About The Perceived Value

Have you ever wondered why some people are willing to spend thousands of dollars for Louis Vuitton or Gucci products?

Because of their perceived value.

People could find value in 2 ways:

an increase in status (ie. the Gucci branded shoes makes them feel high class) or
they believe they are getting more than what they pay for (it’s a damn good deal)

By increasing the perceived value of your product, people will be willing to pay a premium.

Although it takes concerted effort and time to align your brand name with an increase of status value, it can be the reason why you’ll have a legion of fans that keep coming back to purchase for you.

One popular way to have people believe they are getting a good deal is to include add-ons that look valuable but are actually quite cheap to produce. What’s the simplest way of knowing what accessories you should bundle with your products? Look at the “Frequently Bought Together” suggestions provided by Amazon.

3. Boast About Your Product

Another way to go about it is to highlight the advantages and benefits that your product provides.

Do it in a way that it strikes the strongest pain points of your target consumers. Explain in detail why and how your product is the perfect solution to their want or needs. The value of the presentation is massive. Is your brand the only thing that makes your product different? If yes, the presentation can do wonders.

Take a look the often-memed Yeti’s $400 cooler.

YETI Portable Cooler VS. Other Portable Coolers…

You heard it right, Yeti is selling a cooler for $300 and people are buying it.

Yes, it is better than most coolers. It has offers improvements and new features. But does that justify the hefty price tag? Maybe.

A strong brand can get away with a lot.

So how did Yeti do it?

It didn’t build its brand on being the cheapest. It branded itself as a premium product with the highest in quality, technology, and features.

Photo Credit: YETI; YETI Portable Cooler Product Technology & Features

And more importantly, they have a story that resonates with their intended customers:

Photo credit: YETI

And now, Yeti is selling as many products as the cheapest competitor, but at a massive price difference.

That shows the power of building a proper e-commerce brand.

4. Better SEO and Conversions on Both Amazon and Google

Branding gives you a significant edge when it comes to search engine optimization. And it isn’t limited to Amazon since you’ll also have an easier time getting your products ranked high on Google.

By having an established brand, you’ll have an easier time building brand loyalty. It will be easier to forge relationships with consumers when you’ve created a brand that has specific values it stands for and a personality that connects with a target audience. There’s a reason why so many people are loyal and diehard fans to Apple.

It’s also simpler for word-of-mouth to spread for a branded product than a generic one.

All these can lead to various benefits such as:

higher reviews
higher conversions
higher search rankings on both Amazon and Google
and more

5. Stabilize Your Sales with Repeat Business

It’s a lot easier to get repeat customers when you built a respected brand.

In fact, 48% of transactions are from repeat customers.

Satisfied customers will remember your brand and be more likely to buy the same product from you again and again. It’s the same as people who are shopping for a car, they often gravitate to the brand they enjoyed or known for a particular trait (like safety or fuel efficiency). They’ll also have a bias in favour of your other products whenever they recognize your brand over others.

Spending the time and effort to really build a brand is something every e-commerce entrepreneur should do. It isn’t entirely just for Amazon FBA sellers.

But brand building is often overlooked or done in a lazy manner. It only requires a little investment and consistency, but the payoff can be massive.

By having a proper brand, you can gain a significant competitive advantage that will transcend your current product line. You’ll be empowered in dominating the countless generic Amazon FBA sellers.

Are you building a brand for your e-commerce business?

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amazon FBA branding ecommerce

What Is Product Differentiation and Why Is It Important?

Today I’m going to introduce you to a very important concept: Product Differentiation.

Knowing how your product is unique and different from your competitors can be the thing that makes or breaks it for your business. Especially in today’s crowded market.

We’ll be going over why it’s crucial for your business and its 3 different types, as well as some common examples.

Let’s get started!

What is Product Differentiation?

Product differentiation is a marketing strategy to show a product’s distinctiveness. How is the product different or unique from others in the same category?

Hubspot defines it as:

the strategy used by businesses to highlight the unique features and benefits of its product or service to separate it from competitors. The marketing team communicates these unique qualities through their campaigns and promotions. And the sales team can use them to demonstrate the product’s competitive advantage.

There are many ways for a business to highlight their product’s unique features. For instance:

It can showcase the brand symbol and quality
It can boast on specific features and style or
It can emphasize the unique aspects that make your product superior against specific competitors

For example, Casper, a mattress company, highlights a combination of their product’s features and benefits like comfort and manufacturing right on their homepage:

Why is Product Differentiation Important?

Think about the times you go to the grocery store. Each aisle is filled with products from different brands. There’s 5 selling the same type of yogurt.

If you’re not able to inform the consumer HOW you’re different from the rest, there’s no reason to buy your product over another. And in many cases – especially for more established brands – the differentiation comes from their name alone. This mainly comes from their reputation for consistently creating products that may be high quality (or low quality).

What Is Product Differentiation and Why Is It Important? 65 — Safeway Orange Juice vs. Tropicana Orange Juice: People are willing to pay double for Tropicana

So in a world where we have so many choices, having a product differentiation strategy sets the foundation that defines your business and how other’s perceive your brand compared to your competitors.

But of course, saying you’re high quality doesn’t exactly mean much, since anyone can say the same. Finding the characteristics that are important to your target market is then crucial to showcase your differentiation.

This means spending the time to research the behaviors of your target market to uncover their specific pain points and what they truly desire. With that information, you can formulate the features and benefits that potential customers actually care about and perceive as value. This would provide the basis of your product differentiation strategy and direct all marketing and sales messaging.

What Are The Product Differentiation Types?

There are three types of product differentiation: simple, horizontal, and vertical differentiation.

Simple Differentiation makes a certain product set apart from the rest. The difference can be easy for customers to determine because it is obvious. Think of a regular rice cooker versus rice cooker with a removable steamer lid.
Horizontal Differentiation focus on a single feature. The price may be the same as the competing products and doesn’t focus on the superiority of quality. Yet, it offers a different feature or functions. For example, think of a digital camera and a film-based camera. Both can give you a good quality photo but has different features.
Whereas, Vertical Differentiation shows a product’s single characteristics. Customers are aware of its unique quality. It stands out among the rest even though there is a great difference on the price. A Levi’s 101 jeans stand out from the rest even though the price varies between other jeans in the market.

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Examples of Product Differentiation

Let us take a look at some product differentiation examples.

Apple Macbook Pro

Apple is a multinational technology company (you may have heard of them ;)) that produces super popular products like the iPhone and MacBook Pro laptops. Apple has been highly touted for its sleek ergonomic designs and simple Operating System (OS). That is their differentiation factor.

People know that buying an Apple MacBook Pro won’t get you the most ram or processing power for the price you chalk up, like you would from another brand. Nor will it have the most advanced technology built in or varying customization capabilities.

But certain students, video editors, businessman, and creatives choose to purchase the MacBook because of its form factor and an intuitive OS. And those who do require top of the line processing power or customization, they tend to be the ones who build their own computers.

And in recent years, Apple has attempted to increase the power of their laptops to cater to some of the professionals who do require the extra oomph. This makes it more attractive for potential customers who may be eyeing at the Microsoft Surface.

Razer

Razer is an award-winning gaming accessories brand that is well known for its keyboards and gaming mice. Their DeathAdder mice recently reached the 10 million milestone and has been one of the hottest gaming mouse for the last decade. Razer continues to release new iterations of the Deathadder and continues to boast the very qualities that made it so famous: its sleek design, comfort, and optimum performance.

These qualities define their differentiation strategy. They are the very characteristics that are heavily sought by their target market: casual and hardcore gamers.

As a cherry on top, Razer uplifts the credibility of the Deathadder by mentioning how League of Legends pro, Faker, uses their mouse and has won championships. This acts as social proof and truly cements the quality of their product and difficult for other gaming mouse brands like Logitech to compete.

Takeaway: Find the pain points of your customers. Then create your product features and marketing around how your product solves those frustrations.

In business, competition is hard. It is important to think on product differentiation strategy. It is a key element to market the product, create a longstanding brand, and capture a segment in the market. Otherwise, you’ll have difficulty in connecting with potential customers who are busy looking for a product that truly speaks to them and gets their attention.

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How To Overcome The BIGGEST Fear That New Entrepreneurs Have

Today I’m going to talk about the BIGGEST fear that so many budding entrepreneurs have. Even seasons entrepreneurs have trouble with this.

When I was first starting out, I was also super scared. I felt like I was alone on this journey.

I felt crippled.

But eventually, I was able to combat it and overcome this fear. I’m going to share with you my tip on how you can beat this fear too.

Let’s dive in.

The Fear That Cripples So Many Entrepreneurs

The biggest fear that entrepreneurs have is the fear of the unknown.

It cripples entrepreneurs from taking action.

It cripples entrepreneurs from having the confidence to make a decision.

Whether it be signing that new lease, buying their first batch of inventory, or starting their first business, it is a fear of the unknown that stops them.

Do you remember when you were growing up…as kids, we were always scared of the dark. But now as adults, we know that there’s nothing lurking in the dark. Yet there’s this sense of insecurity because we can’t see what’s going on. We can’t see what is in front of us.

The root of the fear of the unknown is the inability to see something.

So to combat and to actually thrive and to win from this is the ability to visualize. That is how you defeat the fear.

And that’s the number one asset that entrepreneurs need to have is the ability to visualize.

The Ability To Visualize

Think back to the first time went on a date. I’m pretty sure you spent hours (or days) anticipating how the whole thing would go down.

Like every single detail, you thought deeply about it…

You’re anticipating from picking her up to how she would react, to approaching to the restaurant, to having a wonderful conversation, engaging with her, making her laugh, flirt a little bit with her, trying to impress her a little bit, to bringing her home, giving her a peck on the cheeks, being a gentleman, and hopefully get invited for a cup of coffee.

Sounds familiar?

So prior to going on that date, you most likely visualized how the whole date would go – from beginning to end. And you can do this with your business too.

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Everyone Can Visualize

How To Overcome The BIGGEST Fear That New Entrepreneurs Have 70

When it comes to business, it’s the same thing.

You too can visualize how it can turn out by asking yourself a series of questions like:

What’s gonna happen?
Now that I have my product, what should I do?
Now that I have my product, what should we do with marketing?
Now that I have the product and now that I’ve marketed from this strategy, how should the people feel when they receive my product?

I do this all the time and it keeps me going, it keeps me super engaged, and it keeps me awake at night because I’m so excited to go about building the business.

Because I already see how this whole thing will play out.

And the more you ask yourself these questions and the more you get exposed to business, the more you can visualize something. Your experience will help make your visualizations more vivid and realistic.

It’s just like going on a date. The more dates you go on, the more you can visualize how this whole thing would play out.

And it’s a skill set that you can actually hone, and it’s a skill set you can develop.

It Stops Becoming Scary

Then you can actually go ahead and go date that girl and start that new business of yours.

It’s the ability to visualize your idea and the project that you’re working on.

That’s what’s gonna combat the fear of the unknown – the ability to visualize.

Once you turn on the light, there’s nothing to be scared of.

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Why Product Positioning Is Crucial For A Successful Business

It has become easier than ever to create your own product or to source them. Places like Alibaba and local wholesale markets has spawned an era of private labeled businesses for passionate and opportunistic individuals to take advantage of.

And with so many places and channels for someone to potentially see your item, product positioning has become one of the most discussed business strategies.

Not having the right positioning and strategy could mean a huge loss of time, money, and brand equity.

What is Product Positioning?

Why Product Positioning Is Crucial For A Successful Business 71

Product positioning is a form of marketing that presents the benefits of your product to a particular target audience. Through market research and focus groups, marketers can determine which audience to target based on favorable responses to the product.
Shopify

Basically, product positioning is carefully and strategically putting a product in front of a certain target audience to generate sales and revenue.

It is a form of marketing that requires a high level of research to place a product and create favourable feedback from the targeted market. It involves nailing down the visuals, feelings, and words used to market to a specific demographic.

For instance, the words and imagery of a sleek modern minimalistic watch would be entirely different when it is shown to busy fashionable women and to the businessmen in their late 20s to early 30s.

Daniel wellington - product positioning example — Photo Credit: Daniel Wellington

The market research for each of those target audiences found different interests that the positioning

Product Positioning vs. Product Differentiation

You’re probably wondering how is product positioning different from product differentiation?

While product positioning focuses on a niche of audiences, product differentiation focuses on the qualities of the product and comparing it to what its competitor cannot offer.

The goal of product positioning plays a huge role in building the necessary bridge between your company and the market you’re looking to target.

Let’s take a look at the 6 Types of Product Positioning you can apply to your business.

6 Types of Product Positioning

1.) Customer Benefits Focus

This is one of the most used strategies used out there. From the word itself, you are using the key beneficial qualities of your product and market it in a specific audience.

For example, your company sells adorable little plush dolls. Of course, you wouldn’t market these to the male audience. What you can do is present the qualities of your products to the female kids since they’re the ones who will most likely appreciate the product.

2.) Quality Approach

Why Product Positioning Is Crucial For A Successful Business 73

As for the quality approach, you are marketing your product while highlighting the quality of it compared to the other brands.

For example, if you were to buy a car, would you settle for a used dealership or a completely brand new model? Coming into this, you’d assume that the former is cheaper in quality than the latter.

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3.) Application Marketing

For this method, you are marketing your product for a certain use. This way, you can set up a specific audience and work from there once it grows bigger.

For example, if you are to market swimwear…Naturally, you will do this in the summer since this season is where swimwears are often used.

Once you establish a market, regardless of the season, you can introduce more products that would entice your audience without compromising loyalty – a foundation you established during summer.

4.) Product Process

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This is one of the most used product positionings that you may not have even noticed.

You use a model as a representation of your market and use that as a bridge to your audience.

For example, you want to market high-end tote bags. Like every luxury brands out there, you can hire celebrities or supermodels to market your products and set a standard within the community or your target audience.

5.) Product Class

A simple technique that only requires you to set your products within a certain range as an alternative.

Let’s say you are to market lip balm for example. You wouldn’t put it in the dairy section, right? What you would do is position it in the beauty section of a certain market and build your engagements from there. It’s a simple method that often works if done right.

6.) Cultural Symbols

As one of the widely used methods of product positioning, here you are setting your market within a certain culture.

You are creating an engagement without compromising the cultures of these places to show respect and build a market within them. This is also defined as using a cultural symbol to create a market engagement.

To use an existing example, nudity is one of the most prevalent symbolism in today’s music industry. Several albums from artists like Shakira, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were all marketed globally that explicitly shows graphic covers. To respect certain cultures, the labels decided to photoshop these covers for them to market them in countries where female nudity is a major offense.

As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do if you want to position your product in a certain market.

You can choose to focus on one strategy or make a hybrid of two or three of these to make a super marketing plan for your products.

Of course, do not forget to conduct research to as this will be a vital component before the execution.

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