How to Beat Your Competition Without Lowering Prices
In 2017, I learned a valuable lesson about beating your competition without lowering prices. A friend and I started a social media marketing agency, selling Facebook ads and other types of ads to businesses for money. We had a lawyer and a massage clinic who paid us a couple of thousand dollars per month, but we were always looking to grow and scale the business. We were down to work with anybody who would just pay us money. However, we soon realized that we needed to be more strategic in our approach.
The Importance of Targeting Specific Niches
To grow our business, we watched a course that gave advice and tips on exactly which niches to go after. An example that they gave was dentists, so that's what we did. I even remember gathering a list of the different dental clinics next to me and coordinating my plan of attack to which ones I'm going to show up first and what I'm going to say and who I want to talk to.
I remember starting off with this one dental clinic that was about five minutes from my house. I walked in, and obviously, I was pretty nervous at the time. I think I was like 20 or 21 years old. I remember pitching them on the service, but I don't think I did such a great job. They specifically told me that they don't actually need the service because they have someone who's already taking care of them.
I went to their website, took a look at it, and started scrolling around, trying to figure out who this company was that's taking care of them. One of the things that I learned was sometimes they'd leave a little bit of either a watermark or a little mention somewhere at the bottom of the page, and obviously, they did. I saw this one company that was taking care of them and was kind of doing their social media marketing for them. I noticed that on the website, it said that it was actually built by this company, so I realized that this company wasn't just a social media marketing agency, but it was more like an all-in-one solution.
Understanding Your Customers' Needs
The lesson that I learned from this experience is that you need to understand your customers' needs. This company realized that there were specific needs from business to business. Maybe a food truck doesn't need the same kind of help as a dental plan, the same help as a car wash or bowling alley. They all have their unique needs, and what they realized is that dentists didn't actually need so much social media marketing. They needed more to create systems within their business to get the most out of their clients and continue to stay in touch with them.
They focused instead of the social media part of it. The first thing they did was they signed them up with building them a good website, which at the time, most dentists, even now, I think, have horrible, horrible websites. So one, they sold them on an amazing-looking website for the 21st century, basically. The second thing they realized is that specifically, dentists wanted to be able to have an online booking system so that their secretaries would not get flooded, so everything was kind of automated in the background.
They realized that also a lot of them also wanted to have some sort of customer portal where people can come in, see any results if they have any x-rays or things like that. They can all go online, and they can see it there. And lastly, number four, they wanted to be able to keep in touch with their customers, whether that be through email or through applications like, "Hey, you have your six-month cleaning coming up."
Niche Down and Target Specific Audiences
The key to beating your competition without lowering prices is to niche down and target specific audiences. Instead of selling joint supplements for dogs, which is super competitive and very broad, try to niche down. Try to go a little bit deeper. For example, joint supplements for toy dog breeds. You can take that even a step further by selling joint supplements for toy dog breeds but specifically for the puppies of that toy breed.
By getting specific on the root problem of your audience, you can charge more and more for your product. People buy when they feel like they're heard and understood, when they feel like their problems and exactly how to fix them. You can craft your supplement and your product in the exact ways that solve the exact problem for your exact specific audience.
Thank you for reading, and I hope this article helps you beat your competition without lowering prices.
Highlights
- Understanding your customers' needs is key to beating your competition without lowering prices.
- Niche down and target specific audiences to charge more for your product.
- People buy when they feel like they're heard and understood.
FAQ
Q: How do I beat my competition without lowering prices?
A: Niche down and target specific audiences. Understand your customers' needs and craft your product to solve their exact problems.
Q: Why is it important to understand your customers' needs?
A: People buy when they feel like they're heard and understood. By understanding your customers' needs, you can craft your product to solve their exact problems.
Q: How do I target specific audiences?
A: Research your audience and understand their unique needs. Niche down and craft your product to solve their specific problems.
