One of his biggest points in the book is how you can create a company that is *dramatically different* than any, and every, competitor in your marketplace.
It doesn't sound easy at first.
Honestly, how many hairdressers or dry cleaners or grocery stores are there in your city that are DRAMATICALLY different?
Few and far between.
In fact, it appears to me that most business owners lose all sense of creativity when they start their business.
The typical process they go through?
Look at what all their competitors do, where they advertise, the types of advertisements they run, the marketing materials they use, the web sites they have... and then they COPY everyone else.
Open your yellow pages for proof... in house painting or carpet cleaning... what is DRAMATICALLY different? Or any section for that matter.
How do you create a dramatic difference in your business? And why should this be considered important?
First, having a dramatic difference gives you a 353% better chance of succeeding (based on thousands of business success stories being ran through a computer model Doug Hall invented). That alone should be enough.
So - tripling your odds of making your business the leader in your industry is all you need to know at this point.
NOTE: 80% of copycats end up failing in their business - so this is very important.
Now, let's get into how to create your own dramatic difference.
1) List out all your biggest benefits you provide right now. If you struggle with this - list out all your features on the left side of the page then the benefit of that on the right.
2) List out your competitors biggest benefits as well - same method.
3) Cross out the benefits on your list that are the same as your competitors.
(great service is not a benefit - everyone says that - unless you do something different with your service offerings)
4) Is there anything left over? If so, you have the start of a dramatic difference. If no, you need to get real serious about this. If your customers can't tell the difference between you and your competitors you are in trouble (and they judge this by this same process - who appears to be different or better?)
5) Can you create a dramatic difference from this so far?
6) Can you answer - ' is the first to offer _________ in this industry' or 'What makes different is that we are the only company out there that offers _________'?
Write out 6 answers to each of those.
Does it SHINE? Or does it suck?
If your statement doesn't leap off the page as a big breakthrough - keep working on it. What difference could make your business 10 TIMES greater than all your competitors?
With so many daily distractions in front of your potential customers - you have to create a MASSIVE difference in their eyes.
What would make them stop everything they are doing to visit your store, read your ad, or answer your letter to them?
Find a way to become dramatically different and you will succeed. Probably the best way to find your own dramatic difference is to look at what your competitors are doing - and do the opposite! And the easiest way to do the opposite is to look at OTHER industries to see what they do differently than you do - THEN find a way to use their difference in your own business.
If you paint houses - copy the service ideas behind cleaning companies, window cleaners, tree trimmers.
If you run an accounting firm - copy the service ideas behind printing companies, marketing consultants, house painters, car detailers.
If you run an information product business - copy the service ideas behind luxury property rentals, artists, paving companies, fence builders, moving companies or pizza delivery companies.
YES - these are completely off-the-wall, unbelievably abstract ideas. That's the point!
Find out what works best in other industries (stands out as the most bizarre way to do business in your own industry) - and copy that idea. Try it out for a few months and see how people respond.
You will be pleasantly surprised.
Link building is one of the big perks of article marketing, but don't think that Google is the only path to success.
The reason why you want to be ranked high in Google is to attract your target market to your website, but if your article is included in an ezine, it is actually taking a more direct and targeted path to your potential customers.
Some of my biggest traffic surges have come from having one of my articles picked up for publication in an ezine. True, a backlink from an email newsletter doesn't contribute to your search engine ranking, but it does help bring your website exposure to a very targeted audience.
Imagine a small ezine with only 100 subscribers receiving your well-written, educational article directly in their inbox. Would you turn down a chance to talk directly to 100 people from your target market?
Of course not!
Imagine if your article is included in a big ezine, with 10,000 or 50,000 subscribers - would you turn down a chance to talk directly to tens of thousands of your target market?
No way!
Here are 5 big reasons why you should submit your articles to ezine editors:
1) Ezines are niche oriented.
Think about all the ezines that you subscribe to. Chances are, all of them are tightly focused on a particular niche. An ezine is an email magazine, and just like in the real world where magazines are usually about a particular topic, so are ezines.
2) Ezines *deliver* your articles to your target market.
You know how we are always wanting to be in Google's good graces and appear high in the searches engine results? The reason why we want to appear high in Google is because we want to come before the eyes of our target market.
But what if you could turn things around, and instead of waiting passively for folks from your target market to do searches, you could meet your target market on their home turf, in their own inbox?
This is the beauty of being published in an ezine. You do not have to wait for a potential customer to Google anything--*you* are being delivered to *them*; they do not have to search for you.
3) Ezines are very targeted in the content they deliver. The ezine editor knows his readership and can hand pick articles that would appeal to them.
How much does it take to get a person to give up their email address?
Personally speaking, I'll only sign up for an ezine when I'm convinced that the ezine editor has good judgement and knows what I might be interested in.
Moreso than a website owner who has lots of different people showing up to his website every day, an ezine editor is communicating with a specific community of readers, and he can anticipate the types of articles that his subscriber base would find helpful.
If your article is chosen to appear in an ezine, it is being placed before a captive and targeted audience that has a great chance of finding value in what you've written.
4) Ezines publish a limited amount of content.
If your article gets picked up by an ezine, it doesn't have to compete against hundreds of other articles for attention. Ezines are of limited length, and usually they'll share just one, two or maybe three articles, contrasting with the hundreds of articles that a reader would find in an article directory or through a Google search.
How do you like those odds?
5) Ezine subscribers have a relationship with the person whose ezine they're subscribing to and trust and value his opinion.
The relationship that an ezine editor has with his audience is much more intimate than a website owner has with his visitors. Remember, these subscribers have given away information about themselves--their name, their email, and also given the ezine editor the privilege of sending them communications at his discretion.
This is the difference between going up to a stranger and trying to get them to open up to you, and being introduced to someone you want to know through a mutual friend. When you're introduced through a mutual friend, there is a much greater level of comfort and trust from the get-go.
Are you convinced yet? Having your article picked up for publication by an ezine can make a dramatically different type of impact on your website's success than simply getting a higher search engine ranking.
It's time start submitting your articles to some ezine editors today!
Both Troy White & Steve Shaw are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Troy White has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Writing and Ezine Articles. Troy White, The Marketing Results Mentor and Expert Copywriter helps clients achieve HUGE growth surges in their business in very short periods of time. He is a very sought after marketer and advertising specialist who has helped launch some of the world'. Troy White's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
Steve Shaw has sinced written about articles on various topics from Article Writing, SEO Articles and Build Online Business. Steve Shaw develops systems and software to help you succeed in your online business. Find out more info on how to publish articles to start attracting massive traffic to your web site - go to. Steve Shaw's top article generates over 14800 views. to your Favourites.