Back in 2008, Ethan wrote this post of focus and targeting a specific niche. It’s a great little piece because it demonstrates that you can be successful without trying to appeal to everyone. Actually another obvious example of this is the huge proliferation of specialty TV channels. Way back (30+ years ago) most countries had very few TV channels, and they were mostly all broad based. Now, there seems to be a specific channel for just about every market-segment you can imagine – and they all seem to find an audience.
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Most products do a lot. It’s tempting to try to sell all that functionality at once. But a lot of products benefit from having less as opposed to more. Yesterday I ran into a problem: I bought a new car. OK, that wasn’t the problem. My new car has a roof mounted antenna, one that goes back at 45 degrees. Driving into my garage is no problem but backing out again results in the antenna snagging against the bottom of the garage door. My fix was to unscrew the antenna. The unfortunate side effect was the we lost radio reception a lot sooner than normal as we drove out of town.
I figured there must be someone out there that has a solution to this problem. I mean, a shorter antenna isn’t exactly rocket science. I eventually found a site that had a solution so compelling I bought is right away – something very unusual for me, who normally spends an hour of research per dollar (yes, it takes me 2.99 hours to buy a loaf of bread). The miracle site? http://www.stubbyantenna.com/
Never have I found a more focused site. I mean, if you want a stubby antenna, this is the place. There’s selection and nothing to distract me from my task of finding a short – sorry, stubby – antenna.
I know that your product is a lot more amazing than a stubby antenna, but I doubt you could close a sale in five minutes. What could you remove – from your marketing material, if not your product – that would at least cut your sales cycle in half?
Ethan
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