There’s a very important stage in your information product business where you decide on the concept behind your informationi product – your topic, the format, an idea of the outline and content as well as the all important unique value proposition.
Often, the approach used is to look at the competition and copy what they have done, after all, if they are successful in the market, they must know what is best.
Blindly following the competition is a COPOUT!
That may sound harsh, but in my 10+ years helping entrepreneurs and large corporations develop products, without fail the most successful rely more on their users, their knowledge of the market, their understanding of what motivates their market than the competition around them.
What you really want is…
Unique, Unmet Need In The Market + Competitive Weakness = PROFIT!
Of the two factors, its far more important that you have the pulse of your market than understanding what your competition does, because that’s where you will…
1. Find new and interesting opportunities
2. Discover the faults your market finds with existing products
3. Understand the degree of pain involved in solving the problem
4. Have an inside track on offering your solution faster with the right marketing emphasis
Here’s a great post from “Creating Passionate Users“ blog with more on this very important topic.
As information product publishers, the lesson is that we can’t expect to shortcut knowledge within our marketspace by simply copying what our competitors are doing.
If we write the same e-book, develop a similar audio course or create the same membership site – chances are you won’t have the same impact on the market and could very well make the same mistakes they are making.
Don’t get me wrong, knowing your competition is good, however the goal should be to discover a weakness – a vulnerability that lines up with a desire you see in your market.
Jeff
