Loading...
Answers
MenuHow to make a place in already crowded Business?
In some business, for example web hosting, there are a lot of companies who claims to be a hosting provider. How to secure a place and grow in this kind of business, if I know that I can provide best quality.
Answers
There is always space for expansion, even in crowded markets like hosting services. At the end of the day, all that matters is whether you have a good product and whether your audience can see the value in it or not.
If you are entering into crowded market, then, the first thing to do is do a thorough analysis of your top 3 market leaders. Find answers to questions like:
What features are they selling on?
How are they selling (channels)?
How are they retaining?
After careful study of your competitors, you will have a fair idea why works.
Now, you got to figure out the pain points. What their customers want but are not getting right now. It can be better support, flexible plans, or anything else.
Now that you know what people are missing out on, sit with a pen and paper to find out how you can differentiate your product. I hope this helped. For more clarity, let's have a call. Or feel free to email me at varun@upreports.com
Since marketing is crucial to success, leaving this blog link for your reference:
https://www.upreports.com/blog/marketing-growth-strategies-hacks/
Chao!
I’ve spent nearly half my career working in the hosting and ISP business. Back then it wasn’t so crowded :) Personally I believe you can deferentiate in many ways but first you must understand what the pain points are with successful hosting companies. Also what level of customer are you servicing? DigitalOcean IMHO do an amazing job but it’s not for the novice. Providing ease of use, value for money and legendary customer service are the 3 areas I would start with first. Happy to chat more if you’re keen.
You have a choice of standing out with either these options:
1. Branding
2. You have a slight edge
I think web hosting is incredibly saturated, unless you have something nobody else has but everyone wants - do you?
If not, you should be focusing on pricing, branding, and security. I would also focus on partnerships with other website builders.
Offer an added service/value for free when someone chooses you. Do you offer 1 month of free website consultation? do you offer free logo design? Add something of value so that people can kill 2 birds with one stone.
To answer your question, first of all remind to yourself why you want to do that in that niche. You may have such a conclusion about crowded business because you are already there and all you see-your competitors.
First identify how you are different and what value you can bring to your customers, why they should chose you before your competitors. 100% of buyings are emotional decisions, what emotions your product or service brings up? How you are representing those emotional patterns to your potential customers?
There are still many businesses that just making things done. And if you master making things done even a little better than any of the mediocre competitors than you still have more chance.
It is 50/50 between your state of mind and consistency.
Good luck on your businesses!
Let me tell you a story of Nerd Fitness.
In a space that's fiercely contested, where anyone can get an exercise routine for free from YouTube, and where there's a plethora of apps and courses available, Nerd Fitness has positioned itself as a fitness resource for, you guessed it, nerds.
People who are office workers.
People who sit at desks, lead sedentary lifestyles and have never really been the athletic type.
And their whole marketing and product positioning is around that group.
So you can expect to see content around food prep tips for office workers, workout strategies for the hassled and always on the run 9-5iver and apps for tracking your fitness.
They have a thriving business, vocal fans, and what I would imagine healthy profits.
I know another fitness brand who targets only seniors.
That's a great thing about going into a crowded market- the demand is already proven, but the bigger players try to be everything for everyone and fall short.
So if you are in the hosting market, position your product for a particular subset of users, like freelancers.
Package your products in such a way that it makes sense only for them. Offer specific add-ons, tie up with other companies who are targeting only freelancers, offer discounts on products or services that they will use.
That's how you break into a crowded market.
It's good to be in a competitive market. Remember that Burger King builds next to McDonalds, because they will get a flow of customers. As my mentor says, "People don't go into McDonalds to browse." That being said, "providing the best quality" isn't enough to differentiate you. These days, people expect a certain level of quality, which is the floor, and they are skeptical that new providers can provide it. Best quality is valuable, because once they become customers and experience your high quality, they will be pleasantly surprised, and so it is valuable for keeping customers and getting repeat purchases. But, it is ineffective for attracting new clients. You need a different point of differentiation. For example, if you can provide a high level of service to a certain sub-group of clients, then you can target them with your marketing. That doesn't mean you have to turn away other customers, but just focus your initial marketing on this group that you can provide differentiated service. Alternatively, instead of better servicing an area, you might have a better process or feature. For example, if you sell ice cream and have flavors or creative sundaes that others don't offer.
Have you read the book BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY?
Answers are there.
Success!
When more people sharing the same piece of cake, you need more effort to get a very small share.
This is reflecting on what you trying to do. So if you still want to remain in the crowded market, you should expect you may still survive but cannot make a good profit.
A promising market must show the potential of growth whether it is uncharted, blue market, early stage, growth stage, it will be far more a better market than the crowded market from ROI viewpoint.
Sometimes people stay in a crowded market as there is still sufficient volume to generate decent profit in dollar sense.
So, how to make a place in already crowded business despite knowing the above?
1. increase selling by reducing the price (your competitive advantage left the low-cost advantage).
2. cut down overhead to keep you survive
3. into R&D to develop a unique product that is disruptive enough to turnaround the table in that said market.
4. Most of the competitors are veteran in the market, partner with them, be friendly with them, to explore collaboration for mutual benefits.
Frankly, if giving me a chance, I will look for a promising market to venture.
Related Questions
-
What are average profit margins in Ice Cream store business?
Hi! I am owner of an ice crean chain with 45 stores in Chile. We have stores in shopping centers, streets and also karts that you can put in events and parks. The average cost margin of ice cream (depends on the amount of materials you use in producing the ice cream) is around 40%. This is italian gelatto where you serve the ice cream without a specific measurement so your costs can vary due to the size of each portion you serve. About the brand you should focus on your unique value proposition and what kind of ice cream you are selling. We import the pastry from Italy and the fruits and milk from our country. Your ROI depends on your sales price and costs. If you focus on high market ice cream you can charge high and keep costs down.MF
-
How was SnapChat able to grow so quickly?
I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.TW
-
What is the most creative way to introduce myself (and therefore my service) to 100 key decision-makers without selling or pitching anything?
You've answered your own question. Reach out to your prospects with the question, such as "How would you...". Ask what people want then give it to them if you can with integrity and thoughtfulness.DI
-
I have this social media idea,but no coding skills. How do I get someone to do the coding (cant afford to pay them) and not give away half of my idea?
Dilip was very kind in his response. My answer might be a bit on the "tough love" side. But that's for you to decide. My intention, just for the record, is to help you (and those like you) on your path to success. And that starts with having a viable philosophy about entrepreneurial-ism and business. And I'm going to answer this because I get asked some form / version of this question very frequently from newcomers to entrepreneurial-ism. The scenario goes something like this: "I have a great idea. It's amazing, I love it, and I just KNOW it's gonna make me a ton of money. But I have no money right now so I can't afford to (fill in the blank with things like "to build it / create it / market it / etc" or "to hire the required staff needed to work in my business to sell it / develop it / etc"). And I don't want to tell anyone about my great idea because I'm worried someone will steal it and make MY million / billion dollars. But I can't afford to legally protect it either... So how do I launch without the skills to personally create the product AND no money to hire anyone else to do that either??" The answer is ... You don't. Look - let's be honest. All you have is an idea. Big deal. Really. I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I'm not saying that if properly executed it couldn't make you a million / billion dollars... But an idea is NOT a business. Nor is it an asset. Until you do some (very important) initial work - like creating a business model, doing customer development, creating a MVP, etc - all you really have is a dream. Right now your choices are: 1. Find someone with the skills or the money to develop your idea and sell them on WHY they should invest in you. And yes, this will mean giving up either a portion of the "ownership" or of future income or equity. And the more risk they have to take - the more equity they will want (and quite frankly be entitled to). 2. Learn how to code and build it yourself. MANY entrepreneurs without financial resources are still resourceful. They develop the skills needed to create what they don't have the money to pay someone else to do. 3. Get some cash so you can pay someone to do the coding. You'll probably have to have some knowledge of coding to direct the architecture of your idea. So you will likely still have to become knowledgeable even if its not you personally doing the coding. (This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of options... And I'm sure some of the other experts here on Clarity have others to add - and I hope they do) To wrap up - Here's my final tip to you that I hope you "get"... It's FAR more valuable to have an idea that a very specific hungry crowd is clamoring for right now - One that THEY would love and pay you for right now - Maybe even one they'd pre-order because they just have to have it - Versus YOU being in love with your own idea. [Notice I didn't say "an idea that some as-of-yet-undetermined market would probably love"] I wish you the best of luck moving forward.DB
-
I just opened a small, upscale, boutique style hair salon. Any ideas on how to market?
I have no experience with salons, but marketing is my thing. So I'll give you some suggestions of what to think about, followed by what to do. Do you have clients already (let's say from your working days at another salon)? If so, you can start profiling them. You can ask them to fill out a form in exchange for a free gift (maybe one of those creams you use in the salon), or an entry to a raffle (where the prize is valuable). In the profiling, you want to look out for which neighborhoods they live in, what kinds of activities they like to do, what kinds of social events they love to do, and their occupations. Then, using each of those profile data, you can market to more prospects who share the same characteristics. For example, - You can set aside a budget to send flyers to specific neighborhoods. In order to get people into the door, maybe you can offer a certain procedure for free in exchange for opportunities to win new regular customers. (You could theoretically do this with Groupon too, but you have less control of who comes into your door) - You could set up joint venture relationships with organizations like ball room dancing schools, professional associations, etc. You could offer an exclusive discount with those groups to entice potential customers to try out your service. More opportunities for you to win regular customers. - With certain demographic data, you can probably make the same offer by advertising on Facebook. If you target specific enough, you can get the price of acquiring the lead to be pretty cheap. You would have to figure out your typical lifetime value of your customers before deciding whether advertising on Facebook would be worthwhile. One last thing, you can offer gifts for your existing customers if they refer you people. If you have any more questions, I'm happy to chat with you. Hit me up on this platform.SL
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.