Aaron Hoos

Earlier this week I was writing an article about real estate investing and the value of using location-based search and location-based social media for real estate investors.

As I was clicking around to link to relevant sites, I noticed something quite interesting: On the location-based social media side, only Foursquare survives as a strictly location-based social media. Two other sites — Gowalla and Loopt — both shut down in 2012:

• Loopt shut down on March 9th, 2012, after being bought out.
• Gowalla, which was bought by Facebook in Dec 2011, shut down on March 10th, 2012.

In very short order, the race changed. There is a a big marathon of location-based social media and Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt were far ahead of the rest, with sites like Facebook and Twitter also offering some aspect of location-based social media as well.

But now Gowalla and Loopt are gone and Foursquare remains as the only real pure-play contender against “consolidated” social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. (And the other location-based social media sites are so far behind right now that they don’t really count).

One pure-play social media site that owns the industry right now. That’s a HUGE opportunity. So what’s going to happen next? All the elements are in place for new competitors to step up and do something exciting in the location-based social media space: Social media is hot, gamification is hot, EVERYONE has a smartphone now and that is driving change in mobile search and mobile marketing.

So I think the location-based social media space is ripe for MORE competitors not fewer.

8 OPPORTUNITIES IN THE LOCATION-BASED SOCIAL MEDIA SPACE

1. Facebook has an opportunity to dominate this space by taking its geotagging up a level, perhaps by combining some of the concepts that Foursquare uses — like recommendations and lists based around the places you are visiting.
2. Twitter has an opportunity to do what Facebook decided not to do — buy a location-based social media site and integrate it. Maybe people can tweet to check-in at locations, and businesses that are ‘registered’ with the location-based side of Twitter can auto-DM deals to the people who have checked in. (Hello! Possible revenue stream, Twitter).
3. It seems to me like Groupon also has an opportunity to extend its reach by offering daily deals to people based on where they are. Groupon can offer more deals and customers who are at a specific location can take advantage of specific relevant deals rather than relying solely on whatever deals are offered that day.
4. Yelp has a similar opportunity as Groupon to invest in a location-based social media site to leverage its database of reviews.
5. What about a time management system that uses location based social media to prompt you to do stuff? (“Hey, you’re at work: Here’s a list of the things you need to do”). Foursquare does this to some degree but it’s not really that cool to check in at work or at home so you miss out on an opportunity to use lists in a meaningful way (and Foursquare’s list system is rudimentary to the point of barely being useful, IMO).
6. Foursquare encourages check-ins and makes it possible for people to see who else is there but it’s not a communication tool like Twitter or Facebook. (You check in on Foursquare and then you text with the people who are there). So there’s an opportunity for existing communication platforms (Facebook and Twitter were mentioned but also texting platforms/smartphones/BBM/etc.) to leverage the location-based aspect to strengthen their service.
7. There’s an opportunity here for the next big location-based social media to own whatever happens after check-in. Ordering? Shopping? Exploring? Working? Socializing? Oh, that reminds me of another idea…
8. Paying. Location-based social media does not need to always be about checking-in. (Yeah, that’s a nice thing but there’s more). Mobile payments are on the horizon and this is an opportunity to help make that happen. So an opportunity to innovate in the location-based social media space might not be to create a new social media site but to find a way to safely integrate mobile payments into a location-based social media so that people who are all together in one place can all spend money at the same time. No, that’s not as weird as it sounds: People split the bills at restaurants all the time; churches take up offering and don’t always need to pass around a plate anymore; timeshares use a group-selling method; seminars can leverage the mass-buying phenomenon to encourage everyone to check-in and buy the “back-of-house” sale, musicians can offer special deals to people who are checked-in at a concert, etc.

When there’s only one pure-play company that is the clear forerunner in an industry, they have a huge target painted on their backs. And, from what I’ve observed, the risk isn’t from businesses that are doing similar things and are farther back in the race. Rather, the risk to those forerunners is from innovators who join the race late and do something surprising and different.

Watch out, Foursquare! Your competition may have disappeared for now but soon you’ll discover some new competitors and they WON’T be the ones you’re expecting.

I’m renovating my kitchen. I have a company come in and do the cabinets, the countertops, and the floors, but I do the plumbing myself.

The reason? I’m a half-decent plumber (usually — there was one time when that wasn’t the case, but that’s another story) and I don’t mind the work of plumbing. Since I can solve most plumbing problems in less time than it would take for a plumber to even get to my house, I just do it myself. But cabinets and countertops and floors? That’s another issue. I don’t have the skills and tools or time. Therefore, I pay someone else to do it.

THE PICKAXE FACTOR

I call this the “pickaxe factor”. To me, a pickaxe represents work. Hard work. Nearly impossible work that builds up a sweat, breaks your back, and makes you wish that you could just sit on the couch and pay someone else to do the job while you drink something cold and watch American Idol. For me, plumbing has a very low pickaxe factor. I’m happy to knock out a plumbing job in a short time. On the other hand, kitchen cabinets have a high pickaxe factor (for me) so I pay someone else to do it.

There are lots of problems/challenges/needs that have a high “pickaxe factor” because they are difficult to solve/overcome/fulfill. For example, some people may find it hard to…

• Start a business when they’ve worked for someone else all their life
• Meet a potential romantic partner
• Get to work in nasty weather
• Look good
• Do your taxes

These are just a few examples of problems, challenges, and needs that people find hard… they have a high “pickaxe factor”.

Now here’s the exciting part for any business owner: The higher the pickaxe factor, the more value people place on a product or service that solves the problem, overcomes the challenge or fulfills the need. That’s why people pay for the following products or services to help them with the high pickaxe factor the challenges I listed earlier…

• Business consulting services to get help starting a business
• Online match-making services to meet a potential romantic partner
• A vehicle to get from home to work in comfort and style
• Personal trainers, dieticians, and plastic surgery
• An accountant

THE PICKAXE FACTOR AND YOUR SALES FUNNEL

Your products or services help people to solve a problem, overcome a challenge, or fulfill a need. If you want to sell even more products or services, or if you want to charge more money for your products or services, you have to do one thing: Identify and exploit a higher pickaxe factor in your sales funnel. In other words, you need to demonstrate to your sales funnel contacts how the hard task they’re facing can be made easier by you. And, the harder the task seems to them, the easier and faster you’ll sell your products and the more money you can charge for them.

WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

If you are just starting a business and looking for a great product or service (or a point of differentiation on a product or service), then figure out what your target market finds difficult, hard, impossible, or unfathomable, and sell a solution to that.

If you are in business and looking to grow, take a look at that problems your products or services solve and how high the pickaxe factor is. Then, take a look at the marketing messages in your sales funnel and identify whether you are making full use of the pickaxe factor by highlighting the challenges of hard work and explaining how your product or service eliminates the pickaxe factor completely.

Schedule time to return to the pickaxe factor in your sales funnel every 3-6 months. Develop your products or services further to solve even higher-pickaxe-factor problems, and hone your marketing and sales language to keep up with the challenges that your target market faces.

When I was in high school, my friend’s family owned the very first computer store in town. I was always sort of impressed that they had a lock on that market. I imagined a business without competition to be the highest level of business achievement – a sort of entrepreneurial nirvana.

Then, to my surprise, I learned that they were helping someone else start a computer store in the same town. In other words, they were helping to create their own competition! I didn’t understand it at all. When I asked my friend’s dad about it, he said that competition is good for business. Although he didn’t go into detail, it was a lesson I never forgot (I even remember the exact moment when he told me – it was in the kitchen of their house – it was a watershed moment for me).

It took me years to learn why competition is a good thing, but I now realize that it is essential to a strong, prosperous business. Here are my top 6 reasons why I embrace competition:

REASON #1: COMPETITORS DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS

Competitors help you to figure out what you do. If you are starting a business and you examine how your competitors define themselves, you can identify a point of difference that they are not addressing.

It’s like being lost and using a couple of fixed objects to help you figure out where you are. Your competitors are those fixed objects and you can easily find your way in the marketplace when you compare yourself to your competition.

Creating a business that has too much identical competition (everyone sells exactly the same thing at exactly the same price – real estate agents are a good example) will eventually result in a price war with your competitors. But if you look at your competitors as a starting point and then you define yourself carefully, strategically, and in a different way from the rest of the pack, you’ll help to attract the right people to your business (people who might not be attracted to your competitor). You won’t have to compete on price because your competitors are different from you.

For more information about differentiation and competition, read my blog posts: Equal is not good enough and Mine is bigger than yours — competitiveness and marketing content.

REASON #2: COMPETITORS KEEP YOU HUNGRY

A couple of years ago, I met someone who owned a business that was in-demand and the only kind like it in the entire state. The guy charged insanely high prices and 100% interest on unpaid debts. He could make his own schedule and he didn’t need to provide good customer service. Sounds awesome, at first – you can do what you want and you basically have a licence to print money. But eventually, some other entrepreneur will spot the opportunity in that market and see that he or she could make a financial killing while charging less AND providing exemplary service… and suddenly the first guy’s business is in trouble.

When I was a freelance writer, I would sometimes get frustrated at the low-priced freelancer writers who would charge next-to-nothing, undercutting my prices. On more than one occasion, it caused me to look at my prices and sometimes consider lowering them. (Fortunately, I never did). I realize now that those low-priced competitors kept me hungry and I worked harder to out-work and out-earn those competitors. I’m glad for them now.

REASON #3: COMPETITORS COMPEL INNOVATION

In economics, inflation is kind of like a swarm of termites. You don’t see them but they eat away at the stuff you own. Inflation causes upward pressure on prices so that $1.00 tomorrow is worth less than $1.00 today. In other words, if you’re standing still in your finances, you’re actually going backwards.

It’s the same in business. If you want to create a product or service, build a sales funnel, automate it, and then go sip margaritas on a beach, think again. Your business is “standing still” (not innovating) and your competition will outpace you with newer, faster, shinier products and services. While you’re asking the lifeguard to put sunscreen on the places where you can’t reach, your competitors will be inventing a better mousetrap. Before you know it, your business will sputter and die because no one wants your clumsy old offering.

Your competitors are innovating, so you need to as well. Their very existence forces you to get creative, invest in your business, and reach for more. That’s great for your customers and for your business’ longevity. Read more about innovation at my blog post: My best advice on innovation. And this blog post provides an interesting take on innovation: Want a competitive advantage? Offer the same products as everyone else!

REASON #4: COMPETITORS BECOME CASE STUDIES

In your own business, every interaction in your sales funnel is a piece of data that you can analyze to make your business better. You watch for patterns, for sudden changes, and for opportunities. You put all of these pieces together, you compare it with your metrics, and you can make huge, positive changes in your business.

But if you raise your head out of your sales funnel for a moment and glance across the street at your competition, you’ll learn quite a bit, too. Yes, you won’t have all of the facts or metrics, but you can put together an awful lot just by looking in their windows, browsing their website, mystery shopping them, and listening to both happy and disaffected customers.

Watch for competitors’ marketing campaigns that have a huge impact. Analyze the types of people going through your competitors’ doors. Find patterns among the disaffected customers who decide to switch providers and buy from you instead. By simply watching your competitor, you can learn so much from them to benefit your own business. They become a living, breathing MBA case study to make you a smarter entrepreneur.

Want a place to start? Why not do some really simple competitive research to figure out how to price your products or services. Learn more about it at this blog post: How to easily discover the best price for your product or service.

REASON #5: COMPETITORS RAISE MARKET AWARENESS

Imagine a town in which there are only two companies providing window cleaning services. They both market their services aggressively and have their own point of difference. Simply by advertising the benefit of cleaner windows, they highlight the problem of dirty windows in the market’s mind and the market will search for a window cleaning company – even if it’s not the one whose advertising initially prompted their awareness.

It’s the principle of 1+1=3. Competitors’ marketing will attract new Leads (and sometimes YOUR Leads) to the competitor, but it will also alert the general marketplace to the general problem or need. People from the marketplace will look for a solution or fulfillment and may end up in your sales funnel as a result (all because they became aware of the problem or need from your competitor’s ad). Note: I’m not suggesting that you don’t leave all of the marketing to your competition. However, I think that competitors who advertise in the same market will have a greater cumulative effect than if they each advertised in their own market).

REASON #6: COMPETITORS CAN BECOME COOPERATORS

I love motorsports, especially NASCAR. One of the things that makes the sport great is when two competitors will work together to push ahead of everyone else. Overall, they are still ruthless competitors, but for a brief moment they can put aside their differences to eliminate the rest of the competition.

The same thing can happen in business, too. You can work together with a few carefully chosen competitors to win more customers and outpace other competitors. Now, please note: There are laws about collusion and I’m not suggesting you circumvent those laws – you’re not doing this to raise prices across the board or to destroy a few competitors. There are ways to legally cooperate with your competitors for mutual benefit. For example, you can share the costs of joint advertising to reach different markets through the same channels. Or, you can send each other potential customers who may be a better fit for the other than for you. When I was a freelance writer, I competed against other freelance writers, of course. But when a Prospect wanted to buy from me and I discovered that they were not a good fit (perhaps I didn’t have the bandwidth to help them, or maybe they were in an industry I knew nothing about), I had a few carefully chosen competitors who I felt comfortable recommending them to. And the relationship worked both ways – those competitors knew who I was interested in working with and they would send people to me.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

First, welcome competition. If there are no competitors in your marketplace, be wary. Dare to invite competitors to your marketplace! Get to know your competition as individuals, but also get to know their businesses. Use competitive analysis to learn as much as you can about them. Find out how you can help them (and take the first step to do so) and you may see some reciprocation. And always keep an eye on your competition to motivate you to stay hungry and stay innovative!

Hey, this blog post gives another reason to love competitors: 4 ways to insert yourself into your competitor’s sales funnel and steal their customers.

Innovating and succeeding is fun. Innovating and failing can also be fun (as long as you pick yourself up and keep going). I’m a big believer in innovating as much as you can (no matter what you do) to set yourself apart. Check out 5 innovative brands that I started and failed with. I have no regrets at all about these failures!).

In this article at Harvard Business Review, Rita McGrath lists several projects that Google has innovated and failed. She lists some of the reasons behind the failure, and she also talks about some success stories that got their start in Google, too.

Failing Toward Success at Google – Rita McGrath – Harvard Business Review.

After you’ve read this article, look around in your business for opportunities to innovate. And if you’re not sure where to start, check out a recent blog post listing my best advice on innovation.

In nearly every industry, there is so much competition. Businesses have to fight ruthlessly for the attention of just a few customers.

I don’t think this problem is going away any time soon: As access to the web becomes easier and cheaper all around the world, the barrier to start a business will become increasingly minimal and businesses will face even more competition.

Unfortunately, for many businesses, increasing competition means a downward pressure on prices. But it doesn’t have to be that way. In this excellent article at Harvard Business Review, David Aaker talks about innovating in your brand to make your competition irrelevant.

Make Your Competition Irrelevant – David Aaker – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review.

After reading this article, think about what you can do in your business to innovate your way ahead of the pack.