Don’t Beat Your Competition…Seduce Them

She Says

I honestly don’t think we have any competition.

Before you take me as an egomaniac, let me explain…

There is no one, and I mean no one, in our market who does exactly what we do exactly the way we do it. Because of that it’s impossible for us to have competition.

If you can make your service completely unique and different from everything else out there, then you “beat” the competition without even trying. The easiest and most effective way to do that is to target a very specific, small section of the market and specialize in it. Own it.

For example, you can specialize in certain types of music (Latin, Polka, country) or events (corporate, proms, weddings) or even types of clients. Over the years we’ve identified our ideal wedding couples: they are age 27-32 with advanced degrees, live in Manhattan, work in finance, have eclectic hipster taste in music, and choose non-traditional weddings locations.

When they find us, they immediately know we’re the right ones for them.

Which brings me to my second point. There are a few DJs in our area who have a similar style to us. Rather that whining and complaining about them because they are our “competition,” we make those closest competitors our allies.

We send them referrals. They send us referrals. Because our markets are a close match these are extremely warm leads in both directions. Our competitors make money for us, and we make it for them.

Quit worrying about the competition and win them over instead. And if they don’t bite, focus on making your service so different that your competition doesn’t even exist.

He Says

Proudly proclaiming that you specialize in “all occasions” on your website is a badge of mediocrity. What you’re really saying is that you’re not special at anything at all.

The best advice I can give any DJ is to focus like a laser on what you do best or the market you want to work for. Steer your message to this market and you won’t have any competition. Become the best at serving that market.

If you want to do weddings, pick the type of wedding. Are they low end or high end weddings? Do they want a club type atmosphere or a lower profile DJ who just plays great music?

What’s authentic to you? If you’re not good at being a club DJ and you pretend to be one, everyone is going to notice.

Then turn your competition into fans. Help them.

Say what???!!?

Do something nice for your competition and you’ll be amazed at how it will come back to you.

I regularly hear my DJ brothers and sisters complaining about the competition. It’s time for a perspective shift.

Stop looking at them as competition and look at them as potential partners.

Start thinking about how these relationships can lead to better profits for you instead of all the things you don’t like about how they run their businesses. You can only work a finite number of jobs in the year. You might: sell your leads to your competition, exchange dates when they are booked, contract them out for services you don’t offer.

Stop worrying about Craigslist DJs because there’s nothing you can do about them. They’re not going away.

Rise above them or get buried by trying to compete with them.

Don’t just BE different; make sure your difference is consistent in your message and expressed in all your marketing. It’s not enough for you to know what your specialty is; you need to clearly communicate it to your potential customers.

Take an honest look at yourself, your website and your marketing. Does it look unique? Does it look homemade? Does it solve a problem for your client?

Or is it just good enough?

Are You Throwing Your Money Away on Advertising?

He Says…

I was talking to a DJ buddy of mine the other day and he was crying the blues about how he was getting “ripped off” by one of these big wedding websites he advertises on.  (I won’t mention names, but it starts with a K and ends with ot.)

I’ve spent all this money and got NOTHING in return.  The site doesn’t work,” he said.

Maybe you’ve said the same thing yourself.  Here’s the question I would ask you…

How do you know?

Would you say that Ebay “doesn’t work” just because you put something on Ebay and it doesn’t sell?  Maybe the people on Ebay aren’t looking for what you’re selling.  Or maybe you’re selling used tissues…something nobody would buy anywhere.

It’s important to know what’s not working before you ditch that advertising altogether.

Let’s look at it as a chain with many links connecting of the way from when a potential client first connects with you to when she books.  Typically, the chain goes like this:

Bride sees ad – Ad links to website – Bride sees website – Bride calls you – You meet her – She books

Back to this crappy site that doesn’t work.  Are you sure it doesn’t work?  What if there are thousands of brides looking for your service on this site, but they’re just not clicking your ad?

If you randomly throw up an ad that looks good enough or pick it because your DJs friends think it looks cool (the first sign that your ad is garbage) there’s a good chance it’s not going to work.  If you ad is not relevant and doesn’t call her to action, it will get passed over for the one that does.

Watch the video below to find the weak link in your sales chain.

The point here is that it isn’t always the advertising website that doesn’t work; sometimes it’s you.  There is a process here and you can’t just assume which part is broken.  It’s much easier to blame someone else than to take responsibility.

Maybe it’s time to man up; your ad sucks.

She says…

It could be true that those Big Advertising Websites don’t work anymore.

You’ve got to look at each link in Jeff’s “sales chain” to be sure.  A little research and digging into the facts will tell you the truth in no time.

Examine each link in your chain and ask these questions:

The Advertising Website

• Is my ideal client visiting this website?  How many of them are there? You’re not just looking for brides; you want brides searching for a DJ in your region.
• Is my ad even visible?  How many page views does it get? If she can’t see it, you don’t exist.

Your Ad

• Does your ad stand out from the competition or does it look just like everyone else’s?
• Have you tested your headline and image elsewhere to make sure it gets clicks?
• Is your ad totally benefit-driven, promising the answer your ideal client wants?

Your Website

• Does your website look trustworthy and professional?  Does it speak directly to what the potential client is looking for and grab their attention immediately?
• Do you have a clear “call to action” that compels that visitor to contact you?
• Are there multiple ways a visitor can contact you that are easy to find?  (Telephone, email, contact form, Skype, social media, etc.)

You’ll need some hard data to answer these questions.

1. Grill that advertising website. Ask them how many unique visitors they get per month.  Ask how many “impressions” (a fancy word for page views) each level of advertising gets.  Collect as many stats as you can, and if they can’t or won’t share them, that’s not a good sign.
2. Check your website analytics. What’s that?  You don’t have them?  Get free Google Analytics on your site ASAP.  This will tell you how many people visit your website by clicking on that ad, and you need this vital information to figure out if that advertisement is making you money.
3. Test and measure different ads against each other and optimize for the best results. Change one part of your ad at a time and then measure the difference in results. Make sure you’ve got your analytics set up first so that you can track those results.  Record them for two weeks to a month with your current ad. Then change just ONE element of your ad.  The headline is a great place to start.  Track your results and see if you get more visits from that website or less.

The question isn’t whether advertising on a given website works or not; the real question is why it’s not working for you.

Check your stats, examine each link in your sales chain, and figure out for yourself where the sales chain is broken.  Then fix it!