How To “Own The Racecourse”

Achieving Platform Independence

This strategy comes from an old mentor of mine from back when I worked at a Mercedes-Benz dealership. At the dealership we were essentially “single source dependent” and subject to the whims of our manufacturer. Any changes they made to the business structure, like pricing, affected our bottom line.

The strategy I want to share with you is about how to avoid similar problems in your own business where no single agent whether they are a supplier, a platform, or a manufacturer can assert too much control over your entire business.

This happens all the time now with digital marketing.

A new start up will come out of the gates and be really successful with their lead gen using only one platform, let’s say they’re using Facebook Ads. Then after this initial period of success the platform will change something or perhaps their account will get shut down.

Now all of a sudden they have don’t have a revenue stream, their entire business has been taken off the map all because of a change made on a platform they don’t control.

The “Owning The Racecourse” strategy is focused on becoming the owner of the space where the customer gets to interact with your best content, assets or conversion devices.

In my business now, I use multiple platforms for lead gen and then I bring the customer to a platform that I control (my website) where they can interact with the assets that I own.

Ideas for your assets can come from anywhere, and it’s important that you begin gathering them immediately. They can be from something you read online that inspired you or triggered you, maybe from a recent talk you attended.

One of the best places to look here is from your current customers. What types of questions are they asking you? What’s their biggest sticking points in their businesses that you can address.

This is where you can take all the big ideas you want to take on and package them into an asset that will be compelling for your corner of the marketplace.
 

Create The Hook

You also want to create an effective hook for your asset, something that’s going to grab your prospects attention and drive them over to your website. The racecourse that you OWN!

This is where copy and headlines come into play in a major way. There are several ways you can deliver your hook. One way is to create a story that frames your asset using a metaphor for something else.

Playing the role of a reporter and talking about what’s going on in the market is another good angle to take in your hook. Also “ranting” about what you don’t like about your industry can be very provocative. Case studies are always popular because they are incredibly authentic and help to sell your particular solutions.
 

Channel Diversification

When it comes to bringing in traffic for your assets you absolutely want to have as much channel independence as possible, almost to the point of being channel agnostic. Meaning that you don’t necessarily care what channels you’re promoting on because none of them are the only source for your business.
With that said, you want to ultimately be as effective and efficient as possible in your marketing efforts and not all channels will be equally successful for you. In the beginning try out a multitude of channels but as you track your metrics you can prune back to the channels that are the most manageable and are giving you the best return on your time. If you begin developing your own assets that will live in the online spaces you own, you will have a much more robust business than if you play in someone else’s racecourse.
These auxiliary platforms are terrific for promoting and enticing, and your own website and the email list you develop is a good place to be doing most of your selling.

Action Steps

1. Decide upon what you are going to be building your assets around.
2. Think about what you most want to discuss or change in your industry.
3. What is your customer’s biggest problem that you can solve?
4. Create a “Hook” that you can use to market your asset across multiple platforms.
5. Trim down the amount of platforms you market on to what’s most effective for your business.
6. Keep your assets on your own website or your own email list, this where you own the racecourse.

 

Result You Will Achieve

Platform independence and business assets you can control which might also be sold.
 

 
This article is based on an EHQ interview with the mentor.