Blue Ocean Strategy: Master Demand Generation with Ethical Marketing
In today's hyper-competitive business landscape, standing out often feels like an insurmountable challenge. But what if I told you there's a way to tap into a vast, untapped market? One where competition is irrelevant and your business can thrive? Enter the Blue Ocean Strategy—a powerful approach to creating demand and boosting your market presence.
Go Where No Other Business Dares to Go
The Blue Ocean Strategy is all about finding and exploiting untapped markets. Instead of competing in oversaturated "red oceans" filled with cutthroat competition, it encourages businesses to create "blue oceans" of uncontested market space. This strategy is crucial for businesses looking to generate demand through innovation rather than fighting over existing customers. This strategy was first outline by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne in their groundbreaking book Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant.
You can pick up a copy of their book here and I would highly recommend reading it as suplementary information to my strategy in this blog post;
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-Ocean-Strategy-Expanded-Uncontested/dp/1625274491
The Blue Ocean Demand Generation Strategy I've outline in this blog post plus a presentation video below, is anchored in their strategy as well as my own demand generation marketing strategies developed for my private advertising clients ove the years. I've tested this methodology in dozens of product launch marketing campaigns as well as having spent over $4 million in Google PPC and social media paid media to fine tune and test the methodology you are learning here.
You will have a chnace to see the high level methodology as well as download worksheets, SOP's and checkists to assist you in implementing it for your own business.
The Role of Marketing in Demand Generation
Marketing's primary role should be to send people to your sales process already pre-suaded. This means your marketing efforts should make your target audience more receptive and eager to engage with your sales process.
The ultimate goal? To make selling almost unnecessary. By overcoming the status quo and providing immense value, you can attract the right people who resonate with your core beliefs, making the sales process smoother and more natural.
Full Video Presentation - The Blue Ocean Strategy To Create Demand In Your Marketplace
Pre-Suasion: Your Secret Weapon
Pre-suasion, or the art of influence before the actual persuasion, significantly impacts sales conversions. This strategy involves preparing your audience psychologically to be more open to your message. It's about creating an expectation and desire for your solution even before the sales pitch begins. If you would like to go deeper on the topic of "pre-suasion" check out Rober Cialdini's book Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade or check out his website here.
Stand Out by Being Different
Following the masses only leads to ordinary results. To stand out, you must find distinctions that set you apart. This isn't about being different for the sake of it—it's about creating value innovation. Show your audience a new, better way to achieve their desires in a way no one else can, and they'll follow you to the ends of the earth.
Consider walking through a forest with a botanist who explains the different trees, leaves, and fauna. Your newfound knowledge changes how you see the forest forever. Similarly, your marketing should enlighten your audience, making them see their needs and solutions in a new light.
The Goal of Marketing
The goal of marketing is to overcome the status quo. Many businesses focus too much on selling and not enough on marketing. If you oversell and under-market, you become the person everyone hates. People are busy and don't have time to assess every ad coming at them. Even if you have something valuable to offer, nobody will listen if you're just trying to sell.
Markets Are Defined by Conflicts
Markets are defined by conflicts and unmet needs. To make your market desire your product or service, help them value your solution by:
- Helping them develop new beliefs that enable them to achieve their desires.
- Showcasing the unique, innovative way your solution accomplishes their goals.
- Demonstrating results—because results trump everything.
- Building loyalty by continuously providing value and solving their conflicts.
Creating Demand
Most businesses chase the same customers with the same tools, using short-lived tactics. Instead, focus on creating your own demand by educating and nurturing a larger audience. Move people up the pyramid from being unaware of their needs to becoming ready buyers.
Why What Your Audience Believes & Values, Matters
- The final decision for what your audiencelikes is up to them
- But, the burden of proof is on you
- If you want to prove your point, then youMUST start with something they already “Believe” or Value
- Before writing any ad or sales pitch,first determine what your audience is thinking at their core beliefs and valueslevel (figure out a common understanding they all hold)
- That common value is Step #1 for you tobe able to write advertising that connects with them viscerally at the gutlevel …emotionally
- To shift their point of view to what youwant them to believe (ie to prove your pitch), start from theircurrently held belief position not yours.
- Their beliefs and values are often howpeople identify themselves with their tribe and form their own identity
How To Help Move A Person's Beliefs To A New Idea That Will Help Them
Create video content that pre-suades and positions your brand as helpful and trustworthy. Your video strategy should be simple, emotionally resonant, and anchored in a clear theme. Encourage your audience to take action by showing them the clear benefits of your solution.
•People love to resist change
•We THINK it keeps us safe
•Just our ancient brains way of doing it
•So to change people to thinking and acting in a way that is beneficial toyou and to them
•You must step them through levels ofbelief
•You can change a persons beliefs
•But you cannot change their values
•So start there
Our Beliefs Are Tied Directly To Our Emotions - Find Their Key Emotion Driving Their Behaviour
•Once you uncover your audience’s commonbeliefs and values, use that to determine which emotion you want to evoke withyour advertising
•You may want to pick 2 or 3 differentones to test to see which ones work best for your crowd
I've developed a key emotional drivers chart based on what I learned from the famed copywriter, Dan Kennedy. When starting a new marketing campaign for demand generation, I will map out my audiences key emotional drivers and compare their underlying beliefs with the NEW model I'd like them to learn to help change thier behaviour to something new that will help them.
Emotional Belief Mapping Example - Used To Help My Audience Develop Enhanced Creativity/Productivity
I developed this belief mapping example to help understand my audiences key beliefs and emotions driving them to work too hard thus reducing their creativity. I utilized these beliefs and key emotions to help me develop videos that helped them to understand how to relax and get into flow by going slower so they could enhance thier creativity and increase productivity as well as the quality of thier output.
Use The Information Above To Help You Craft An Outline For Several Short Form Videos
Neilsons conducted a study a few years back that proved people are more likely to make a purchase with your brand when they have already watched some videos of you. They actually proved that your audience is72% more likely to invest with you even if they've only watched 10 seconds of your video. Needless to say, short videos work powrfully.
Here's an example where I did that with one of my private product launch clients, Pam Hendrickson who is the former VP Content Marketing for Tony Robbins. We got thousands of views of her short videos before doing her product launch which resulted in over $1 million in sales.
Homework for You:
- Fill out your beliefs mapping table.
- Use each point for one video
- Our brain accepts info in simple area
- Keep videos brief & simple (2-5minutes)
- Use Theme/Topic-Story-Metaphor structure
- The purpose is to pre-suade & position in a helpful way to getthem to the new belief.
- Map out your core beliefs - Identify what you and your business stand for.
- Create a video series based on those beliefs - Use video to communicate your message effectively.
- Use ethical persuasion - Build trust and loyalty through genuine connections.
Short Video Strategy
- Create several videos based on your pre-work you completed above
- You can mix in some lives with pre-recorded and test what works best for you
- Social Media platforms algorithms give priotity to video
- Video attracts attention in the newsfeed
- Inexpensive brand recognition & nurturing
- Combine video with Local Awareness Ads =Powerful combo
- 3 Critical factors to running a video adto get results
- Mix in equal parts videos that are inspirational, aspirational, and instructional
- Create an audience of people who watch at least 50% of a series of these videos
- Re-target tha t"pre-suaded" audience to sign up for something (webinar, report download, checklist etc.)
- Once on your email list you can invite them to a call with you to assist them, or a webinar, or register for an event or sell your product or service
Resource Worksheets, SOP's, Checklist Downloads
[COMING SOON]
Conclusion
In summary, the Blue Ocean Strategy is a game-changer for businesses looking to create demand and stand out in a crowded marketplace. By focusing on pre-suasion, differentiation, and ethical persuasion, you can connect with your audience on a deeper level and foster long-term loyalty. Don't just compete—innovate, educate, and inspire.
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