⛱ How the Mercedes Brand Strategy Helps You Discover the Perfect Sandbox for Impressing Your Clients

⛱ How the Mercedes Brand Strategy Helps You Discover the Perfect Sandbox for Impressing Your Clients

🦃 Hi there, Solopreneur! It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S.

A few days to catch up with friends, family, and folks who, I trust, have a positive impact on your life. I’m staying in upstate New York and hanging out with family. If you’re cooking, I know the holiday carries a little stress and a few deadlines. I’m sending you positive thoughts for a terrific day and a hearty “Thank You” for being a part of this amazing Solopreneur Doorway community!

This week’s issue is a 3.5 -minute read.

Last week, we kicked off our powerful three-part series that underscores my primary purpose in collaborating with you and your solopreneur journey.

Making sure you…

Turn your skills into solutions people buy.

Part I delivered several emails from readers asking me, “Is it possible to start a successful solo business first, with passion, and then search for the appropriate skills?

In a word, ‘Yes.’

❤️ Passion helps you start your new business. It’s also essential for your health, motivation, and long-term growth.

You always want to show your clients authentic enthusiasm for your solutions and their power to create a positive transformation.

⚠️ The key, however, is to keep your skills at the forefront as you build, test, and put into motion your solutions.

Clients want you to be energetic and, more importantly, at the forefront of solving their BIG problem in a quick, easy, and positive way.

Passion helps you start, and your skills ensure you’ll create and present the RIGHT solutions.

This week, Part II tackles a major ‘consumer’ question for your solo biz strategy. Namely…

“Have you picked the right sandbox?”

Your sandbox, or market, must be a space where you can win.

Let’s read it and say it again.

Your sandbox must be a space where you can win.

😕 Participating and playing nicely in any sandbox with all the others might be a friendly start. It won’t cut it if you want to make money and gain an advantage.

If you jump into the wrong sandbox, one of two outcomes will prevail:

1. The leaders in your sandbox might bury you OR

2. You’ll find there are not enough consumers in your sandbox who have the BIG problem you want to solve.

When you research your product → market fit, try to pick the sandbox that has enough consumers AND one where your solutions put you at the top of your client’s list.

First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page with ‘sandbox.’

Consider 3 global auto companies:

• 🏞 Subaru

• 🦺 Volvo

• 💎 Mercedes

Each makes cars and SUVs that go from A to B, right?

Yet, each brand made a conscious decision to build awareness and share solutions to gain an edge in their unique sandbox.

🚗 Subaru = outdoors

🚕 Volvo = safety

🚙 Mercedes = luxury

Subaru, Volvo, and Mercedes play in the global auto sandbox, yet they want customers to know exactly how their cars solve a specific issue (off-road driving, safe driving, and luxurious driving) for one specific sandbox.

Each brand pours millions into customer research to discover how they can dominate 1 sandbox in the global auto arena.

When you build your strategy, look at the various sandboxes you could enter and pick the one where your skills and solutions unite.

Your solution might be luxurious, safe, or adventurous.

Think Mercedes, Subaru, or Volvo and build within the right sandbox.

🔑 Takeaway

When you design your solutions (web sites, copywriting, professional coaching, social media marketing), think carefully about your sandbox and the consumers you want to attract. Pick a sandbox where you can win rather than five where you could disappear. Research, ask questions, test your solutions, and watch the data. It will take time, and it’s worth every minute.

⛱ How Do You Pick the Right Sandbox?

Two smart options:

• 📋 Market research

• 🛠 Build in public

It’s tough to justify one sandbox over another without studying your market data.

The data you choose to collect depends on your industry, client problem, test solution, and price point.

You could take the traditional path of customer surveys and focus groups.

OR

You could build/share your idea with a handful of energetic followers on social media and ask them for feedback.

My recommendation is to do both!

You won’t know exactly if your solutions will win in a particular sandbox until you test them.

😮 This is why strategy makes us nervous.

You can’t know how your solutions will hit the market until they hit the market.

When I built a strategy for my financial services practice, I used the research I collected from many conversations.

My first solution did not work. Neither did my second.

My third was the right one.

🔑 Takeaway

When you interview clients and look at your competitors, you build a test solution that should give you an edge. Your goal is to ultimately dominate a sandbox with your product and solutions that solve the BIG customer problem in a valuable way (for your client and your business).

You can do it.

😀 See you next week for Part III!

And if you’re enjoying the newsletter, I’d appreciate a quick testimonial.

(Your kind comments help me keep Solopreneur Doorway on an upward path!)

🔑Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik