The meek shall inherit the earth … but the best odds lie with the opportunistic meek.
Listening to a 21-minute youtube video last week, I enjoyed Jay Abraham and B. Eric Rhoads discussing ways business owners can expand market share during tough times. “There is massive opportunity in adversity,” said Abraham.
Their key points:
- Intensify your ability to own the market (you can get great access to people because they are not as frenetic)
- Maintain momentum. The noise is reduced. Build your brand when people have time to listen
- Solidify and bond with your base
- Consolidate your competitors’ customers to become yours
- Reposition and grow market share
Rhoads told a favorite story about selling cereal during the Great Depression. (Note: this story was not verified by a quick google.) He said Post had a 90% market share entering the Depression, but when sales dropped, Post retrenched. Kellogg’s doubled down and by the Depression’s end, the Tony the Tiger guys had surpassed Post to dominate the cereal market – a lead the company still holds today.
What does this have to do with KnoxTNToday.com? Just this:
- We’re not trying to own the local advertising market; we want to gain market share of the local news source market. Do that and advertising will follow.
- We are doubling down. Take a look at today’s offerings – Fun Outdoors, Food and a church feature. We’re building on our obituary links to broaden coverage to eight contiguous counties (Anderson, Blount, Grainger, Jefferson, Loudon, Roane, Sevier, Union). Expect this by June.
- We’re changing how we write. The days of the New Yorker-style feature are gone. Most everybody has a website or Facebook presence; almost nobody has time to wade through the mass of easily available information. Our daily COVID-19 coverage is a harbinger. Look for tighter copy, more links, deeper coverage of selected topics.
We’ll see where we land.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of KnoxTNToday.com
