Monetization Playbook #39—Deep Sea Strategy Fishing
Fishing in a bigger strategy pond
Okay, marketing folklore tells you to be a big fish in a small pond.
But at some point, if successful, you'll be a dolphin trying to squeeze in a goldfish bowl.
One option is to move into a bigger pond. Let's call it an ocean.
But, stepping into the shark-infested territory is the last thing you're ready for straight out the goldfish bowl.
So the key is to try to find what W Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne termed a Blue Ocean Strategy.
There are many parts to their strategy, but my favourite is the value innovation framework.
This prompts you to view the current industry's value delivery norms and features and then consider whether to ERRC any of the factors
Raise
Eliminate
Reduce
Create
An example in the Airline industry was the industry norms to deliver a bundled service including flight, luggage, food, etc.
Easyjet in the UK and Southwest Airlines in the US eliminated a few of these holy cows and reduced many others with great commercial success.
A more recent example is the unbundling of websites.
Most no-code website providers initially optimized for multi-page website creation.
A new blue ocean, the opportunity arose to deliver one-page websites and landing pages.
Enter Carrd – ''Simple, free, fully responsive one-page sites for pretty much anything." [their words, not mine]
Opening up a new blue ocean by simplifying supply–they successfully attracted new demand for websites beyond businesses.
—The CV website and calling card. Or is it Carrd!