Tossing the khyber and business strategy

Pity Gary Vaynerchuk doesn’t voice his opinions more often. Of course he does every day on his wine channel. But his uptake on the world of business can be refreshing and illuminating. Business people should take note.

His latest one is about AOL’s business model. And it makes for excellent watching. The point Gary V makes is that AOL has been quietly generating a mass of small very focused niche sites. And funneling visitors to them via their mothership that is AOL itself.

Nothing new you might think. Well, it probably isn’t, but still deserves some discussion. The market has become specialised. The internet has allowed people and companies to offer products and services within minute fields and be successful at it.

Check out this leather briefcase site. One would imagine that an offline retail shop might not be able to sustain a business being so highly specialised. However, reaching the whole world via the internet, this business can. A speciality leather case site. Old fashioned design and quality. Expensive. Would have to be.

Imagine what this business would need to do to survive in the offline world. Would have to pay very expensive retail space in an exclusive shopping area because being in a local high street wouldn’t provide sufficient customers.

It would need to advertise in expensive magazines, promote their product at high profile and exclusive events such as horse shows and racing meets. The mind boggles as to how much they would have to pay on adspend.

Online they can do it. Grow the business slowly, get much feed-back and consumer endorsement and promote yourself via trusted social media voices who actually get to use your product and admire it genuinely.

Getting back to Gary V’s video. What he is offering is a solution to the media that is suffering from the onslaught of the free social media online blues. Become specialised. Find and promote the niches, offer more than the free media can provide and convert your business to a new revenue generating model.

For instance online newspapers may give their sports writers more space than the previously available four or six pages at the back of the paper. Really provide space for analysis, video footage, podcasts, expert opinion, statistics and more on any sport from popular football to lesser known sporting activities such as tossing the khyber.

But then the newspapers are online already and it’s not helping them. Of course. But view their online offering. It’s not much different to the printed version except that the content is kept available rather than lining the bird cage. But there is no difference to the actual offering.

Possibly what the media has lost sight of is that they are in the business of providing information and news. They have been focusing on eyeballs for so long, they have forgotten what they are about. Get back to basics. Provide tons of information and in ways that readers would like and you may be able to monetise this offering in ways it’s not working in print anymore.

What does that say for small businesses or any size business for that matter? It could mean you need to be a super specialist in your field and have immense value to offer.

Back to basics then, isn’t it.

Watch Gary’s video here.