Morning, Inbox Hackers. No doubt you’re crushing Humpday instead of being the crushee. 

Today we’re going deep on “unfair advantages” that businesses should look for and use before their competitors do. Lots of insights on this and examples to learn from.

Then, you can rip through the following sections:

• The Knowledge Base  (includes link to help NC)

• Self Help (luxury myths)

• Facts & Stats 

• Get Hacking (rhymes with networking) 

Now for the Feature Story.

5 Unfair Advantages Your Brand Might Be Overlooking

1. Unique insights into your target market other companies lack

2. Proprietary technology, design, or delivery method of your product

3. Ability to build partnerships that dig a moat around your offers

4. Values and mission that rally consumers to back your brand (easy at first, harder after massive growth, as we’ll see)

5. Using network effects that benefit the customers while simultaneously scaling your biz

Now, let’s pull back the covers on those five.

Don’t worry. You do not have to own the unique insights on your target market.

Many data sets are freely available. You just have to know which ones will give you the most valuable intel. And you probably need a brainiac who’s able to make sense of a giant jumble of data.

With proprietary advantages, you can make a cooler MP3 player like Stevo did with the iPod.

That example’s for deep-pocketed brands. Think smaller by inventing a cooler iPhone case. Or get even simpler and deliver your basic phone case with a thank you card, fun stickers, and free cleaning clothes your buyers are not expecting (Diverbox does this). 

What do partnerships look like? 

Having only specific beers available in a sports arena. Or restaurants having Coke or Pepsi products, not both. Also, signing a huge influencer to promote your brand. Relax, this is possible with any size company now. You don’t need Kaitlin Clark. A local pizza place could pay the town’s high school quarterback or cheer squad to promote their business.

I like certain brands because of what they stand for and what they won’t stand for. 

Trouble is, big corps can use fake values to draw people in. Even sincere companies find it harder to maintain a mission once they become enormous. Like Google promoting their low carbon output and allegedly sorta lying about how high theirs is - not that Google is ever sincere, just a hypothetical example😉.

A real example of the network effect working wonders is Slack.

Teams and organizations were targeted in marketing campaigns, not individual users. Large organizations signing up meant smaller ones that did business with the big dog’s would have to hop on the new communication channel. Plus, one department in a company using Slack meant other departments would need to join the “club.”

3 Simple Unfair Advantages Examples I’ve Seen 

Unfair advantages on a local level…

Foresight and Patience. My dad had those traits and used them to his advantage to get tons of repeat and referral business. No complex tactics. He just took time to have conversations with customers. Talking about non-business stuff lead to them asking him to do additional work for them or mentioning his company to their neighbors.

Exclusively Homemade. Small church down the road grew to a mega church using a unique gift to welcome new guests. A simple jar of jelly. But it couldn’t be bought in any store. It was made by a little ole lady who had the secret recipe for this “best jelly in the world.”

Erase Middle Men. My buddy owned an old-school beer store and also sold sodas and snacks. His soft drinks were priced less than half that of convenience stores, bringing in tons of foot traffic. He didn’t lose money on the cheap drinks, either. He cut out the delivery company and picked up pallets of drinks himself at a grocery store nearby.

Another unfair advantage is location, location, location. 

This comes into play digitally with Google jerking around with third-party cookies. You can test advertising in various locations where your audience hangs out instead of depending on Google to help you track them all over the web.

An offline example is the slight difference but huge advantage of having a standalone retail store at a traffic stop versus beside a fast-moving bypass. People already stopped are more likely to pull into a store versus hitting the brakes at 65 mph to sling it into a parking lot.

Why Not Just Steal Unfair Advantages?

Let’s say you can’t find an unfair advantage. Or you’re too busy working in your business to hunt one down.

No problem. Copy and paste another brand’s advantages in a different arena.

Example: The Hustle newsletter exploded due to them having a business newsletter that didn’t bore readers into a coma. You can’t do what The Hustle did on a big scale — too late. But their tactics would work great in a local newsletter and put a local newspaper to shame.

Local newspapers offer little humor, no referral incentives, intrusive ads on their websites, etc.

Wanna go deeper on unfair advantages for your business? 

7 Books Related to Unfair Advantages

1. The Unfair Advantage 

2. Zero to One 

3. Blue Ocean Strategy 

4. The Lean Startup 

5. The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook 

6. The Innovator's Dilemma

7. Good Strategy Bad Strategy

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Now for The Knowledge Base…

Self-Help

New survey shows 17% of Americans say they’ve never experienced something luxurious.

Seems crazy, but…

The endless scroll of “vacation” pics on Instagram prolly would make 1 outta 5 folks feel they’ve lacked luxury.

Comparisons are unhealthy and jack up perspectives. There are healthy comparisons though.

Imagine the misery of living during the Civil War or Great Depression or being born in Los Angeles.

Most of us have it pretty good today. “Pretty good” is a luxury billions of people throughout history would’ve taken.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: New study shows how much test subjects valued an ad-free Facebook experience versus Facebook with ads. Results at end of this email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

The word “networking” leaves a bad taste in most business owners' mouths. 

“Connecting” has become a more accepted word. 

So today’s hack is to connect with more people by cutting out this one thing every week.

That one thing is “convenience.” 

The more convenient something is, the less likely you are to come in contact with another human. Dang-near impossible to connect without contact.

It can be as simple as calling to ask a question instead of texting or emailing. Or paying a bill in person versus online. 

I’ve one local bill I could pay via bank transfer, but I show up each month with a check so I can make small talk with Martha the teller. That bank now collects eyeglasses for my Lions Club to donate.

Inbox Hacking is read by slick marketers at Allstate and John Deere, and the legendary Bob Bly. Please share this newsletter.

Shane McLendon, Copy Kingpin 

Bonus answer from Facts & Stats section:  Researchers found no statistically significant difference in consumer satisfaction from Facebook with ads or without ads (Stanford). 

P.S. Wish someone would do a study on wasted funding on needless studies. Exhibit A: Competitive slap fighting exposed: First study finds 78% show signs of brain injuries.