No matter what you do, chances are pretty high that you won't be the only one doing it.

Business coach? There are plenty of other people doing it

Social media manager? There are hundreds more.

Web designer? Don't even get me started.

And while saying "it's too saturated" is sometimes just an excuse used by some people to hold themselves back from taking the action they know they need to take...

There's no doubt that there's more competition than ever before and being able to stand out in a unique way is essential.

This is especially true when it comes to your content on Instagram or any social media platform.

I jumped on a call with a much more experienced entrepreneur a while back to talk about my messaging on Instagram and he confirmed something that I kind of knew already.

I'm simply not standing out enough.

I'm sure you know this but there are A LOT of people out there sharing tips and teaching you different ways to grow on Instagram.

It's gotten to the point where this entrepreneur even said that he has started zoning out whenever someone tells him that they help people grow on Instagram because there are just so many people claiming to do the same thing.

This definitely shows that there's obviously demand for this outcome...

But... it also means that if I'm not careful, my content is going to drown in an ocean of sameness.

So he introduced me to something interesting that I can use to start standing out a bit more and reaching the people I want to.

This newsletter will attempt to distill what I've learned from him so you can take one or two things and apply them to your own business as well.

Introducing market sophistication from the book "Breakthrough Advertising"

This book is the same one that introduced the 5 stages of awareness and is one of the most expensive books I've heard of, going for anywhere from $400 to $1000.

What is market sophistication?

Market sophistication is the amount of knowledge your target market has on any given topic.

As Eugene Schwartz, the author put it:

“How many similar products have they [your market] been told about before?”

Basically, the more they know or have been told about it, the less they want to hear about it again.

Just like you wouldn't keep telling the same joke over and over again to people who have already heard it.

There are 5 stages of market sophistication.

The 5 stages of market sophistication

1. Completely untapped/unsophisticated market

This market is one that has never heard about your product or claims before.

It's the dream of any marketer or entrepreneur.

Unfortunately, unless you have some new novel technology that has never been heard of before (like the iPhone when it launched or when ChatGPT just came out), you're probably not at this stage.

In this stage, all you need to do is state the claim and benefit and because it's new you'll be able to get the attention you want.

2. A slightly sophisticated market

Stating the claim still works here but since there are more competitors, you stand out by promising more.

I'll help you grow your followers becomes I'll help you gain 100K followers in 12 months without spending more than 2 hours a week creating content.

Make bigger claims, promise more, and drive the benefit to the absolute limit.

3. Marketing claims get old

At this stage, your target market has heard it all before and start zoning out (like my coach).

Your big claims lose their power because everyone is making them. While there will still be buyers, they won't be as easily persuaded by the marketing of stages 1 and 2.

You stand out at this point by introducing a new mechanism. This is a new way of getting your target market the benefit they want.

While the outcome (the WHAT) might be the same, the process or framework (the HOW) allows you to differentiate yourself from everyone else.

This works because there are many ways to achieve a result and different ways will appeal to different people.

I help you hit $10K months by selling digital products and I help you hit $10K months by selling high ticket coaching or consulting promise the same outcome but are totally different.

Ask yourself "What's the unique way that I deliver results for my clients?" and start talking about that.

4. The new mechanism is enlarged upon

Much like stage 2 where the claim is driven to its absolute limit, the same is done to the “new mechanism”.

You need to elaborate on the new mechanism.

Make it faster, easier, and more guaranteed.

Make it solve more of the original problem, and make it promise extra benefits.

This is the stage I'm trying to operate at right now and I've clarified my way of getting clients results and will be hitting on that more in my content over the coming months.

Rather than just sharing Instagram tips for everyone, I'll be focusing on helping coaches become better educators so they can properly articulate their value and build the audience of their dreams on Instagram.

Therefore my content will shift to talk more about educational content and why I believe it's the best way to build a solid audience.

It's still a work in progress as there was only so much I could get in a single 1 hour call but I'm interested in exploring it and seeing where it leads.

5. The now sophisticated audience no longer believes or wants to hear your claims

At this stage, your audience does not want to hear about what your product does, how it does what it does nor about what it can do for them.

They’ve heard it all before and are exhausted.

This is the point where most competitors start leaving and looking for the next gold rush.

Eugene Schwartz recommends focusing on identification at this stage but I'm still taking some time to understand what that means for myself.

I'd recommend doing some further research yourself and maybe picking up the book if this has piqued enough of your interest.

Hopefully, this was helpful and got you thinking about what stage your market might be in (observe how the successful creators in your niche create content and do their marketing)

You want to make sure you always operate at least one stage above where you think your market is. So if your market is at stage 2, operate at stage 3 or 4.

This will help you stand out and smoke everyone else in your niche on Instagram or any platform that you use.

​

Happy Friday!

Niyo