How a weird $400 million dollar entrepreneur positions his product
One of my greatest joys is helping businesses position themselves better with content.
I’m actually pretty relentless about it.
I’ve generated millions of dollars for clients over the years by proper positioning over the years.
I’ve written dozens and dozens of newsletters about it.
I’ve written 100s of posts about it.
I’ve spent 1000s of hours working with clients on it.
When a biz nails its messaging, the ROI can be huge.
First off, it usually leads to more sales since the message really vibes with the right audience, making it easier to close deals.
Plus, it can cut down on marketing costs because you're not wasting money trying to reach people who aren't a good fit.
On top of that, strong messaging helps people remember your brand better, which means more word-of-mouth and die-hard brand fans.
So, when I stumbled upon someone who did it so well, so masterfully…
I just have to share it with you.
Meet Brian Johnson
If you don’t know Brian, he sold his FinTech company to PayPal for a cool $800 million.
He’s now deep into trying to change his biological age to be younger than his chronological age.
He’s 47 years old, but has biologically reversed his epigenetic age by 5.1 years through an anti-aging regime that is quite intense and, frankly, crazy.
He’s building his body in public and has a huge fan base of biohacking dweebs like him.
Well… that’s enough build up.
The other day he released a video that I thought was an absolute masterclass on how to position your product better.
There’s lots of ways to do it.
But the BEST and FASTEST way to do it is to position yourself against a competitor.
(Not many people have the guts to do this… )
(But if you do it right, the payback is… oh so beautiful)
Brian has a new product on the market. Some magic fairy fart dust.
He’s competing with an industry giant with their own magic fairy fart dust.
But the positioning is awesome.
First, his positions against their price.
He says AG1 costs about $10 to make, but they charge $99. He finds that price difference ridiculous, implying it’s not worth what they charge. Most people would agree with him.
2nd, he positions against their promise.
He feels AG1 doesn’t deliver the value it claims to. It’s hyped up but doesn’t live up to the promises they make in their marketing. But his products will (duh!).
3rd, he positions against their influencer marketing practices.
Brian calls out AG1’s relentless marketing and influencer campaigns, suggesting it’s a huge part of why you hear about them everywhere. They pay influencers 20-30% of each sale, making it hard to trust the recommendations. This builds up trust for Brian.
4th, he positions against their actual product.
He criticizes AG1 for using tiny, ineffective amounts of popular ingredients, making it seem like you're getting more benefits than you really are. He points out that they hide the actual amounts of 49 ingredients under "proprietary blends," so you don’t even know what you’re taking. Again, making you trust him more.
5th, he positions against their level of transparency.
Brian compares AG1’s lack of disclosed ingredient amounts to his own company’s transparency, where he lists every ingredient and dosage clearly and gets third-party lab tests to ensure purity. Can you find where to be more transparent than your competitor?
6th, he positions, again, both price and transparency of the margins.
He mentions that AG1’s profit margins are massive compared to the actual cost of ingredients, while his own product (Blueprint) is priced more reasonably with better quality ingredients.
As you can clearly see… he’s big on building your trust and he’s using a competitor to help build that positioning.
Like, I said. Not many folks or companies would do this.
You best believe the competitor and their fans are going to come after Brian.
That said, I think Brian comes out winning.
I completely trust him and would much rather buy from him (if I was on the market for such a solution) than AG1. It just makes sense and I’m now in the Brian camp when it comes to brand.
Now, how can this work for YOU?
LinkedIn has a challenge: it’s a stumble upon content platform. So, your content dies in 30 mins to 5 hours. And then you have to go again. And again. And again.
For X, you can pin what you want your audience to read.
YT creates a content catalog for viewers.
Emails die on the vine (like this one, unless I move it to a blog).
So, you’ve gotta figure out the best traffic source for you to establish your position in the market.
And with LinkedIn, it’s going to be a 52 week strategy.
Now, you’ve also got to think about WHAT you’re positioning yourself against.
Here are some prompts for you to begin thinking about and writing about it:
Here’s what I am and here’s what I’m not (use your competitor as your opposite).
Here’s what you can expect when working with me.
I’m not for people who (prefer something your competitor provides)…
I’m 100 percent for people who…
Here’s why what you brought didn’t work (your competitors solution)…
Here’s what to look out for next time…
Here are red flags to look for (red flags your competitors provide)…
I know who you may be working with (competitor)… that’s cool, but…
Here’s why you brought from them (competitor)…and why it didn’t work
You have a problem (name it), Here’s my solution.
Here’s how my solution compares to others.
Here’s how I’m different from the last person you hired…
Here’s how my solution fills in the gaps you didn’t get before…
Here’s the gap that I can close that your person can’t. Come to me after you’re done with them.
Word to the wise. You don’t have to call out your competitor by name. You can call them out by classification (mine is gooroos) or actual practices.
But remember, polarity is power.
If you need help positioning yourself through content and the sales process so you can stop wasting time and money online and start standing out to the right-fit people, just book a call with me and let’s see how (and if) I can help you.