Sometimes it's best not to be the best

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During the Second World War, American radio engineers noticed something odd about German radio broadcasts.

The quality of the repeated episodes that the Germans were putting out was just as good as the quality of their live episodes.

This was not the case in Allied countries where recordings were being made on the wax cylinders or shellac discs that were the forerunner to vinyl records.

Recordings played back from these discs or cylinders would be accompanied by all sorts of hissing and crackling noises.

But the Germans' recorded broadcasts were almost crystal clear. It was a mystery, and one that wouldn't be solved until the war was over.

Following Germany's surrender, the Allies captured the German radio stations and began sifting through their equipment.

It was then that they discovered the secret.

It turned out the Germans had developed a magnetic tape that could record audio at very high levels of quality.

Realising the potential of this new technology, the Allies took home samples of the magnetic tapes, along with the machinery to produce and play them.

They reverse-engineered the technology, which then spread rapidly in the years that followed, leading to a huge improvement in the standard of audio recordings in a relatively short space of time.

Before long, people realised that this same magnetic tape technology could be used to record video as well. And this led to the first videotape recording being demonstrated in 1951 by Bing Crosby Enterprises – the company owned by the famous singer.

Fast forward (sorry!) to the 1980s and video tapes and video recorders (VCRs) were making rapid inroads into people's living rooms.

But there were two different types of tape in circulation and two different types of VCR available.

The ones made by Sony used their Betamax format, while JVC and pretty much every other manufacturer used VHS.

There was no cross-compatibility – you couldn't play a Betamax tape on a VHS machine or vice versa – and so, for several years, the two formats co-existed.

This was bad news for film studios, retailers, and video rental shops – all of whom had to contend with having two versions of every film.

Betamax offered a slightly better picture quality than VHS, plus Betamax tapes had arrived on the market a whole year ahead of VHS.

So, if one format was eventually going to win out over the other, you'd have thought it would have been Betamax.

But no.

As the 80s turned into the 90s, it became clear that VHS had won the format wars and Betamax began to die out.

So why did VHS triumph when it offered a lower quality picture?

It's because early Betamax tapes could only store up to one hour of recorded video whereas a VHS tape could record two hours of video.

This meant that you could fit a whole movie or a whole football game onto a single VHS cassette but not onto a Betamax one.

And that's what consumers cared about, rather than the quality of the picture.

After all, what was the point of recording something if you had to be there to jump up and swap to a new tape halfway through? You might as well just watch it live.

And that's why, by addressing the thing that was actually important to their potential customers, the makers of VHS saw off their technically superior competitor.

There's an important lesson here for us as business owners.

All too often we give our audience what we think they need rather than trying to solve the problems they really care about.

I see this a lot when solo business owners are creating lead magnets that they're going to give away on their websites in order to build up an email list of future clients.

All too often, they create guides called things like The Complete Guide to Digital Marketing or Your Ultimate Business Strategy Handbook.

But what guides like that don't take into account is that...

Nobody wants a complete guide to digital marketing.

Nobody wants an ultimate business strategy handbook.

What people want are the outcomes that these things give them – things like getting their first paying client, doubling their revenue, or working fewer hours whilst earning more.

So, when you're thinking about a topic for a lead magnet, think about your ideal client and think about what sort of problem or challenge they want to overcome.

For example, most people who are starting a business are likely to encounter the problem of not knowing how to get their first client.

Their concern will be that they'll spend months building a beautiful website and creating perfect services, but no one will actually buy from them.

This is the concern that is playing the loudest in their minds.

Now, as a business coach, if you can help them solve that number one problem of getting that first client, who do you think they're going to turn to for help with scaling their business?

You, of course!

And that's why a lead magnet with practical tips on how to get your first paying client in 30 days would be far more effective than a comprehensive guide covering every aspect of business strategy.

It doesn't have lots of dry theory about business models – it just has useful advice that addresses the thing the audience cares about the most (just like VHS tapes did).

Creating content – whether it's a lead magnet, a blog, or a video – isn't always about having the best information or the most detail.

As with VHS tapes, it's about giving your audience what they actually want and providing content which will solve their biggest problems.

All the best,
David.

PS – If you want to learn more about creating lead magnets that actually work, plus discover how to build an entire automated system that turns those lead magnets into a steady stream of paying clients, then check out my book Building an Automated Lead Machine.

It will show you exactly how to create the kind of content that resonates with your ideal clients and converts them into customers – not because it's the most comprehensive, but because it solves their most pressing problems.

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