Industry Predictions: The Future of Online Business with Mariah Coz
Episode 776: Show Notes
There have been so many upheavals in the past few years, from COVID to the rise of AI, that making any predictions about the future can seem like an exercise in futility. But when you’ve spent enough years in an industry, you become attuned to customer needs in new and surprising ways, allowing you to gain a deeper sense of where things may be heading next. Today on the podcast, I’m thrilled to be talking with the wonderful Mariah Coz, Founder of Fearless CEO, where she helps creators monetize their business through community content courses and other creative digital products.
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Mariah is someone I’ve known in this online industry since the early days of my business. And over the last couple of years, I've had the great honor and pleasure of getting to know her as a personal friend. For today’s episode, Mariah and I get into a topic we are both extremely excited to discuss, namely, the future of online business and what this looks like. We get into how online business has changed since we first started in the industry, what to consider when choosing the path that makes the most sense to you, how we expect selling to evolve in the online space, and much more.
Whether you’re a newbie unsure of where to start or a seasoned professional taking stock of where to go next, this conversation covers all of it. And while we can’t predict the future with unerring accuracy, we can share what we expect based on everything we’ve learned over the past few years. So, for an expansive conversation on industry predictions and our advice on how to adapt from myself and the wonderful Mariah Coz, be sure to tune in today!
The Difference Between Then and Now
So much has changed since we first joined the world of online business. Back when we started, everything we were doing was pretty new, and it was possible to be the only one doing what you were doing for your niche market. Today, however, you’re likely to have a range of competitors, presenting customers with more options than ever before. And, while previously businesses could get away with doing pretty generic branding, marketing, and copywriting, in the current moment it’s imperative that you be willing to set yourself apart from the crowd and lean into what makes your message, delivery, or service unique.
Figuring Out What Path Makes the Most Sense For You
In the past, the trajectory for getting someone off the ground to a point where they are profitable enough to pursue their online business as a full-time income (and leave their job) was much clearer. Today, however, you can’t expect to land on a brilliant technique that will allow you to grow an audience overnight.
We wish we could give a newbie or someone starting out ‘the number one best way to start’ and have them branch off from there. But the truth is that every person and their business is unique, and it’s not clear that there’s one superior way to get started. For some people, service may be the way to start, while others may resonate with Mariah’s approach, which means being content first. It all depends on a variety of factors, from who you’ve identified as your target audience (and what their needs are), to which channels are best suited to your business, service, or product.
This is one of the key reasons why I’m building the Co-op at Boss Project the way that I am! I want to empower members to learn how to be discerning and make those decisions for themselves. While I don't think there's like a prescriptive way to start, I do think there's a way to look at your options and figure out the path that makes the most sense for you.
Has Online Education Become a Commodity?
According to Mariah, commoditization is when everything starts looking and sounding the same to the point where there’s essentially no difference between them. And the only thing that sets one entity apart from another is the price. She’s observed this trend of commoditization happening increasingly with coaches and other educators: more and more they look and sound like everyone else, which has frustrated her to no end!
What lies at the heart of this issue is that these service providers are too cautious to get specific. They are convinced that if they were to niche down and get particular they’d be turning away an entire sector of imaginary clients. The real danger is that they’re not making any sales because their offerings are so vague! Contrast that with the small percentage of innovative, forward-thinking creators coming out with new ideas and setting trends who are always pushing the boundaries of what education products can be.
How Selling Will Evolve in The Online Space
As with everything else, your approach to sales will depend on a variety of factors, like your own personal preferences and what you’ve found to be effective with your audience in the past. For Mariah, sharing valuable content consistently, no matter the platform is key to growing your sales. Because if you’re sharing valuable content consistently then your selling systems and selling assets, like webinars and email sequences, don’t need to do as much heavy lifting.
She also emphasizes that being consistent doesn’t mean you need to post every day. Do whatever is realistic for you, whether that’s releasing a podcast episode twice a month or writing a weekly newsletter. Ultimately what this means is that you don't need the world's longest webinar, or the world's biggest sales page in order to sell something, because you've already done so much building of trust and sharing value in your regular content sharing. Alternatively, if you don’t want to create content consistently, then you need to make sure that your webinar or sales page is doing everything you need it to do!
Pricing, Predications, And Positioning Your Program
With all the predictions we’ve been discussing in today’s episode, from niching down to selling, we use the final portion of our conversation to get into our thoughts on what we believe all of these developments mean for pricing.
We’ve experienced a season where many people were willing to overextend themselves for the sake of access, either to a person, network, or some solution they believed would change the game for them. Today, however, many customers are more concerned about their finances than they were before, whether it’s due to a tightening economy or disappointment with past offerings. Therefore, depending on who your audience is, you need to ensure that your offer is reasonably priced for the person you’re trying to sell to.
There’s always going to be a spectrum of customers. From those who need high-ticket items and higher-end services, to those who need more low-ticket items. And the key thing you need to consider is what your selection of offers is going to be. So ask yourself what you can do to meet people where they're at by diversifying your offers for a variety of different price points, and how that can serve your business.
Quote This
For those of you who have been in business a long time, I encourage you to think about how you can make it way more obvious what someone can buy from you.
Highlights
The Difference Between Then and Now [0:06:32]
Figuring Out What Path Makes the Most Sense For You [0:12:46]
Has Online Education Become a Commodity? [0:20:14]
How Selling Will Evolve in The Online Space [0:30:19]
Pricing, Predications, And Positioning Your Program [0:41:43]
OUR GUEST:
Mariah Coz
Mariah helps creators monetize their business through community, content, courses and other creative digital products.You can find her hanging out in her free Creator Party community at creatorparty.co and on her podcast, The Mariah Coz Show.
Key Topics:
Future of Online Business, Sales, Pricing, Course Creators, Offerings
