Stay away from the competition! The Blue Ocean Strategy challenges companies to break out of the red sea of ​​bloody competition by creating unopposed market space that makes competition irrelevant.

Authors W.Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne conducted extensive research and concluded that there are no permanently excellent companies. However, to improve the quality of success, it is important for companies to study what they did that created a positive difference and then systematically replicate it. Kim and Mauborgne have found that the strategic move that matters most centrally is creating Blue Oceans.

The book further described the keys to achieving this Framework:

– Reconstruct the limits of the market

– Focus on the big picture

– Reach beyond existing demand

– Get the strategic sequence right

A few months ago, I decided to order a photo book from Apple’s photo services, since I use iPhoto to manage all my photos. The book was to be a consolidation of family photos taken at various events over the years as a gift to my mom. As the delivery took longer than expected, I wrote to customer services who responded quickly with the status of the shipment. A few days ago, customer support wrote to me again just to check if I received my package and wanted to make sure that I am completely satisfied with my experience with Apple Photo Services.

I replied that I had indeed received the photo book, but the images turned out darker than what I had set up online when I ordered. It was more of a casual comment than a complaint, honestly. To my surprise, customer service said they were sorry they didn’t meet my expectations and had gone ahead to issue a full refund for my order. They asked me to consider resubmitting my order and quality issues should be resolved with a second print. The email also contained technical information explaining why some images may appear slightly darker than what I saw on my computer screen.

Basically, I was blown away by the shopping experience. Would I go back to Apple’s photo services? Yes indeed! They have created a strategic Blue Ocean space where many of their competitors lack. iPhoto’s interface feature itself is already a killer.

The internet marketing business is no different. Many internet marketers simply offer a large number of affiliate products through their websites and rely on visitors to click and buy. Through my personal experience, the hit rate is extremely low, which means that unless you have tons of targeted traffic, you are unlikely to bring enough food to the table.

That’s why I like Adam Short’s Niche Profit Classroom program. It is probably one of the best legitimate internet marketing courses I have ever engaged in and benefited from. In many ways, Niche Profit Classroom is actually a showcase for the Blue Ocean approach. It teaches how to locate a niche where most people ignore. The free traffic generation method alone is a wonderful combination of science and art that Adam had put a lot of thought into.