Distribution – How to Blow Your Brand Up
If you have been following this series, congratulations –
You now know 60% more than most people about how to build a successful business.
I have shown you the TWO elements to focus on to build a big brand.
Trust and Distribution.
In the last post, I explained how to engineer trust and in this post we will break down Distribution.
So what is distribution? To break this down – let me use the following analogy.
There are TWO paths to distribution.
Path 1: Own the Building
Path 2: Own a Shelf.
These TWO are the only paths.
Let me break them down….
If you live in Lagos, you probably know the chain store called Globus, or even if you do NOT know it, you know Shoprite.
This is the building.
Inside, they have shelves.
Vendors put their products on shelves inside Globus and Shoprite. Globus, on the other hand, sells the product and takes a cut of the sales.
The Vendor owns the shelves. The Store owns the building where the shelves are.
…they both distribute. The more branches the products are in, the more money the vendor makes. The more vendors use Globus, the more money they make.
How can we apply this in internet-based business? I will give you an example using the popular streaming site Netflix.
Some years ago, Netflix partnered with LG to put their icon button on their remotes.
This way, each LG Smart TV comes built with Netflix and enters the THOUSANDS of homes Netflix is in.
LG – Building
Netflix – Shelve
There is more –
Thousands of people own iPhones (building)
So musicians distribute their songs on Apple Music (the shelf).
Look around you – the shelf and building distribution is happening around you. It is the only part.
So, when you build a brand – you need to figure out:
- Am I building a Building
- Or do I just need a Shelf
- If I need a shelf, what is the building
- If I am building a building, what are the shelves?
The easiest distribution path, however, is the Shelf.
It is easier & faster to upload on Apple Music than to build Apple.
Putting your product inside Globus or Shoprite is easier than building it.
Whatever business you are in, you will most likely need SHELVES.
The most accessible shelves we know now are Social media (organic & paid ads).
There are Influencers
Google, YouTube, and Facebook Ads
Distributors
Whole sellers
Merchandizers
Affiliates (Use stakecut.com)
Retailers
… Your business or brand has not taken off yet because you want to be the building and the shelf.
The moment you start putting your product on as many shelves as possible, your brand gets more extensive.
In 2018, Netflix put their Apps in 1 million+ homes just by putting their app on LG’s shelf (the remote).
This is the power of finding your shelves and working hard on it.
P.S.: In the next post, I’ll show you the framework for creating a perfect brand/business idea that will scale.
