Now, when you are seeing all waterhole strategy, think and compare. How much time and how many resources do my competition need, to copy your waterhole, and how many resources to copy your www website. The answer is simple.
When you create waterhole you gain huge, hard to copy (on account of time) competitive advantage. Copy your own waterhole requires from your competition much time which is counting in years.
When you realize waterhole strategy you gain access to select available only by your own market segment through creation of community based on values, which are important for it, and not on features and brand. You gain important property on the market.
Think and compare how much time your competition needs to copy desert, so www website which describes your product. Of course, the position of this copying website in results of Google explorer will be different than position of your website, but a content and value for customers can be comparable. Now, think about how much time, how many resources does your competition need to copy your waterhole, around which you built community. The answer is clear.
The risks of waterhole strategy
The main risks of waterhole strategy rely on making bad decisions:
- wrong segmentation of the market
- wrong estimation of market
- wrong selection of values
- incompetence in creation of community around waterhole
What kinds of tools do you need to realize waterhole strategy?
Waterhole strategy relies on creation of important values for selected target group in a long time in the Internet. To realize it you need www website which contains appropriate functions. This you publish on www website relies on many factors, but you should fit out it in following mechanisms:
- library of articles, main source of content
- calendar module, in which you publish events
- connections with community media, which target group uses
- possibility comment of content through publishing comments
- library of important phrases
- possibility of publishing distinguished articles of third sides
What can you do with your waterhole, and what you cannot do with desert?
WWW website of company or also product is strictly connected with this company or product. The company cannot sell own www website. Just resell product of other brand, it can sell also www website which is dedicated to it.
Different situation is in case of waterhole. Here there is no connection as mentioned above. The waterhole of company creates in isolation from its basic activities connected with development of brand and product. Waterhole is separate existence. It connects with the company. The product only through information in bookmark `Contact` which is connected with website of product.
Waterhole has one important feature: It is built of community around important value for it. Creation of community allows (in case when the strategy disappoints) to sell waterhole. For gaining money it allows to create, better and better waterhole which is fitting to customers need.
