Niche Down and Thrive

When Joe Apfelbaum, CEO and Founder of Ajax Union, a B-to-B digital marketing agency that early on serviced over 1,100 with as many as 400 active accounts, realized he'd grown a business he didn't want to run, he ramped down his agency. He defined his "ideal customers"—those who were investing in the top of their funnels, valued strategy, and understood the value of nurturing the lead from the top of the funnel to the bottom line. His tips? Pick a niche, go deep, and have a solid strategy. The results? Massive.

Ajax Union runs a Digital Marketing Strategy Bootcamp that teaches people a step-by-step digital marketing strategy. Joe emphasizes the importance of using and understanding your product ladder—a range of services and prices that will meet the needs of different clients. Offer free value at the front end, and increasingly higher-priced, higher value products for clients who "grow into them" or new, larger clients that you may onboard if you have the products that meet their needs. Strive for a backend ladder of $10,000 a month and then eventually grow that to a million dollars a year.

Joe notes that there is a lot more to building a business than making money and trying to grow. He says, "You have to be able to be profitable. You have to have a lifestyle. You have to take care of yourself. You have to be there for your family." About the time he figured out how to make his company healthy, he lost 95 pounds, kept it off, and wrote a book about it: High Energy Secrets: How to Have More Energy than Ever.

Joe can be contacted on Linkedin at Joe Apfelbaum, on his website at: http://www.joeapfelbaum.com/, (where you can also order his book, High Energy Secrets: How to Have More Energy than Ever), or you can register for his Digital Marketing Strategy Bootcamp at: http://www.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=tcjts4au6o