What’s Special About Clipper Ships?
Clipper ships were the brainchild of courageous business owners who recognised the profitability of speed and flexibility. They were designed to maximise profits and be prepared for whatever hit them.
The earliest Clipper Ships were used on the China-England trade routes – mostly to bring tea back to England before it lost its flavor. The fastest ships got the best prices for their cargo (which also included high-value items like porcelain and jade) and merchant captains were ruthless in their pursuit of speed, adding more canvas to increase their speed, and building ships that were ever more streamlined and agile. They raced against the wind, and each other to maximize ROI and they had a keen eye for high value objects that would make each voyage worthwhile.
During the California Gold Rush – when the East Coast of the USA was economically depressed, and the West Coast had money to burn and nothing to spend it on – an even more extreme kind of Clipper Ship was built: with an even smaller cargo capacity, but a greater speed. The Flying Cloud was one of these ships – purpose-built to carry spades, shoes, lanterns, and other goods at speed around Cape Horn to the California Gold Fields, and to rush back with gold to purchase another cargo. For nearly three years, the Flying Cloud and her sister ships sailed this route and made nearly 125% profit on every cargo they were able to deliver safely. As the East and West Coast economies became more evenly balanced, the profits started to slow down – but by then gold had been discovered in Australia and the fastest clippers set sail for these new areas, making way for slower, larger clippers to take on the New York to California route.
From a business marketing perspective, clipper ships brought goods that people wanted into communities with the money to purchase those goods. The captains (who were usually at least part-owners of the clipper ships) knew what was in demand and they also knew that the first ship to arrive would make the biggest profits. Because when their arrival was signalled, business owners would rush to the docks and warehouses to get first selection of the cargo.
As stock levels and demand become more balanced, the trade continued, but the shape of the profitability changed and cargo volume rather than speed became the driver of profitability.
What’s the Connection Between Clipper Ships and Business?
There are three important lessons that you – as an entrepreneurial business owner – should take from this that are especially relevant when it comes to business marketing…
- Markets shift – you need to keep an eye on where the market for your product or service lies TODAY and decide if the tide is rising or dropping so you are prepared to move or change if needed. If there is no money in your target market, your business is not likely to thrive.
- Speed matters – ideally you want to be early enough to market with a new idea to ride the wave of opportunity, and late enough that the ground has already been broken and the market tested. If no one has done what you are doing, then you will have higher risk – just like Van Gogh’s work was a ahead of the time and wasn’t appreciated until later.
- Visibility is critical – if you are the ‘best kept secret’ in your industry, then you have failed unless you have an ultra-low volume, high profit service in which word-of-mouth is enough. For most businesses, being visible to your target market is life or death.
The goal of any business must be to serve more customers, patients, and clients and build a community. If a business is invisible, it won’t exist for long. Effective businessmarketing enables you to sell products and services that people want easily and profitably without unnecessary fuss.
I help businesses to identify and attract the attention of ideal clients without fuss and without cold messaging. If you’re currently using SEO and advertising my direct response strategy will multiply the ROI of every dollar you spend, if you aren’t doing anything at the moment, then you will see the impact within 90 days of taking action.
“That’s very interesting. But, so what? What difference does it make to me?”
A. Customer
Shifting Markets – Economics 101
Money moves around the globe, it moves from place to place within countries, it even moves within cities, and it moves from one industry to another. As a business owner, you can have a good business selling a lot of goods with low profit margins – like Walmart, most supermarkets, and Amazon. Most of the time, these are lower-value goods and necessities that everybody needs at some level.
You can have a profitable business selling lots of goods with modest profit margins – think Specialist Retail, Electronics, Amazon Sellers, Restaurants – these businesses are heaviiy dependent on a high volume of sales to cover their fixed costs and make a profit. They are looking for visibility and need to provide urgent reasons for customers to buy now.
Alternatively, you can sell goods with higher profit margins – think Medical Specialists, Dentists, Financial Planners, Apple Computers, and Real Estate Agents who make decent money on each item. These businesses still need to keep customers and sales moving, but they aren’t dependent on selling enormous quantities of goods or services. They are looking for visibility in markets with buyers who are reasonably well off and some room for discretionary spending.
OR you can have a wonderful business selling just a handful of goods at really high profit margins. For this to work, you need to have a pool of people with enough money to splurge on your high=priced products or services.
The Key Takeaway is: Be Vigilant! The demographic who want and can afford what you are selling will inevitably shift over time. You must be observant and you must stay ahead of the shift. If the people you are are selling to today, become more prosperous they will either buy elsewhere or you will have to offer a better quality / selection of goods or services to fit their new status.
Speed to Market Matters
There’s no escaping the fact that “the race belongs to the swift.” While you sit around perfecting your idea, someone else has brought it to market and you have lost pride of place. The flip side of that coin is that if no-one else is doing whatever you want to do, then you have a massive job of education to do to help people see its value.
So, there’s a sweet spot: where others have broken the ground for you, but you are still at the forefront of your industry.
Most captains owned their ships and most crews earned a share of the profits from each voyage. They were highly skilled, ambitious, and courageous, with a keen eye for economic advantage and a readiness to shift their trading focus to fit the realities of life and profits… Just like today’s entrepreneurs.
Clipper Ship Marketing Delivers Streamlined Visibility
The essence of marketing is to…
- Know your Market Intimately – what keeps them up at night, what they worry about, what they desire
- Be Visible to Your Market – you can’t help people who don’t know that you exist
- Promise and Deliver – the solutions that create the outcome they really want
- Give Clear Instructions – tell people exactly what they need to do if they want to work with you
- Build a Relationship and Trust – create connections that last rather than one-off transactions.