How to Capture 97% of Your Market (While Your Competitors Fight Over Scraps)

Here's something most business owners don't understand:

Only 3% of your market is ready to buy right now.

That's it. Three percent.

And if you look at most ads—whether it's Google, Facebook, billboards, whatever—they're all screaming the same garbage: "We have the best prices!" "Biggest selection!" "Limited time offer!"

They're all fighting over that tiny 3%.

So what do you do instead?

You capture the other 97%.

But here's the thing—you can't just hit them with a sales pitch. These people aren't ready to buy yet. They're researching. They're comparing. They're trying to figure out what they even need.

Your job is to make sure that when they ARE ready to buy, they've already decided to buy from YOU.

And here's the kicker: By planting this seed early, you're actually speeding up the process for them to go from "research phase" to "buying mode." You're moving them up the pyramid faster.

The Total Potential Market Theory

Let me break down how this actually works. The Total Potential Market Theory divides the entire audience of buyers in any market into four key categories:

Most businesses only target that 3%. The smart ones? They target ALL of them.

How to Move People Up the Pyramid

The goal here is to move these potential customers UP the pyramid faster. And the bonus? By doing this, you're also making sure that when they hit the "buy now" stage, they'll be most likely to buy from YOU.

The strategy is simple: educate them.

Not with some BS corporate brochure. Not with a sales pitch disguised as information. With actual valuable content that helps them make a better decision.

Because here's what happens: When a prospect isn't informed or knowledgeable on a subject, they're in a state of uncertainty. And people don't buy when they're uncertain. They freeze. They wait. They "think about it."

But when you educate them—when you show them what to look for, what mistakes to avoid, what questions to ask—two things happen:

1. They move up the pyramid faster (from "not aware" to "ready to buy")
2. They become pre-sold on YOUR solution because you were the one who helped them

Your message has to be powerful and education-based to resonate—not simply a promotional piece about your company. You need to teach your potential customers what they need to know to make a smart buying decision and position your solution as the "obvious choice."

Real World Example

Let's say you're a home builder. The typical ad says: "DISPLAY HOMES OPEN! SALE THIS WEEKEND!"

Boring. Generic. Fighting for that 3%.

Now imagine your ad says:

Who's going to read that ad? Everyone. Not just the 3% ready to buy today, but the 17% researching, the 20% who know they need a new house eventually, and even some of the 50% who hadn't thought about it yet.

Now you've got their attention. You send them the report. It's packed with useful information—things to watch out for, questions to ask, how to avoid getting ripped off.

And inside that report, you show them that there are financing options that don't require a massive deposit. Suddenly, someone who was "just researching" realizes they can actually buy NOW.

You just moved them up the pyramid. And you did it while positioning yourself as the obvious choice.

If you can actively and skillfully move people up the pyramid, you can shift a lot of the 97% of prospects out there from "not buying right now," or "not even thinking about it," to becoming your client or customer right away.

The bottom line: Stop competing on price. Start competing on education. Move people up the pyramid, and they'll choose you when they're ready to buy. Done right, you'll easily see your sales double without having to spend much, if any, more on your advertising.

The "Multiple Streams" Framework That Protects You When Platforms Change the Rules

Let me tell you a story that happened in February 2016.

It was a Friday. Everything was normal. Businesses were running their Google Ads, making money, life was good.

Then Google decided to remove all the sidebar ads from search results.

Just like that. No warning. No announcement. They just... did it.

They wiped out 70% of their ad real estate overnight.

What happened next? Competition for the remaining spots went through the roof. Cost per click skyrocketed. Businesses that were profitable on Thursday were losing money on Friday.

Companies that relied ONLY on Google Ads got destroyed. They had to lay off employees. Cut budgets. Some went out of business entirely.

Look, I get it. You find one channel that works—maybe it's SEO, maybe it's Facebook Ads, maybe it's Google—and you want to scale it. You hire people to manage it. You increase your budget. It's working!

But here's the problem: You don't control these platforms.

Facebook can change its algorithm tomorrow. Google can double your ad costs. Instagram can ban your account. And there's nothing you can do about it.

The Protection Strategy

The most successful businesses don't rely on one channel. They build multiple streams of traffic. So when one gets hit, they don't collapse—they just shift budget around until they fix it.

A business should never rely on one single source of traffic for new business. This could never be more true online.

The Channel Stack

Here are the channels you should consider (in order of typical testing):

1. SEO – Organic traffic is "free" (after you invest in ranking)
2. Google Ads – High intent traffic, people actively searching
3. Facebook/Instagram Ads – Massive reach, great for awareness and retargeting
4. YouTube Ads – Video content, longer engagement, pre-sells prospects
5. Retargeting – Follow people around the internet until they buy
6. LinkedIn Ads – If you're B2B, this is gold
7. Email Marketing – Your owned traffic source

Notice I said "owned traffic source" for email? That's because once someone's on your email list, the platform can't take that away from you. Build your list. It's the only traffic you truly control.

One more thing: Most businesses think they need "more traffic." They don't. They need an offer that converts profitably. Get that right first, THEN scale traffic. Because more traffic on a broken offer just means you lose money faster.

Having the ability to turn advertising into a profit is the single greatest skill a business can acquire to ensure you won't ever go hungry.

The Math That Determines If Your Business Lives or Dies

You want to know the real difference between businesses that scale and businesses that stay stuck?

It's not creativity. It's not branding. It's math.

Specifically, it's understanding your unit economics. And I'm going to make this really simple because most people overcomplicate it.

The Three Numbers You Must Know

Why This Matters

If you know your LTV, you know exactly how much you can spend to acquire a customer.

And if you know how much you can spend, you can outspend your competition and take over the market.

Let me give you an example: Your average customer is worth $1,000 in profit. Your competitor doesn't track this. They look at Google Ads, see that clicks cost $5, and think "That's expensive!" So they don't run ads.

But you KNOW your numbers. You know that spending $300 to acquire a customer worth $1,000 means $700 in profit. So you RUN those ads. Hard.

You spend $10,000. You get 33 customers. You make $33,000 in lifetime value. You just made $23,000 in profit while your competitor sat on the sidelines.

Bottom line: If you don't know your CPL, CPA, and LTV, stop reading and go figure them out right now. Nothing else matters until you know these numbers.

The McDonald's Secret That Lets You Outspend Everyone on Ads

McDonald's spends $1.97 in advertising to get someone to walk into their restaurant.

The most popular "front-end" purchase—a hamburger—generates about $2.08 in profit.

Do the math. They're making $0.11 per customer on the initial purchase.

Eleven cents.

So how are they one of the most profitable companies on the planet?

Because they don't make their money on the hamburger.

The Power of "Would You Like Fries With That?"

As soon as the cashier asks if you want to add fries and a drink—and maybe one of those apple pies or desserts—the profit per customer jumps from $0.11 to $1.13.

That's a 10x increase with one simple question.

This is called a sales funnel. And if you don't have one, you're leaving a fortune on the table.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Ad costs are going up. Competition is getting fiercer. The only way to survive is to make more money per customer than your competitors.

Let's say your competitor can afford to spend $200 to acquire a customer. You've built a funnel that increases your customer value from $500 to $1,200. Now you can afford to spend $400 to acquire that same customer.

You just doubled your competitor's acquisition budget. You can bid higher. You can show up everywhere. You can dominate the market.

Action step: Look at your current customer journey. Where are the gaps? What could you offer after the initial purchase? Build that into your funnel and watch your customer value increase.

How to Know Your Customer Better Than They Know Themselves

This is the strategy that separates good businesses from great ones.

You can have the best funnel in the world. You can master every traffic channel. You can know your numbers inside and out.

But if you don't understand your customer at a deep level, you're still going to struggle.

Because marketing is not about you. It's about them.

The 80/20 Rule on Steroids

You've probably heard of the 80/20 rule—80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

In business, 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your customers.

But here's where it gets interesting: The Pareto Principle is exponential!

Within that top 20%, there's another 80/20 split. Which means the top 20% of your top 20% (the top 4% overall) are responsible for 64% of your revenue.

Find your top 4%. Study them. Clone them.

Going Deeper Than Demographics

Most businesses stop at: "35-55, makes $75K+, lives in the suburbs."

Cool. So does everyone else.

If you want to dominate your market, you need to understand:

• What keeps them up at night? What are they worried about?
• What are their goals? What are they trying to achieve?
• What have they tried before? What didn't work?
• What are their objections? Why haven't they bought yet?
• What language do they use? How do they describe their problem?

You can't make this up. You have to research it.

Action step: Block out 2 hours this week. Go to Reddit, YouTube, Amazon—wherever your customers are—and start reading. Take notes. Look for patterns. Then rewrite your marketing using what you learned.

Final Thoughts

Look, most of what I've shared with you isn't sexy. It's not the latest growth hack or the newest platform.

It's fundamentals.

But fundamentals work. They worked 10 years ago. They work today. And they'll work 10 years from now.

Here's the deal: Knowing this stuff and implementing this stuff are two different things.

Most people will read this, think "that's interesting," and do nothing. They'll go back to what they were doing, wonder why they're not growing, and blame the economy or their industry or "ad costs are too high."

Don't be most people.

Pick ONE thing from this guide. Just one. And implement it this week.

• Start building that educational content to capture the 97%
• Set up a second traffic channel
• Calculate your unit economics
• Add one upsell to your funnel
• Spend 2 hours researching your customers

Do one thing. Get it working. Then do the next thing.

Because here's the truth: Your competitors aren't doing this. They're still fighting over that 3%. They're still relying on one traffic source. They're still guessing at their numbers.

Which means if you actually implement this, you win.

So stop reading. Start doing.

You've got this.