How to use Blue Ocean Strategy to transform your digital content business

As a content creator selling video courses, digital downloads, blogs, and more, it's easy to find yourself stuck in the "red ocean" of cutthroat competition. You're constantly embroiled in knife fights for customers—slashing prices, adding more features, and struggling to stand out. But what if you could make the competition irrelevant and boost your profits? That's where Blue Ocean Strategy comes in, offering a transformative way to open new market spaces, capture new demand, and create long-lasting growth.

What is Blue Ocean Strategy?

Blue Ocean Strategy, coined by Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, emphasizes the simultaneous pursuit of differentiation and low cost to carve out entirely new markets. Rather than competing in oversaturated markets (the "red ocean"), you create new demand in an uncontested market space, making the competition irrelevant. By diving into a "blue ocean," you redefine the rules of the game and unlock both profitability and rapid growth.

Red oceans, on the other hand, are the traditional markets where competition is fierce. Companies battle for a share of limited demand, leading to shrinking profit margins and commoditization over time.

A picture of a blue ocean on the left, and a red ocean on the right.

Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean

Let’s simplify the comparison:

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY	RED OCEAN STRATEGY
Create uncontested market space	Compete in existing market space
Make the competition irrelevant	Beat the competition
Create and capture new demand	Exploit existing demand
Break the value-cost trade-off	Make the value-cost trade-off
Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost	Align the whole system of a firm’s activities with its strategic choice of differentiation or low cost

Source: Blue Ocean Strategy website

The similarity to Christensen's new-market disruption

Blue Ocean Strategy has a notable similarity to Clayton Christensen's theory of new-market disruption, a variant of the Innovator's Dilemma. Both theories focus on creating new demand rather than competing over existing demand. Christensen's new-market disruption targets affordability and accessibility, allowing new entrants to challenge incumbents by offering simpler, cheaper solutions. Blue Ocean Strategy goes beyond this by redefining market boundaries, creating entirely new spaces where competition becomes irrelevant.

The ERRC (Eliminate-Raise-Reduce-Create) framework

A core tool within Blue Ocean Strategy is the Eliminate-Raise-Reduce-Create (ERRC) framework, which helps you rethink your product offerings to unlock new market potential. Let’s see how you can use this framework to transform your digital content business:

Eliminate: What industry standards or features can you eliminate that no longer provide value to your audience? For example, in a video course, can you eliminate additional content that your audience doesn't really care about? By eliminating elements that are no longer useful, you can reduce costs and complexity.
Raise: What factors should you raise above the industry standard? This could be your customer support, engagement with your audience, or quality of content. On Sherpo, for example, there are AI tools that allow creators to raise their production value by automatically generating captions and summaries. You can also have a white-label platform for free, with a custom video player and wide control over your brand and pricing, making your content appear more premium.
Reduce: Are there any features or aspects of your service that can be scaled back to reduce costs or complexity without sacrificing customer experience? You might reduce some costs of your offering by using tools like Sherpo, which dramatically lower your expenses.
Create: What new value can you create that the industry hasn't offered before? Could you offer a unique subscription service for your courses or create custom interactive quizzes using Sherpo’s AI to engage learners in new ways?

By applying the ERRC framework, you can make your content more valuable to customers while cutting unnecessary costs. If you are interested in more Blue Ocean tools, check out the authors' website!

My own experience with Blue Ocean Strategy

I run a niche community, Fossato Economico, focused on stock-picking in Italy. When I launched, there were no competitors offering the type of content I had. I was passionate about the topic and able to create and capture new demand in this space.

However, I encountered a challenge. As stock-picking was still a niche subject, I needed to set my prices low enough to attract skeptical customers, while also not pricing myself out of the market for those just starting out.

This is where Sherpo came to the rescue. Compared to expensive alternatives I initially explored, Sherpo gave me advanced tools at a fraction of the cost, allowing me to build and scale my digital business with peace of mind.

A screenshot of an Italian digital store selling a finance course.

Applying the ERRC framework in my business

Here’s how I used the ERRC framework to create my Blue Ocean for my video course, which I sold through Sherpo:

Eliminate: I eliminated the need for 1-on-1 customer calls, commonly employed by many similar creators, which were not scalable and consumed a lot of time.
Raise: I raised the quality of my content, ensuring it surpassed what other finance content creators were offering. This included providing sources and references for each chapter, crafting high-quality slides and videos (which I edited myself), incorporating AI features, and offering additional downloadable files, as well as a stateless checklist built with Sherpo.
Reduce: By using Sherpo, I significantly reduced my costs, particularly on tech infrastructure, as well as compared to similar offerings I explored.
Create: I created a comprehensive course offering, covering everything from the basics to advanced topics, all delivered on a white-label platform that gave me complete control over my brand and pricing.

How Sherpo helps you create your Blue Ocean

Sherpo is uniquely designed to help you carve out your own Blue Ocean, offering AI-powered tools that give you a competitive edge without the need for technical expertise. Here’s how Sherpo supports your Blue Ocean journey:

Breaks the value-cost trade-off: Sherpo’s no-code platform reduces your expenses by eliminating the need for a dedicated development team, while its powerful AI tools elevate the quality of your content.
Creates new demand: By offering flexible content distribution and monetization options, such as selling the digital version of your paper book on Sherpo to avoid paying Amazon’s high commissions on digital sales, you can attract new audiences and capture untapped demand.
Makes competition irrelevant: Building a white-label platform on Sherpo allows you to create a fully branded experience that sets you apart from competitors and establishes your unique market space.

Final thoughts

Blue Ocean Strategy presents an exciting opportunity for content creators to break away from crowded markets and build something truly distinctive. Whether you’re launching a new course, selling digital downloads, or writing a blog, applying Blue Ocean principles helps you make competition irrelevant, differentiate your brand, and unlock hidden potential.

Take the plunge into your Blue Ocean today—Sherpo is here to support you every step of the way, much like a sherpa guiding climbers to the summit. 🌊