If you’ve ever thought about creating an online course, digital product, coaching offer, or other type of online offer, you’ve probably had this thought:
“Someone is already doing this.”
Maybe you’ve found dozens of similar courses. Maybe there are already coaches offering the exact type of service you had in mind. Or perhaps you look at your niche and think, “What could I possibly add that hasn’t already been said?”
It can be incredibly discouraging.
Especially when you’re spending more and more time researching your market, competitors, and potential offers, it can start to feel like there’s simply no space left for you.
But here’s the good news: your product doesn’t have to be completely unique to be successful.
You don’t need to invent something nobody has ever thought of before. In fact, these days, that’s almost impossible.
Instead, you need to understand what makes your version valuable.
Let’s look at three mindset shifts that can help you find your unique value, differentiate your offer, and create an online product with more confidence – even in a crowded niche.
Listen to the full podcast episode here:
Why would anyone buy your product?
You are part of your unique value
The first mindset shift is one of the most important:
You are part of the product.
When you’re creating an online course or digital product, it’s easy to focus entirely on the topic.
You might think:
“There are already hundreds of courses about Instagram marketing.”
“There are already so many productivity programs.”
“Someone has already created a course about this.”
“Why would anyone buy mine?”
But you’re looking at your offer from the wrong angle.
Your product doesn’t have to be based on an entirely original idea. It needs to be useful, valuable, relevant to your audience, and delivered from your unique perspective.
Your experience, personality, background, skills, opinions, stories, and way of teaching all influence the product you create.
And that combination is unique to you.
Even if two people teach the same topic, they aren’t actually creating the same experience.
You might have a different professional background. You might have learned different lessons. You might approach problems differently. You might explain things in a way that resonates with a completely different type of person.
That’s your differentiation.
You don’t necessarily need a completely new topic. You need your own perspective on the topic.
Your story can become a selling point
Your experience isn’t just something you can include inside your course or coaching program. It can also become an important part of your marketing strategy.
Instead of simply saying:
“I created a course about X.”
You can explain why you created it.
Talk about what you’ve experienced. Share the mistakes you’ve made. Explain what changed your approach. Tell people what you’ve learned through years of doing the work.
Storytelling helps turn a generic topic into something personal.
And this is where tools like ChatGPT can be particularly useful.
You can share your experiences, stories, lessons, and background with ChatGPT and ask it to help you identify potential stories and perspectives that could become part of your content and marketing.
The goal isn’t to have AI invent your story for you. It’s to help you see the value in experiences that you may have started taking for granted.
Because what feels obvious to you may be incredibly valuable to someone who hasn’t had the same experience.
How to navigate a crowded niche…
Don’t be afraid of competition
The second mindset shift is to stop seeing competition as proof that you shouldn’t create your offer.
Instead, try seeing it as evidence that there is a market. If you have an idea for an online course and discover that other people are already selling similar courses, that’s not necessarily bad news. In many cases, it’s actually reassuring.
If other creators are successfully selling products around a particular topic, it tells you that people are interested in that problem or transformation. They’ve already demonstrated that there is demand.
You still need to create an offer that makes sense for your specific audience, of course. But you don’t have to prove that people are interested in the topic from scratch. Someone else may have already done some of that work for you.
So instead of thinking:
“Someone is already doing this, so I can’t.”
Try thinking:
“Someone is already doing this, so I know there’s a market for it.”
That’s a very different mindset.
Competition can validate your product idea
When I see someone creating something similar to an idea I’ve been considering, I don’t automatically see it as a reason to abandon the idea.
If they’re doing well, I see it as encouragement. It tells me that people are willing to spend money on this type of solution.
That doesn’t mean you should copy their course, messaging, content, or offer. Quite the opposite.
The goal is to take the evidence that there’s demand and then figure out how you can approach the problem.
Think about almost any category of product. There isn’t only one successful option.
There are countless brands, creators, books, courses, coaches, apps, and services solving similar problems.
People still choose between them. Why? Because people don’t simply buy the objectively “best” product.
They buy from people they trust. They choose the style they prefer. They connect with particular personalities. They like specific approaches. They respond to different messaging.
Your audience doesn’t need every possible option.
They need the option that feels right for them.
Don’t spend too long researching your competition
Market research can be incredibly useful when you’re creating an online course or digital product.
It can help you understand:
- What people are already selling
- What problems your audience is trying to solve
- What language people use to describe those problems
- What types of offers already exist
- Where there may be gaps or opportunities
But there is a point where research stops being useful.
If you keep researching competitors indefinitely, you’ll eventually convince yourself that everything has already been done.
You’ll find another course. Then another coach. Then another digital product. Then another creator who seems to have a huge audience… And eventually you’ll start wondering whether there’s any space left for you at all.
This is why I recommend putting limits around your market research. Research enough to understand the landscape and validate your idea. Then step away from the research and start creating.
You don’t need to know everything your competitors are doing to create a valuable offer.
Everyone has their own audience
The third mindset shift is understanding that everyone has their own audience.
This is particularly important if you’re creating content on platforms like Instagram.
You might follow dozens of people in your industry. You might know all the major names in your niche. You might see their posts, stories, launches, advertisements, and offers constantly.
Because you’re so immersed in your industry, it can feel like everyone knows about these people too.
But your audience doesn’t necessarily see what you see.
- They might not follow your competitors.
- They might follow them but never see their content.
- They might have heard of them but never purchased from them.
- They might simply connect more strongly with you.
That’s especially important to remember when you’re feeling intimidated by a creator with a much larger audience.
Your audience isn’t necessarily choosing between you and every single person in your industry.
They may simply be deciding whether they trust you.
Your audience sees you differently than you see your competitors
When you’re deeply involved in your niche, you know all the major players.
You know who the biggest creators are. You know their products. You know their strategies. You know what everyone is talking about. But your ideal customer may not.
Remember that you’re looking at the industry from the inside. Your audience is looking at it from the outside. That creates a huge opportunity.
- You could be the first person they discover who explains a particular problem in a way that makes sense to them.
- You could be the person whose content they consistently enjoy.
- You could be the person they trust enough to eventually buy from.
And that’s why building an audience and developing relationships with your followers matters so much.
When the time comes to buy, people often choose the person they already know and trust.
There is no such thing as a niche that is too crowded
So, is there such a thing as a niche that is simply too crowded?
In most cases, I don’t think so.
There are certainly niches that are highly competitive. For example, there are countless online courses about social media marketing, Instagram marketing, productivity, business, health, personal development, and many other popular topics.
But the problem isn’t necessarily that there are too many courses. The problem is often that the offer is too generic.
Instead of creating another broad course about Instagram marketing, you could narrow the audience, problem, outcome, or approach.
For example, rather than teaching “Instagram marketing,” you could create a specific solution for a specific audience with a specific goal.
The more specific you become, the easier it becomes to communicate why your offer is relevant.
Specificity is one of the simplest ways to differentiate an offer in a crowded market.
How to create a truly valuable product?
Use your perspective to make your offer different
Your unique value can come from many different places.
It could be:
- Your professional experience
- Your personal story
- Your methodology
- Your teaching style
- Your specific audience
- Your approach to solving the problem
- Your opinions and beliefs
- Your combination of skills
- Your framework or process
- The specific outcome you help people achieve
You don’t need to force yourself to be radically different just for the sake of differentiation.
Instead, look at what already exists and ask:
- “What would I do differently?”
- “Who would I specifically create this for?”
- “What do I believe about this topic that others don’t talk about?”
- “What experience do I have that changes the way I approach this?”
- “What transformation can I help someone achieve?”
These questions can reveal your unique positioning.
Stop trying to create something nobody has ever done
One of the biggest traps in digital product creation is believing that your idea needs to be completely original.
It doesn’t.
Think about it this way: if originality were the only reason someone could buy a product, we wouldn’t have thousands of successful books about similar topics, countless fitness programs, endless business courses, or hundreds of brands selling similar products.
People aren’t only buying information.
They’re buying the way that information is packaged, explained, delivered, and connected to their specific needs.
They’re also buying the person behind it.
So don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to invent an entirely new category.
Your job isn’t to create something nobody has ever seen before. Your job is to create something your audience finds genuinely useful.
Focus on the people you want to help
When you’re overwhelmed by competition, bring your attention back to your audience.
- Who are you creating this for?
- What are they struggling with?
- What do they want to achieve?
- What would make their life or business easier?
- What would make them think, “Finally, someone gets it”?
Those questions are much more useful than constantly asking yourself what your competitors are doing.
Your audience is the reason you’re creating the offer in the first place.
Build for them.
Speak to them.
Solve their problem.
And let your own experience shape the way you do it.
Use your uniqueness in your marketing
Finding your unique value isn’t just about creating the product itself.
You also need to communicate that value through your marketing.
If your sales page sounds exactly like every other course in your niche, it’s going to be difficult for people to understand why they should choose you.
This is where your stories, opinions, experiences, and perspective become powerful.
Instead of only creating educational content, share:
- What you’ve learned
- Mistakes you’ve made
- Lessons from your experience
- Your opinions about common industry advice
- Your approach to solving specific problems
- Behind-the-scenes experiences
- Stories that shaped your methodology
This helps your audience get to know the person behind the offer.
And the more they understand your perspective, the easier it becomes for them to understand why your product is different.
Final thoughts on why anyone would buy your offer
If you’re sitting on an idea for an online course, digital product, or coaching offer because you’re worried that someone else is already doing something similar, don’t let that stop you.
Start with these three mindset shifts:
- You are part of your unique value. Your experience, story, skills, personality, and perspective influence the product you create.
- Competition can validate your idea. If people are already buying similar products, that’s evidence that there is a market.
- Everyone has their own audience. Your audience doesn’t see the online world exactly as you do, and they may connect with you in a way they don’t connect with anyone else.
You don’t need to find an empty niche.
You don’t need to invent a product nobody has ever created.
And you definitely don’t need to abandon a good idea simply because you found someone else doing something similar.
Instead, find your angle. Get specific. Bring your experience into the product. Build relationships with your audience. And create the thing you genuinely want to create.
There is room for you.
And there are people who haven’t found you yet.
TO LEARN MORE AND STAY CONNECTED
💛 Connect with me on Instagram @coursecreationlab
📚 Build your own first product with Your Product Launch Lab
