We live in the middle of the most competitive business environment that has ever existed in human history.

The internet has completely and totally changed the rules of business from top to bottom. It’s now possible to start a global business serving potentially hundreds of millions, if not billions, of customers all over the planet with nothing more than a laptop, $50 for a website, and an internet connection.

At the same time, all of the same opportunities exist for billions of potential entrepreneurs around the world – many of which are beginning to build their own businesses up, crowding marketplaces and cluttering industries while competing for the same customers.

To have any chance of success you need to separate yourself from the rest of the pack. And that means building a rock solid internet marketing foundation to grow your business on top of.

Who Are You, Anyway?

Not in some kind of existential sense, of course, but who are you when it comes to your market, when it comes to your industry, and when it comes to how you want to be seen and perceived by your prospects and potential customers.

Far too many new entrepreneurs and digital marketers offer the same old products and services that everyone else is offering to the market without any real differentiation whatsoever – and then they are surprised when they aren’t making any money.

To stand apart from the rest of the pack you have to actually stand apart from the rest of the pack, and that means creating a “who” for your business that is interesting, compelling, and attractive to your prospects.

Start With Your Customers in Mind

One of the smartest business decisions you can ever make when building outdoor digital marketing foundation is to always – ALWAYS – consider your customer, their perspective, and their interests before you consider absolutely anything you are doing or deciding for yourself.

Far too many businesses in the digital round start off thinking about the kind of business they want to build, the kinds of products they want to offer, and the kinds of services they are able to deliver rather than thinking about what their customer actually wants.

If you commit to building your business backwards (at least compared to all other digital markets out there) and instead really focus on your customer, their wants, their needs, and their desires, and figure out exactly what it is they want more than anything else – and then offer it to them – your odds of success skyrocket dramatically and you separate yourself from all of your competitors immediately.

Nothing Happens Until Sales Are Made

It’s easy as a digital marketer to get seduced into designing a fun new website, coming up with ideas for a new mobile application, tinkering with the way this looks are the way that functions online rather than getting down to the brass tacks of actually putting something in front of a market and asking them to buy it.

You have to remember as a digital marketer that absolutely NOTHING in the world of business happens until you actually sell something.

Your entire business depends on you moving merchandise or signing up clients for your services. You need to be taking action every single day, every single day, that improves your overall sales numbers compared to the day before.

If you aren’t figuring out how to sell more, to more people, and more often you’re going to find your business dries up sooner rather than later and you’ll have to come up with some other ideas to make your financial dreams a reality.

Obviously, you’ll need to pay attention to other details of your business if you want to succeed today. But if you focus squarely on increasing sales – and making your customers happy at the same time – everything else will kind of fall into place.

Build your foundation there.