It’s hard to get an advantage as a small business. Most of your competitors have more money, bigger staff, and even a well-established presence in the market. Your main objective is to find a way to convince your customers that you have something more to offer. This is a battle of public perception; the customer needs to have a good reason to buy from you, not someone else.
You need to have a better offer, do more research, work more on your core tasks, and find a new and creative way to portray your business in the best light possible. Here are five tips on how you can get just that.
1. Have a cut-through USP
Many young entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing they need to outcompete their counterparts in every area. This, however, is never the case.
First of all, your customers always have one deciding factor. They may buy from you because you’re slightly cheaper. They may also buy because you have a more forgiving return policy. At the same time, your product (although expensive) may offer superior features, so performance-driven customers will buy from you, completely disregarding the price.
The bottom line is that you need to identify this one strength and put all your efforts into it.
Even universal USPs, like value-for-money, are only sometimes valued by your audience. Sometimes, people are not looking for cost-efficiency; they just want the best.
Brand loyalty also plays a part here. Do you think an iPhone user examines all the features of the newly released iPhone to determine whether they’ll get a Samsung phone this time instead?
The biggest problem lies with people who try to create an impression that there’s nothing objective in choosing which product to buy, and nothing could be further from the truth. If this were the case, everyone would only buy the cheapest or the best-performing product, and there would be no market segmentation. Since this is not the case, something else might be afoot.
2. Put some time in research
A lack of research is the number one reason why small businesses fail. For instance, you may be unaware that there’s no market need for the product. Sure, you could be the first one breaking into the market, but even then, you’re taking a huge risk and need to do some projections or calculations.
For instance, the product you’re trying to push is already in a distant market, so you need comparable numbers. However, while doing this, there are a few things to consider. For starters, the difference between living standards in the two regions may be much different.
Second, the algorithm is very geo-sensitive, and your results may differ from what someone living there would see. So, we suggest you use a VPN, like those found on Techopedia, for your research’s accuracy. With a tool like this, you’ll be able to choose your location and see what users there are seeing, rather than local search results from your home region.
Ultimately, you need to study your competitors, as well. Business is like chess; the difficulty is determined by who you’re up against. So, you must research your competitors and check the market segmentation. This may also determine how much you will put in your marketing budget.
Keep in mind that this is not a one-and-done thing. Being good at research is a trait that separates the best from the rest.
3. Use storytelling
There’s a reason why our parents and teachers used fables to teach us important moral lessons and rules. After all, every message is more impactful when packed into a good story. What does this mean from your perspective?
First, you need to understand that the story’s protagonist is not your business – it’s the customer. You need to create an every-person protagonist that loosely belongs to your key demographic. This way, they’ll be relatable, and each of your customers will be able to immerse themselves into their position. Then, the protagonist has a problem, and this is where your brand enters the scene as a method through which they’ll solve the problem.
The narrative matters, but so does the narrator. So, use testimonials and user-generated content to add more authenticity to the story.
Storytelling is also a good way to show your true face – your values, vision, and mission to the world. Just pack it nicely so it doesn’t appear too disingenuous or pretentious.
Most importantly, you need to start employing good storytellers. Without them, there’s no great storytelling.
4. Focus on the core tasks
Being able to focus on the task that makes you the most money is incredibly intuitive; however, it’s also a privilege that’s not available to everyone. For many people, administrative tasks take the majority of time and day. This causes a problem where your attention is split, and even by the time you can work on the task in question, you’re mentally exhausted.
So, how do you solve this?
The majority of businesses solve this through outsourcing. With outsourcing, you get to save money and get a quicker time-to-market. There’s no need to hire a specialist, fill the rest of your team with potential talent, pay for all the software licenses, and acquire hardware that can run it. Instead, you just get specialists on the task right away.
More importantly, you get superior service for your enterprise. This is especially true in fields like technical support, where your team needs much finesse to perform admirably.
Outsourcing simplifies things so much. All your full-time employees will be on the tasks that make you money, and you’ll use these excess resources to cover the rest. After all, entrepreneurship is always about resource management.
5. Carefully work on your image
Before you can start working on your image, you must figure out what image you want. Are you selling budget or luxury items? Is your strongest suit your efficiency or your experience?
More importantly, you need to have a stellar reputation all around. The comments you get on YouTube and the discussions about you on Reddit need to match. When you have five stars on GMB, and most talk about your brand negatively, people will quickly pick up that something doesn’t add up.
The state of your products and the treatment of your customers is not the entirety of your product. How you treat your employees determines their retention rate and your reputation in the business world. Now, you can allow yourself a controversy or two when you’re as big as Amazon. However, as a small business, this could completely ruin your brand.
Acknowledge that you can’t just establish yourself as an authority on the market. You must pass through several stages, like brand recognition and brand awareness. This will take time, but you might get there sooner with a competent marketing team.
Also, remember that it takes years to build a brand image and just a few minutes to ruin it completely. Treat your image as you would treat a valuable but volatile asset.
Outcompeting your counterparts is a matter of perspective and execution
At the end of the day, convincing the customer that your offer is superior doesn’t have to be that hard. You just need to understand what they want and what your counterparts lack. With a bit of research, better coordination with your marketing team, and more effort into the core tasks in your enterprise, you’ll already get halfway there. Then, you just need to persist in these efforts for long enough, and your breakthrough will surely come.
