When economic times are tough, it is more important than ever to take actions that will allow your small business to stand out from its competitors. Here are five tips to help set any small business apart:
1. Focus in on your target market
When it comes to your ideal customer base, the more specific you can be about your customer base, the better. Being able to accurately describe your target market will give potential clients an opportunity to identify with your business. For example, if you can narrow your potential customer base from “high school students” to “high school students who play sports,” not only will you be able to come up with more accurate marketing campaigns, but you will also inform those students that your product was made specifically for them. This will lead to greater customer retention in the long run.
2. Do something different
Pick out five of your competitors and take a look at their marketing strategies. Do you see any commonalities? If so, this could be the perfect opportunity to set yourself apart by taking what you know about your competitors and doing something different. For example, if all of your competitors are using one medium to promote their product, such as billboards or TV ads – you might want to capitalize on the chance to use online marketing or radio advertising. It could be the case that your product is exposed to a brand new, potential customer base not yet reached by your competitors.
3. Maintain a good blog
Not enough can be said about how helpful it can be to supplement your business’ website with a good blog. For one, it gives your customers the chance to see what’s new around your business. But apart from just that, keeping your blogs consistently updated sends a signal to search engines such as Google that your website has relevant, current information. And, to put it simply, search engines love relevant information. Therefore, blogs kill two birds with one stone; they keep your customers interested in your product while improving your search engine rankings.
4. Go bilingual
One common flaw of many small businesses is that they don’t provide methods of communicating with their non-English speaking clientele. In an increasingly globalized world, not having multilingual speakers at your business could greatly hold your business back. Be sure to not only seek out bilingual or multilingual employees, but also consider adding pages to your business website written in other languages. Doing so will be sure to increase and diversify your customer base.
5. Create something viral
The masters of online marketing have already seen their profits skyrocket after creating content that goes viral. It could be a funny jingle in a commercial, an infographic that becomes the talking point of blogs and forums throughout the internet, or a cute video that you host online and proceeds to spread like rapid-fire. Websites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and other similar sites have shifted the way that customers view companies and how they market their product. To put it simply, creating viral content is arguably one of the most effective marketing strategies of the 21st century.