Business Strategy

Your business can compete with the big guys on the block. However, you shouldn’t try to beat them at their game, using the same old set of marketing rules.

We often see small businesses trying to compete against larger rivals using the same advertising and marketing methods to attract customers. The outcome? Smaller businesses are often outgunned.

What the big guys do is focus on branding. They’ll put up a billboard, they’ll run a TV or radio commercial, or even an ad in a newspaper. Their name recognition and reputation are at such a level that often all they have to say to the public is, “Here I Am.”

Most small businesses don’t have the name and brand recognition, or the kind of money to spend on marketing to make it feasible.

We advise our clients to get more out of their advertising dollars by basing advertising decisions on measurable results. You don’t have a limitless budget, like the big guys, so you need to make sure each dime is spent wisely and accounted for. When you’re a small business owner, you should know what your return on investment is. You need to find out what works!

Two great examples of measurable marketing are online advertising and email marketing.

Need more traffic to your web site? Online advertising is a great method for driving traffic. There are many options for business owners to advertise online. One of our favorites is Google Adwords. No matter what your budget, you can display your ads on Google and their advertising network. Pay only if people click your ads!

We also utilize conversion tracking so you can see if your online ad is doing what you want. A conversion occurs when a click on your ad leads directly to user behavior you deem valuable, such as a purchase, signup, page view, or lead.

Need more foot traffic to your physical location? You can create an email campaign that has a coupon or some other type of response device to encourage actual traffic to your physical store. Other email marketing campaigns can take the form of a discount or gift.

The bottom line is your business CAN compete with the big guys on the block! However, you shouldn’t try to beat them at their game when it comes to marketing. Let’s get creative and apply these new, cost-effective technologies!