Your Small Company Can Market as Effectively as the Big Boys

If you're a small business owner, the word “marketing” can be scary. How can you compete with the big companies in your line of business? How can you catch up with competitors who have a head start in the race for customers?

The good news is, you don’t have to compete with them. You can set your own course and outdistance them.

In fact, there is a secret of marketing success that will actually give you an advantage if you are a small, new business. And that secret is focus. If you focus on your customer and focus your marketing efforts, you can market as effectively as the big boys. In fact, you can do an even better job of becoming your customer's company of choice.

To unleash the power of focus . . .

• Pinpoint and attack your competitors’ weaknesses. Maybe they aren’t open during the hours when customers want them to be. Maybe their premises are dirty. Maybe they don’t offer extra services like delivery or on-site service. Analyze what they do, do better - and you can turn their head start into your advantage.
• Don’t try to reach everyone with a “one-size-fits-all” ad campaign. Instead, identify your primary customer group - young mothers, homeowners in your town - and start marketing aggressively to them alone.
• Use low-cost, highly targeted vehicles to deliver your message. Put up flyers in churches, supermarkets, and other places where your customers go. Advertise only in the publications you know they read. You’ll make more money by tight focus than by a scattergun approach.
• Communicate with your customers one-on-one. Shop where they shop, attend the events they attend and get to know them. You’ll learn just as much as you ever will by spending tens of thousands of dollars on expensive focus groups and market research.

So focus on your customers and think small, not big, while you target your marketing efforts to them. Dr. Donald Sexton, who teaches The Marketing Mastery Program at Trump University, goes so far as to say that your company has to become your customer, not just sell to them. That's the kind of focus that can establish a strong competitive advantage, even in a crowded marketplace.