The market is mean! The market place is already dominated by some old, experienced and established players; this holds true for each and every type of industry. Does that mean there is no scope for beginners and startups? No, not at all! However, in order to compete with the big players, it is important to be smart, cautious and calculative in order to create your place. The first most important thing to create your mark among the big players is the belief that you can do so! The road ahead is going to be tough for you but you will have to start with a positive attitude!
Here are some great strategies to beat the big players:
Initial Planning
You know that you want to beat the big guys! But not now, not yet! You need to start planning the small things first. For instance getting the basic setup for your business in place, hiring the right people, setting sales targets, planning the promotional strategies, planning on the promotion budget etc. You must start small before you adopt the aggressive approach.
- Plan small and important targets that will help you to grow
- Plan about what kind of customer service you will be providing and how?
- Plan about how you are going to position your brand in the minds of your targeted customers?
You will need basic things like your company logo and banners in place before you get going with your targets. The basic things required differ for every business and make sure that you have the basics in place before you actually start promoting your brand.
A Mobile Friendly Website Or A Mobile App
We all know people like to do many things on their mobiles and tabs like shopping online, booking tickets online, ordering food online, ordering groceries online etc. and you don’t want to miss on all these opportunities. Create a full fledged website that is mobile friendly as well. Check if your website is customer friendly and if people can navigate easily within your website. Check if all the information is correctly mentioned without any mistakes, no matter how great products / services you offer, even a small grammatical mistake can put your customers off at times. Make use of attractive images to hold the attention of your visitors. Check if your website works perfectly on mobile devices and tabs. If you are in the retail industry, having a mobile app is a must for your business to create a place in middle of the big players. If you own a website already, check if it is interesting or are there any factors of your website that need improvement.
Market Your Brand Creatively
You might come across many big banners and hoardings of the already established companies and you might be thinking about the budget required by these ads. But think differently! You don’t need to have a big budget every time you market your business; you need to have a creative approach! Potential customers will get attracted to your brand if they see something different in your ads. For example, check this ad:
Courtesy : chupa chups
Isn’t it simple and smart? Think of some extremely different advertising concepts for your business. Along with that you also need to follow the standard marketing and advertising procedures. There are many free and great resources where startups can promote their websites. Online marketing is one of the most efficient platforms for reaching out to people and if you do it right, you will surely be able to establish your brand name. For getting the best results with online marketing your first step is to make sure that the on page optimization is done perfectly. All your search engine optimization strategies will give the right results only if the on page optimization is in place. Work on the long tail keywords first and concentrate on getting authoritative backlinks and work on social media promotions.
Maintain Agility
If you are a small business or a startup, you have the benefit of being agile. Small businesses do not have the stigma that is attached to the big brand names, they can be more flexible. If you think that you are headed towards the wrong direction, you can quickly make the necessary changes without creating any negative impact on your overall brand awareness. Go ahead and tap into the areas of innovation, market research and execution and leverage the power of social media. Make smart, quick and well thought decisions about positioning your brand in the market. Don’t hesitate to take calculative risks!
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Perfect Customer Service
Providing best and prompt customer service is a very important aspect where you can beat the big businesses. You can work on your personal band, customer relationships and human touch when it comes to providing profound customer service. Provide the best customer service and its ok if you go a little beyond what’s expected out of your service for creating a good impression in the minds of people. Having said that, it is also important to promise only what you can deliver, it’s alright if you do a little more than what you promised, but do not promise what is not possible in terms of the services you provide to your customers. Create a customer service system that is useful, friendly and prompt, once someone has bought something from you, he/she should remember your brand name for a great customer service experience. Moreover, encourage ratings and reviews from your customers, good customer reviews can do wonders for your brand!
Deliver Expertise!
You may be providing the same products / services that the big players are providing, but go a step ahead in being the authority and the expert in your field. Maybe you can’t beat the big players in the price at which they are offering the product, but when it comes to expertise, you can do a lot more. How can you do this? A great way is by portraying your knowledge through a knowledgebase or by posting FAQs on your website. Customers might want to read more information about certain products that you are selling, and if they find it on your website, they will keep coming back to refer for more information. This will help in establishing your brand name as knowledgeable and authoritative! And therefore, customers will also prefer buying from you. Provide useful information to your customers and bond with them.
Conclusion
It is true that there are big players in the game but you know your game too! The road might be difficult but think about this – The big players also started small! The big players are no one but the small businesses that sustained the market pressure, they were consistent and they constantly innovated their approach to position their brand. In your approach to expanding your market reach, it is also important to analyze the big players to know what kind of products and services they are providing; you will surely get some important points to work on. With the strategies mentioned above, you will surely be equipped to put up a strong fight against the biggies!
