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Small
Business, BIG Marketing™
by Will
Dylan ©2004
CHAPTER 1 - THE
MARKETING CHALLENGE OF THE SMALL BUSINESS OWNER (con't)
Don’t Limit Yourself
Let’s continue with the
above example. Let’s say that our catering friend sees
himself as being in the business of providing food
services to factories in his local area. He’s not
worried about competing with fast food chains or items
from the grocery store. His main focus is getting his
vending machines and food into the factories, and
letting the quality of his food do the rest.
So on a typical day, our
friend visits 5 or 6 factories to check up on his
machines. Since he is focused in on servicing factories,
he decides to take a look around to see what other
services he can offer to his factory customers to
strengthen his relationship with them. The answer :
office coffee.
Every office has a coffee
maker. Without 2 cups a day, some people would keel over
and die. Most companies have an outside supplier that
delivers ground coffee to their office. Our catering
friend, being in the business of servicing factories,
realizes that he could offer an office coffee service.
Moreover, since he’s already going to these factories
anyway, there’s no additional effort involved in
throwing a box of coffee on the back of the truck and
bringing it along. Sales increase, effort remains
constant, and naturally, profits inch upwards.
Notice how the business
owner’s focus in that example helped him to identify a
good business opportunity. Once he had defined himself
as a company whose primary business is servicing local
factories, he could shut out the competitive activities
of fast food chains, grocery stores, etc. By focusing on
his core business, he found a new service that he could
provide to his existing factory customers at no
additional cost. Had he not defined his core business,
he would have had so many competitive influences working
against him that his attention would have been very
divided, and he may well have missed the opportunity to
add office coffee to his list of services.
**Get
thinking about what core business you are in. In the
long run, a good focus on your core business is what
allows you to locate additional sales opportunities and
increase your profits for your small business.**
It’s
All About Value
In
marketing, there’s a lot of talk about the “value
proposition”. That’s a fancy way of saying
“What’s good about whatever it is that you are
selling, and why do I want it?”
So, what’s
your answer?
Think about
the product or service you are selling. Then think about
all of the benefits that your product or service offers.
If you sell vacuum cleaners, what’s different about
the cleaners you sell than those sold by anyone else? If
your competition is selling the same vacuum cleaners,
then how are you different? Better price? Better
service? Free vacuum tune-up every year for as long as
you own the vacuum?
They call
this “differentiation”. What is it that you do that
makes you stand out? Why should I buy from you, and not
from your larger competitor down the street?
The key to
differentiating your product or service is selling the
benefits, not the features. Again this goes back to the
“value proposition” concept we discussed earlier.
The key to marketing your business effectively is to let
people know about your value proposition. Whether you do
so through advertising, the media, or the mail is
secondary in importance to the offer itself.
Continue Chapter 1
>>
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