|
Being
the (Second) Best
The
benefits of employing a “Pepsi” strategy for your
small business
By
Will Dylan
Go
to most small business seminars, or read any
motivational sales book, and there’s one theme that
will be consistent – you can grow your small business
to be the biggest in your market if you shoot for the
stars!
I’m
all for aiming high…but what if there was a proven
strategy you could use to accelerate your growth and
become a strong second choice for your customers in your
chosen market. The number 2 coffee shop. The second
busiest accountant. The number two web-based SEO
consulting firm.
Taking
a Different View - The “Alternative” Strategy
There
are many examples of famous brand name companies raking
in profits by deliberately trying to be the second
choice in a given market, using an “alternative”
strategy.
Pepsi
sells billions of dollars in cola every year, thanks to
their strategic decision to stop fighting with Coke over
who was number 1 in the cola business. Coke was the
original cola with the highest sales in the business.
Rather than continue to fight toe to toe with the
established leader, Pepsi let Coke have that territory,
and turned their focus to cola buyers who didn’t have
an established cola preference yet – teenagers.
They
changed their marketing strategy to use pop icons like
Michael Jackson (hey, it was the 80s), which was a
distinct alternative to Coke’s use of Bill Cosby to
support its more traditional image.
The
result was that Pepsi became everything Coke couldn’t
be - a youth-oriented cola with a strong hold on a
growing market. In doing so, Pepsi became the top
alternative choice to Coke. If you were one of the
people who didn’t want a Coke, there was a very clear
second choice for you to try – Pepsi.
It
happens in all kinds of businesses…
There
are plenty of other examples. Burger King is
deliberately positioned as the alternative to
McDonald’s – they cook their burgers differently,
and market their food more to the male young adult
segment of the market, instead of to kids and families
as McDonald’s does.
It’s
also worth noting that it’s not necessary to be the
opposite of the market leader in everything to be an
alternative. Pepsi is sold in the same stores and
usually for the same price as Coke. The
“alternative” component of their offer to customers
is mainly in their marketing and their target market.
It
works in your business too
Who
is the number one business in your chosen market? What
is it that they offer to the market that has put them on
top?
If
you want to play the game like Pepsi and other
successful “alternative” businesses, then let other
businesses compete with the market leader on their turf.
You focus on the huge part of the market that
chooses not to deal with the market leader. Be what the
leader can’t be. Find the alternative territory where
a client demand exists.
There
are many factors on which you could base an alternative
offer, including:
- Type
of client being targeted
- Level
of service offered
- Geographic
trade area
- Price
point
- And
many others
It’s
also a well recognized fact that in most businesses,
there’s money in being number 1 and number 2 in any
market, and not much money leftover for the rest of the
pack.
So
if you are one of the pack in your current market, you
have a lot to gain by breaking away from the pack and
taking up the number 2 position in your market.
Where
there’s a leader, there’s an opportunity
As
business people, we are often taught that to be as
successful as the leader in any market, we should
emulate the approach that made them successful.
The
reality is that market leading businesses are very good
at something, but can’t be good at everything. There
may be a great opportunity for competing agents in
taking up an alterative position rather them mimicking
the leader’s marketing tactics.
Coke’s
firm grip on tradition gave them the lead in the cola
business, but also left a huge opportunity on the table
for Pepsi to lock up number 2 by targeting younger
customers.
What
opportunities is the market leader in your market
leaving on the table for you to lock up?
Will Dylan is a
corporate marketing manager and author of “Small
Business, Big Marketing”, one of the web’s most
popular ebooks on small business marketing. It can be
downloaded at no charge from www.marketingyoursmallbusiness.com
|
