Succeeding in small business is harder today than it has ever been
Massive change in the political, economic, social and technological drivers in the marketplace put unusual pressure on small business owners.
The threat of higher taxes and expenses must be compensated for with more growth and profits. The increase in online and global competition means CEOs of small businesses must get creative to meet the demands of this changing world.
It used to be that you could sit down and put together a marketing plan that looked something like this:
- Buy a yellow pages ad (the bigger the better)
- Advertise in local publications (newspaper, coupon mailers, etc)
- Do some local sponsorships
- Attend industry trade shows
- Attend networking events
- Hire sales people to make cold calls
- Build a nice looking website
- Ask for referrals and offer some referral bonuses
- Offer a loyalty program (punch card, rewards program)
- Post some testimonials
- Send out a monthly newsletter
It didn’t really matter if the product/service was the best or not. If you were a savvy marketer and networker, there was money to be made.
Sound familiar?
But today, the game has changed. The marketplace has tuned out old-school marketing and begun to make decisions based on social relevance and credibility.
Think about the last trip you went on. Did you buy based on the hotel’s description on it’s own website or did you make your decision based on search engine rankings, expert suggestions (expedia, priceline, hotels.com) and customer reviews?
Today, there is a digital eco-system that you must rely on in order to attract, convert and retain customers in your small business.
WHAT IS THE NEW DIGITAL ECO-SYSTEM?
The New Digital Eco-System is the rapidly expanding online environment made up of search engines, social media, peer advocacy and customer reviews. It is a living, breathing entity in and of itself and it grows more sophisticated and detailed every day. It is an environment in which small businesses will either thrive, or stagnate, or meet their ultimate demise.
SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR SMALL BUSINESS?
As recently as a couple of years ago, you could be a small business owner and do just fine without actively participating in this Digital Eco-System. You could simply say “We’re not playing that game. That’s a game for techies, and college co-eds.”
But an alarming trend has begun over the past 18 months or so and it is yet to reach it’s full crescendo.
The phone isn’t ringing as much as it used to. The advertising still costs just as much. You’re still attending all the same networking events. You’re executing last year’s marketing plan to the finest detail.
But sales are down, morale is low and lead generation is not what it used to be.
Welcom to the new digital eco-system where you must engage and actively work the system to thrive in it.
As a small business owner you must understand that the rules of small business marketing have changed…forever.
Yellow page ads are being replaced with online search (think about the last time you picked up a yellow book to find something vs. the last time you did a google or yahoo local search).
Old-school networking and referral generation has been replaced by social media and peer advocacy.
Companies still selling “great service” are being trounced by competitors who have focused on building page rank, fans, followers and customer ratings.
Relationship building has been replaced by reputation management.
Prospect and lead generation is being replaced by “tribe” building.
SO HOW IS YOUR SMALL BUSINESS DOING WITH THE TRANSITION?
Here are the 7 keys we use to help our clients transform their small businesses from “old school” to the Next Generation of Business Development through workshop and small business consulting programs.
1. Build your expert status – The marketplace will not respond to your outbound marketing spend unless you have a matching inbound marketing platform. This includes dominating on page 1 of search results on major search engines while leveraging social media, customer reviews and peer advocacy.
2. Re-design or optimize your business development platform – You cannot just bolt on new systems like social media and online marketing to an old engine. That’s the equivalent of putting new wine in old wine skins! In our core specialty, we can help you design your business development platform from the ground up and optimize it for sustained and scalable growth.
3. Reposition your brand - “Who is the person AND situation for which your product/service is ALWAYS the BEST choice?” That is the first question in a series of 7 questions we go through in a brand positioning exercise. Success for your small business in 2010 and beyond will come when you have positioned your brand to speak correctly with your target audience. A well-positioned brand will have a laser beam focus on a target audience and look to build expert status in that niche. It will also give you the freedom to say “no” to people and opportunities that don’t fit your new brand position. Brand position is about telling you and the people around you what is true and authentic about your company and what is not.
4. Build and deploy a communication matrix – Gone are the days when you could send out a monthly newsletter to your entire email database. People want to be communicated with in unique and specific ways. This means your prospects need one level of communication while your clients and evangelists need a totally different type and frequency of contact. A communication matrix becomes the action plan for your marketing/communications department and holds them accountable to maintain healthy and profitable conversations with each segment of your audience.
5. Hold your advisors accountable for impacting your bottom line - There are a glut of “business coaches” and “consultants” out there promising to help you achieve better results in business. But you must demand more than just great ideas and coaching. Your advisors must also be catalysts. They must be able to roll up their sleeves and help your company thrive. Even your law firm and accounting firm must be held accountable for impacting your bottom line by leveraging their talents and rolodex to help you grow. Advisors can no longer be an expense item on your P&L. They must become a profit center.
6. Re-evaluate your funding sources – When you combine what has happened economically (whammy #1) with the political aspirations of the current administration/congress (whammy #2), entrepreneurs and their bank accounts are in a lot of cross-hairs. Even after the $730 million stimulus for small business, banks are not lending money. They are mitigating risk by pulling back on lines of credit and loans. As a small business owner, you must look at your need for startup and growth capital and build a whole new plan around where to source it from. Some of it will have to come from cutting costs. The rest will have to come from private funding sources. Don’t wait for your banker to start lending again. Get creative and pursue alternative funding sources.
7. Personal and professional development – Your small business can only grow as fast as you, and your staff, grow personally and professionally. At En Corpus, our mission is to build you, the business owner, into a more effective CEO. The process begins by helping you discover your own entrepreneurial DNA. Then it’s time to help you design a work-life plan that matches who you are and your gifting. Finally, surround yourself with experts and employees who can do the things you are not good at doing. Along the way, we’ll be your trusted advisor, confidant and catalyst to help you negotiate the journey of small business leadership. We’ll even coach and mentor your management team to optimize their operating systems around your entrepreneurial type. Ultimately, that is the secret to building a highly successful small business in the 2010 and beyond.
Learn more about our small business accelerator and advisory services and then Contact us to schedule an informal conversation with an En Corpus Advisor. Tell us about your small business and we’ll show you some ways we may be able to help you achieve your goals faster and safer than going it alone.