Strategies To Compete Against Bigger Competitors

As a smaller business there a number of issues that impact on growth and being competitive. Common issues include having a limited marketing budget and lack of specialist marketing and sales skills.

Reasons given for small business failure

• 19% pushed out by competition
• 14% struggled with marketing
• 29% ran out of cash

Benefits smaller businesses have over larger competitors

• Individual service that can lead to improved customer service
• The ability to personalise and customise a product / service to suit the customers needs
• Expertise – the people with the knowledge and decision making ability deal directly with the customer
• A passion for success – small business owners are prepared to make significant sacrifices to achieve business goals
• They can draw in “people” through their values

3 Small Business Competitive Strategies

Strategy 1 – Go Niche & Embrace Unique

• Standard Unique Selling Propositions (USP’s) no longer cut it
• You need to stand out – being a generalist doesn’t give you any edge
• Being niche allows you to target a distinct segment of the market
  • New, Niche, Different, Unique = Exciting

Strategy 2 – Embrace purpose and give a dam

• You need to be meaningful and build an emotional connection
• “Mattering” is as important as “Marketing”

Strategy 3 – Innovate

• Be the first to market
• Make fast decisions
• Have a shared goal
• Smaller companies have the capability to develop an innovation culture
  • The hard truth about innovation cultures is that creativity and innovation can be messy ( not something larger businesses like)
  • . It needs discipline and management