Can You Identify Small Business Growth Opportunities?

The marketing world is a labyrinth of confusing terms and idioms. It can take months of reading for a small business owner figure out the dynamics of marketing. One thing is certain, marketing, advertising, and business growth go hand in hand.

Four Steps to Finding and Identifying Growth Opportunities

Step #1: Analyze the Competition

Here is a list of cheats a small business owner can use to develop a marketing campaign for their ecommerce business.

• Competitor analysis
• Focus on customers
• Surveys and polls
• Join the enemy
• Follow the money

Almost every statistic on the Internet is public, with the right software. A Search Engine Optimization company or an Internet Marketing company should have the software needed to retrieve marketing statistics from search engines.

Most top keywords have several websites in the top 3 pages of ‘Search Engine Results’ which had major marketing campaigns behind them.  It is not necessary for a small business owner to know ‘why’ the company chose certain keywords, or marketing strategies. All you need to know is that successful companies become successful by marketing to consumers who are ready to buy.

If you want to succeed - Follow the money.  Did they buy a professional logo design? Did they hire a creative web designer? Do they use an SEO/SEM company? Do they pay for consultation. All of these can be the diffrence between a sluggish business and dynamic business growth.

Step #2 Focus The Marketing

Many small business owners face the same problems – not enough time – not enough money. Many ecommerce business owners spend several months trying to market their Internet business, without seeing results. It is normal for a website to stagnate for several months, but after 6, there should be some good keywords.

Pick 10 places to market. Do not try to market everywhere. Do not try to be a part of every forum, social networking sites, newsletters, and groups.

This applies to keywords. Pick 10 keywords you want to appear at the top and focus everything on those 10 keywords. Do not try to be ‘everything to everyone.’ It is extremely difficult for a non SEO company or marketing company to get a website to the top of the Search Results for more than 10 keywords. A good rule of thumb is to build 50 pages that focus on a single keyword phrases before expanding the campaign to include more keywords phrases.

Opportunities are missed because business owners are impatient. They do not do enough promotion, or they do not wait long enough to see results.  It can take 5 – 7 months in cyberspace to thoroughly explore a niche and find an opportunity.

Step #3 Communicate With Consumers

The business world is ripe with stories of people who found the ‘next best thing’ while listening to their consumers’ wants and needs. The smallest change in service, or a product, can make a dramatic difference in sales.

The Internet offers a seemingly endless list of ways to communicate with potential consumers. The ‘new’ commerce community is no longer singular and linear. The old business model was built around big stores taking care of their loyal customers. Today’s business community is diverse. Consumers and business owners work together in a more symbiotic relationship.

Step #4 Take Action

I’ve known business owners who spent so much time preparing to be ‘in business’ they never actually start their business. Do not wait until the business ‘makes money’ to see if it is worth being ‘in business.’ A business is successful when the business owner takes action. A business must engage in a marketing plan, advertising, and branding to make it grow. Growth Opportunities are only valuable if the business owner engages them, and assertively implements a strategy to maximize their company’s growth potential.

Did You Betray Your Small Business Today?

Many business owners betray their business without realizing it. Their marketing campaign delivers a message to consumers. They promise a particular experience, level of service, and product/service – then within the first few minutes of the sales process, they break that promise. These business owners have a hard time closing a sale.

It is common to lose a sale, or take time to learn how to sell through a particular venue, ie, PPC, Organic, Social Networking, etc. However, when you fail to sell in all areas, then it is time to take a ‘grass roots’ look at the company.

Small Business Branding

The first step is to make sure that your branding and marketing campaign does not make promises that you cannot deliver. It is easy to promise great service, friendly attitudes, and quick delivery – but if you do not convey this while chatting with clients, then it becomes difficult to make the sale. Branding starts with the business logo design and ends with the business owner’s attitude.

Customer Feed Back

Listen to the customers. Find out what motivates them to buy. What problems do they need solved? Once you know these, then – and only then – it is time to try selling them. Letting consumers offer feedback through blogs, forums, and comments is a perfect way to find out if your branding and service meet the customer’s expectations.

Are Your Expectations Realistic?

Remember that customer’s expectations change. A customer may want one thing at Christmas time that they may not want in September.  Recently I read a query in a business forum. The business owner was angry because his sales dropped in June and July. Of course, he blamed the marketing and advertising company. After some banter, the business owner admitted that the drop was only 3 weeks old – and started in June.

When the forum group suggested that the person’s product was not needed in June, the business owner became indignant and hired another marketing firm. This business owner did not understand the client at all. It is difficult to conduct a successful marketing campaigning while ignoring the customers.

Customers Come First

Placing the customers first is the best way to stay on top. If there are problems with a customer’s experiences or expectations then fix the elements that are damaging the customer’s experience and causes any element in your system to under perform.

The Basics of Small Business Branding

Small business owners hear terms like branding and marketing without understanding the definitions. To sum it up, branding and marketing simply mean, ‘being the customer’s first choice.’ Would you like your company to be the first that consumers think about when they want to buy online?

Branding creates and maintains a reputation that reflects the customer’s experience when shopping from your website. Customers build an emotional attachment to certain brands. Customer loyalty means tapping into these emotions and giving shoppers a sense of ownership.  A strong brand makes a company stand out on the internet. A brand can mean the difference between being lost in cyberspace and being a ‘name’ people associate with a product.

What Do You Sell?

A product or skill is not the only thing people can sell on the internet.

• Skills
• Excellence
• High-quality
• Relationship
• Extra value in the form of communities, newsletters, etc.
• Innovation
• Problem solving
• Trust

Every business can increase the value they offer their customers by promoting one of the above. Before choosing which one you’ll offer customer, it is important to understand what drives the consumers to buy. Many ecommerce businesses think the secret to success is ‘low price.’

• Trust – can you deliver ‘on time?’
• Security – Does your program focus on client’s privacy and security?
• Relationship – Can clients IM you, ask questions, follow the project step-by-step?
• Increase Customer’s Potential – Can you offer something no one else can offer?
• Social Standing – Can you make them look wealthier, sexier, more influential?
• Power – Do you have what it takes to increase your client’s power?
• Free – Consumers who are motivated by price can feel they are being ‘treated right’ if they give their clients something real. Not an ebook – but a membership or passing on an association newsletter.

Small Business Branding

When building a brand, say the same message with everything in your marketing plan:

• Business name
• Slogan
• Business logo
• Pricing & packaging
• Premises/website/location
• Where you advertise
• Presentation and communication style

If everything from the business logo to the website delivers the same message then customers are more likely to remember the company when it is time to buy.