The 21st century is an era of competition not only among multinational brands and large enterprises but also for small and local companies. It has become a contest or rivalry between companies to win revenue. It is the fundamental economic aspect which benefits customers and drives businesses to provide better products with competitive prices continually and to build brand identity.
According to statistics, 20% of local businesses fail within one year, and 30% in the second year of their start-up in the U.S. This reflects the vigorous market position and hardships to survive in a competitive era. Therefore a local company needs to do everything they can to foster the success of their business. As there are numerous businesses out there in the market, there is a strong need for a local company to stand out from others.
Below, a list of such convenient and practical tips is briefly discussed:
Tip #1. Acquire a USP
Unique selling proposition (or unique selling point) is a different aspect which unifies a company from other competitors in the business. A local company, regardless of kind of product or service it is dealing with, must acquire a USP to stand out from its rivals. It provides higher returns for the amount spent by the customer as they intend to engage with the company, which offers a better proposition.
Let’s take an inspiring example of how just a USP can bring a huge difference not only to sales of a company but also raised the brand image as well. Everybody knows the colorful button-shaped chocolates, M&Ms; each has the letter “m” in lower case on one side of the chocolate. Here is the proposition they adopted to give a new dimension to their business.
M&Ms: The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.
This may seem to be an unconventional USP to attract customers, but M&Ms were confident about this idea and their product. This provided a new perspective to the business world that if a benefit of any product is purposeful to the customer, it will be a huge success.
Tip #2. Provide exceptional services
A business may claim that they provide the best services in the market, but it is easier said than done. To provide the best services, it requires persistent efforts and strong commitment along with dedication towards business. The company has to deliver such exceptional services which consumers won’t get at other places.
“A local company has to keep providing an extraordinary experience to its consumers to impact their business growth positively,” says Mark Jonathan, head of marketing department at Academist Help.
This approach helps them to maintain long term business relationships by engaging customers. Another important aspect is to retain customers in case of any unfortunate incident such as delay in the delivery of order and placement of the wrong item. Loyal customers are the asset of a company, and keeping them loyal is more economical in comparison to acquiring new ones.
The successful companies plan to provide extraordinary services rather than just making money and getting more sales. The same strategy can be adopted by a local company which will help them to compete even if the market is in a recession phase.
Tip #3. Leverage Social Media Marketing
There are more than 2 billion social media users worldwide, and to be specific about the United States alone, 69% of U.S. adults use at least one social media site. Local companies must pay attention to this remarkable place and may change their branding for each social channel. It can help in various ways, as follows:
- To increase brand awareness: Here, social media can be of help with its extended platform to reach new and highly targeted potential customers. People get connected with companies they have seen and discovered on social media.
- For lead generation: social media provides a quick and easy channel for the prospect to express interest in the product and services offered by a local company. They must offer an advertising format exclusively developed to generate leads. It is a crucial benefit of social media for businesses to make their sale enhanced and grab new markets.
- Feedbacks: it has become a trend by consumers to comment or give feedback about any product or services they are happy about. There is another side of it regarding customer’s complaints; these are also shared on a social media platform. This can bring a devastating blow to the company. Therefore, it becomes critical for a business to highlight positive feedback and resolve if customers share any issues.
Tip #4. Create a blog
This is another latest and trendy aspect which would help a local company to get an edge over its competitors. Various forward-thinking businesses have already adopted this approach to get benefits of blogging. A company may face a tough time to create its space in the market and can be completely overlooked by clients and prospects. Creating a blog will offer a new path to share ideas and the voice being heard.
Some handy tools
There are various tools which can be of great help for creating a successful blog. Some of the handy tools are:
Complete Guide for Writing, Formatting & Styling
- Writing Ocean: it provides all writing resources such as dictionaries, grammar, punctuations, English composition, quotations/idioms, and others at one platform.
- Word Count Jet: the length of a blog or article is important, and Word count jet is a helpful tool to count the number of words in any writing.
- Object Me: this tool helps to write about business-related ideas such as converting employee’s positive attitude in business.
- Educator House: it is a convenient tool which provides great information about marketing, communication, skill development, etc.
- Accurate Cite: this tool provides great assistance in providing an accurate reference for the blog, content, or other forms of writing.
- Guide2Write: it provides a complete guide about writing, formatting, and styling. It also proposes various methods of citation.
Tip #5. Resolve complaints and identify flaws
It is never a customer-centric policy to ignore undesirable feedbacks as complaints are part and parcel of any business. At certain intervals, it has to face and deal with unsatisfied clients who are facing issues with the product or services and want to solve their problems.
This aspect becomes a challenge for the company to handle the situation in such a manner that it leaves a positive impact on the customer. If done successfully, the company wins the trust of the customer who only remains loyal for life but will also recommend it to other customers.
According to multiple studies, more than 80% of customers prefer doing businesses with a company having a good reputation. A company has to develop a policy which can identify flaws in the system and operations to have a good reputation. For instance, if multiple complaints are received about the delay in delivery of orders, then the increase of delivery staff can resolve the issue.
Tip #6. Irresistible offers and discounts
A local company can give irresistible offers and discounts which can quickly draw people to their outlets. In this tough economy, every customer, whether blue or white color, wants to save money as much as possible. If a company offers a discount or promotion for his purchase, it will most probably get the attention of the customer.
Offers and discounts not only benefit customers but also helps businesses to get a number of sales even with less profit margin. For instance, a company selling home appliances sells 50 LEDs in a month with a retail price of $ 500 with a profit margin of $100 each. They announced a 10% discount (retail price of $450 with a profit margin of $50), which resulted in 200 sales that is four times higher than before, resulting in more revenue generation.
It is a tool to excite the customers to buy stuff they were not highly interested in. It generally happens that a consumer enters a store to buy a couple of things but ends up with a cart full of discounted items offered by the store. Apart from increased sales, discount and promotions also improve the reputation of a company that is a significant ingredient to stand out in a competitive market.
Tip #7. Speak up to customers
This is an old school traditional approach but still has a remarkable impact on engaging customers. The advent of technology has also evolved new ways to communicate with customers such as phone calls, emails, online chat, social media, and others. This results in the importance of face to face interaction with customers being overlooked by most of the companies. The influence of speaking up to customers which may just be something usual or informal can result in building a strong business relationship.
If a local business in providing services over the phone and online, then getting live conversations during the customer journey can be highly effective. It is not only related to customer service after the sale, but way before the order is placed. Take an example; a customer is just roaming in a clothing store while waiting for his friend at a shopping mall. The sales staff can strike a conversation by introducing him with the new arrivals in the store. It usually happens that the customer would not buy anything at that time and returns after a couple of days for that purchase. The same initiative mindset must be adopted by business and instill it throughout the company to interact with customers in person.
Wrapping up
“If you want to stand out from the crowd, give people a reason not to forget you” this quote from Richard Branson gives the perfect summary to the importance of getting attention from clients and prospects. A local company has to develop an indifferent approach to stand out from the rest of its competitors to expand its business throughout the marketplace.
About the Author!
Amanda Jerelyn is currently working as a Content Manager at King Essay. She holds a Master’s degree in Sales and Marketing. She possesses a strong background in accomplishing business development by researching and developing marketing plans. Besides, she also serves as a marketing strategist at Crowd Writer.
Comments are closed.