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Buyer Beware: A Few Things to look out for When Buying a New Small Business
Buying an existing small business is a gamble - but well worth
it if you take the necessary steps to make sure the business is
solvent, in good standing with the public and that you won't be
taking on more than you bargained for (such as debt...
Economic Survival in the 21st Century - the Three Key Questions to ask
In this “special report”, I want to pose a few important “philosophical questions” to my readers. Firstly -- our Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, addressed the effects and implications of our aging population on things such as Social...
Personal Training: 6 Secrets of Award Winning Customer Service
Would you believe that your ability to provide quality customer service to your clients is at least as important as your ability to get them results from their training program? Did you even know that customer service was going to be part of your...
Small Business Loan Basics
Many people who wish to start their own business need an
injection of financial capital at the beginning of a business;
the main source of funding for entrepreneurs is business loans.
Let's take a look at what you should expect if you plan...
The Small Business Success Summit (October 10, 2003 to October 12, 2003)
Copyright 2005 Black Butterfly Press
By Maxine Thompson (http://www.maxinethompson.com)
While at the Pacific Ocean the other day, penning this article, I watched a homeless man dig inside a garbage can and ferret out a thrown away bag of fast...
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Positioning in Small Business Marketing
Copyright 2005 J D Moore
Positioning is another one of those marketing jargon words that everybody throws around and is important to understand. It's also important to understand how positioning specifically applies to your small business marketing.
Basically a marketing position describes your unique place in the market. The key word here is unique. What makes you different from your competitors? What features and benefits do you offer your target market that the other players don't?
Here are a few things that may go into your positioning:
-Price Point - This doesn't necessarily mean you have the lowest price. You may be the most expensive in town, and that's OK if you convince your customers you're worth it.
-Service - Almost every business claims they have great service. If you can provide exceptional service compared to your competitors, your customers will remember you. I'll never forget calling a surly plumber to try to get him to my house for an emergency on a weekend. he acted like he didn't want my business and then told me it was going to be $200 for him just to show up, no thanks. I called roto-router who gave me amazing service, a guarantee, and the whole bill was less than $200. I now use them for all my plumbing.
-Features and Benefits - Positioning is not just about what makes you different, it's also about what you emphasize. Folgers announces to the world that it's "mountain grown coffee" ( a feature). Guess what? All coffee is mountain grown. Folgers just claimed this feature first. What's something that none of your competitors are talking about?
-Credibility - Legal Seafood's
clam chowder is served at every presidential inauguration. Many products get celebrity endorsements. Many companies tout how long they've been in business. All of these things build trust in the mind of the consumer. What trust-building factors do you have that the competition does not?
-Negative Features - Is there something you don't have that annoys customers of your competitors? I'm not saying use negative advertising, but just mention the feature and tie it to a benefit. I'm annoyed when I have to pay for parking to go shopping at Mall. Instead of touting free parking, a mall that wants to speak to me might declare, "you'll never have to pay for parking". This drives home the pain of shopping with a competitor without going negative.
-Anything Else - Literally anything that differentiates you from your competitors can be part of your positioning strategy - your location, your hours of operation, the way your office smells. Small business owners need to think creatively here.
In a great article by John Jantsch he states that a positioning strategy must answer the question, "why should I buy from you?" This is brilliant in it's simplicity; it cuts through all the strategic junk that complicates marketing. If you can't answer this question, your customer is not going to do the work to figure out an answer on his own.
About the author:
Does your small business marketing stink? Let's Fix it! J D Moore is a small business marketing coach. Read his blog at http://marketingcomet.typepad.com
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