How to use marketing to get “stand out” for SMEs
How to use marketing to get “stand out” for SMEs
One of the hardest things in many industries is to stand out from your competitors, especially in industries like IT provision, where the service may be about stopping things from going wrong so is largely unseen, or even cleaning where everything happens when no-one is there to see it!
There are lots of things you can do to stand out if you are a larger company but these are some of the things you can do on smaller budgets to help you get your message across and win more business. Remember that an advert, or email or other contact will rarely do the job on its own, it is the cumulative impact of communications from you and contact with you which will help people decide to work with you.
These are Verdant’s tips to help you stand out in a crowded market place:
1. Focus on a single area of expertise-be known for one thing but use it as your platform to sell your services
2. Make sure that your branding helps you-that it is either memorable or helps describe and depict what you do and preferably both.
3. Develop a single consistent message that runs through all your material, ideally based on the key benefit you or your product gives to your clients or customers. My favourite ads are the economist ads, designed to make their readers and prospective readers feel clever, and visually so consistent which brings me on to point 4.
4. Make sure the visuals are consistent. If you see your advert or other material it should be instantly recognisable to your clients whether it is a brochure, advert, merchandise or online email.
5. Make sure that your social media activity reflects your area of expertise (point 1) and reinforces it.
6. Create an industry debate, to demonstrate that you are a leader who is considering the issues and future in your sector. Use PR, Sponsorship or events to bring this to life and involve your clients.
7. Do something completely different to the rest of your industry, particularly in terms of customer service.
8. Walk in the shoes of your customers, the decision makers and influencers to spot the opportunities. What could you do to make their lives easier, increase their chances of a pay rise or promotion? When customers look at advertising, absolutely identify with it and this takes them one step closer to engaging with you because they feel you understand them this is real success.
9. Dominate a single media, with limited budgets make sure that the media you are in you are definitely going to be noticed. This works well when companies buy a whole underground stations posters or even the set alongside the escalator. Don’t book one space, book three smaller ones in your industry magazine and do something interesting with the space.
10. Do something meaningful which enhances your reputation outside of your core area but preferably related. Get your employees involved and make this an ongoing initiative you can get others involved in. Dove’s campaign for real bodies was a genuinely good cause, it created a real debate and point of differentiation, and they created a foundation to help young people with body issues.
