There’s no sugar-coating the fact that small businesses have it rough. They don’t have pockets as deep as those of large enterprises and conglomerates that can spread their name far and wide. At the same time, they can’t use differentiators such as price or discounts to get their foot in the door. But as history has proved, several small businesses have emerged as the David to the Goliaths of enterprise. How did they achieve this feat? Here’s how:
Fill in Your Competition’s Gaps
The fact remains that no business is perfect. Some may offer products and services loaded with features, but may hike up the price accordingly. Others may offer an excellent checkout experience, but fail to deliver post-sales support.
As a small business that’s trying to carve a niche for itself, the responsibility lies on you to identify the chinks in the armor of your competitors and deliver where they fall short. Even small considerations, such as a simpler return policy or free shipping, can go a long way in building customer goodwill. So you know your competition’s weaknesses? Now, make them your strengths.
Create Authentic Touchpoints
More often than not, we have a very restrictive view of what we consider “touchpoints.” However, customer touchpoints, in their truest sense, are endless; all you need is the insight to identify them.
For instance, a storefront encourages customers to shop from there, the signage attracts them inside the store, employee behavior creates recurring customers, business events lend you exposure; the list goes on and on. Even simple considerations, such as table covers that bear your business logo or floor decals that lead to a spick and span bathroom, could be touchpoints in a memorable customer experience.
Utilize such opportunities in order to enrich the buyer’s journey and make a home in your customer’s hearts.
Generate Helpful Content
Typically, most competitive advantages don’t last long. After all, something bigger and better is always around the corner, waiting to overshadow your USP. However, content is one such asset that ages like fine wine (provided that you update it from time to time).
Generating helpful and valuable content can help you gain visibility, either organically or through referrals. It also establishes your brand as an expert and gives you domain authority, indicating that you know about the ins and outs of the industry.
More importantly, it’ll attract high-quality leads that are more likely to convert, which positions you a step ahead of your competition.
Make Your Mark with Design
Did you know that you can make ingenious use of design in order to stand out from the crowd?
Take some of the best logos as an example! You can recognize them right off the bat, even when they’re not accompanied by the business name.
Similarly, some organizations achieve the same effect with the use of a consistent color scheme. And if that isn’t enough, you have color theory to back up your design efforts and create something truly unique. Use such actionable design-centric strategies to forge a lasting bond with your customers and give them a much-needed push in the right direction. Do remember to maintain consistency by reflecting it in your table covers, floor decals, custom vinyl banners, window signs, or any other promotional items in order to build a lasting visual connection.
Improve Customer Experience
Speaking of using designs as a competitive advantage, might we also mention designing customer experiences that elongate customer lifetime value?
You may have already heard about how user experience (UX) is taking online retail by storm and helping businesses create a name for themselves. After all, a pleasing online experience indicates that you care about your customers and are unafraid to go all out while catering to their needs. And why stop on the online front? You can even curate rich customer experiences for your in-store buyers through one-on-one purchase assistance, retailtainment, redefined checkout experiences, and more!
Better yet, meld them together for a physical-digital harmony that trumps the efforts of any other establishment!
Make Interactions Innovative
Remember that time when the cosmetic brand Sephora installed smart mirrors in its Madrid outlet in 2019 and ushered in a whole new era of innovative interactions? Of course, following the Sephora route may be too costly, but there are several ways to infuse more value into each interaction. It helps that technology has become much more affordable. Here are some other ways to innovate interactions:
- Gamify customer loyalty programs.
- Introduce self-checkout and express checkout counters.
- Accept multiple payment methods to add convenience.
- Introduce a chatbot for online shoppers.
- Offer curbside pickups.
- Install tablets that offer product information or demos.
Through the strategies above, you can add a dash of fun to the shopping experience and have buyers coming back for more!
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