Let’s face it. Most small businesses are confronted by the seemingly insurmountable task of determining how to survive against their bigger, well established competitors. After all, the established brands have access to bigger and better ideas, budgets, technology, markets, employees, supply chains and so on. So, is it even possible to survive, let alone win?
Look around and you’ll realise the answer can be yes, if you so choose. Either by completely disrupting your industry - or by building a truly unique and differentiated brand driven by a purpose.
The former is easier said than done and is not in the scope of this blog post, so let’s focus on the latter. Many small businesses make the mistake of trying to replicate their successful competitors’ marketing strategies and fail, when they should really be doing something different and unique. Like building your unique brand identity and crafting your authentic story people can relate to.
Your Why
Where do you start? A good place to start is with your ‘why’. In other words, your purpose. Why do you exist as a business? What are your core beliefs and what do you aim to accomplish beyond making a profit? Why should anyone buy from you? If you haven’t given this much thought, now is a good time to begin. It’s not easy and it will take time, effort and introspection. Here are some excellent examples from The Plato Project of eight powerful purpose-driven brands which have a clear why, and are thriving. If these brands can, so can you.
Once you are able to articulate your why, you will begin to carve out your distinct brand identity. Create a story around this identity. This will help attract an audience which shares the same values and beliefs as you. Share this unique story with passion, and over time you will build a community, and out of that will flow your business. As long as you stay consistent to those values and serve your community, you will find success.
At a business level, this purpose and unique identity will help you to clarify how to change (or tweak) your products or services to complement your brand story. Once you’ve determined what sets your business apart, use it to establish a unified style and tone for your messaging across all marketing channels. The marketing strategies you use will depend on your brand and target audience, but Content Marketing, SEO and Social Media are highly valuable tools for sharing your brand’s unique story cost effectively - and thus differentiating your business.
The best part is, you don’t need a huge marketing budget to do this. But it will require some introspection, authenticity and discipline to stay the course. The rewards are worth it.
All the best! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out: [email protected]
PS: If you are (or someone you know is) already on this purpose driven path, well done! Please share your story with us. It may inspire other entrepreneurs and will be highly appreciated. Thank you!