Business Solutions: Thrive as a business in 2022
You may find it difficult to believe but having competition is a good thing. It keeps your brand on its toes and helps you to grow. Or at least it should if you’re committed to success.
How to get your brand onto the right track
Many businesses fall by the wayside because, and we’ve mentioned before, they take their eye off the ball and before they know it, their brand is left behind in the marketplace.
To experience success, stay ahead of your competition and thrive in 2022, you need to understand your customer’s pain points inside and out and address those needs in a way that is unique to your brand and streets ahead of your competition.
Regularly touch base with your customers to discover what their challenges are. Ask open-ended questions such as: ‘What is the biggest obstacle?’, ‘How can we help you more?’, and ‘What tasks absorb your time the most?’, and one of the most important, ‘How can our business help your business more?’.
These questions help you to paint a picture of your audience and identify their pain points which will allow you to figure out an approach that offers a solution to all of these.
Be clear that you’re not on the sell, you’re asking them for ways that you can improve and offer the services that your clients actually need rather than going in blind.
Once you’re ready to go in for the sell, your business will be much better placed to close thanks to all of the ‘inside info’ you received during your factfinding mission.
Is there an undiscovered niche in your market? Finding your niche will allow your business to thrive in an area where your competitors won’t. Or, at least, not for a little while.
The cherry is a big one but a crowded marketplace leaves little room for manoeuvre, let alone growth, so finding your niche will help your business to get ahead.
Many businesses focus on a catch-all strategy. To stand out from the [market] crowd and thrive as a business, you need to hone in on your audience and offer something unique. Segment them right down to the point you know what cereal they have for breakfast. Or do they prefer toast and jam? Do they write with their right hand or their left?
A brilliant example of how niche marketing works is a San Francisco-based brand called Lefty’s. An online store dedicated to lefties. From scissors to cooking utensils, this brand serves the entire lefty population therefore has the market share sewn up.
Each of these micro-segments will give you something niche to play with. Create a unique selling proposition for each and see the orders roll in.
These smaller markets prove to be far more reliable as audiences are easier to target. It’s worth remembering that we’re not saying your business should only focus on one of these, but all.
It’s not an overnighter approach, though. Spend as much time as you need to fully understand each niche and tailor your strategy accordingly.
One of the oldest and easiest ways to beat the competition is by lowering your price, however, Blumilk believes that if your proposition is right and you bring more value to the conversation than your competitors, your pricing should reflect this.
It’s certainly not always about being the cheapest, it’s about what brand provides the greatest value to a client.
If you’re looking to engage with your target audience in a way that will form long-term relationships, you need to bring your A-game to the strength of your brand reputation.
How do we get our brand reputation where it needs to be?
Firstly, you need to ensure that your entire team is on board. Ensure your stakeholders and employees are bought into your brand’s vision, ethos, culture and goals. These guys are on the front line and are the first human contact your prospects have with your brand. They help carve out your brand’s personality.
A strong employer brand creates a strong brand overall and will set you apart from your competitors. Your clients will thrive from your consistent proposition, knowing what they get each time they engage with you.
Susan Comyn, for Occupop discusses an incredible campaign by General Electric in her article titles, 5 Examples Of Companies Doing Employer Branding Right, ‘GE repositioned itself as a digital company with its employer branding strategy. It did this with a series of timely and modern commercials. One of these videos was called “What if Millie Dresselhaus, Female Scientist, Was Treated Like a Celebrity”. It was released in order to announce GE’s goal of employing 20,000 women in technical roles by 2020.’
Watch GE’s incredible ad here:
Blumilk have worked with so many regional and national brands to get their employer brand looking, feeling and talking in exactly the way it needs to so it engages and connects with the right audiences.
Take a look at some of our incredible projects here.
In summary, this is a really great way to build your business’s reputation as your target audience become familiar with your brand, meaning you’ll become the obvious choice when they require the product or service you offer.
Regularly revisit your employer proposition while paying close attention to the experience your team offers to customers. Set company-wide targets and goals relating to each and every stage your brand engages with a customer. Your staff are human, mistakes will happen but these are brilliant opportunities for you to demonstrate your commitment to providing excellent service and the ability to continuously improve.
While it’s important to focus on the interaction between your staff and clients, it’s equally as important to think about how your marketing efforts serve your clients, too. What is your brand saying about your organisation?
By ensuring your website, social media accounts, emails, chatbots and apps also feature the golden thread of value and customer experience, your brand reputation will continue to strengthen while providing plenty of ways for your clients to engage with your brand.
Take a look at some of the projects we have completed for SSEN:
Customer-centric brands are leading the way in growth. Brands that get to know their customers and adapt their offering accordingly are set to be the big winners in the future.
Ellen Hammett for MarketingWeek.com says: ‘Deliveroo, Costa Coffee and BrewDog have grown in value faster than any other UK brands, showing that speed, convenience, standout customer experience and communications can make all the difference at a time when consumer spending and marketing are being impacted by austerity and – Britain’s favourite word – uncertainty.’
Do you provide useful mediums to educate, empower and solve everyday challenges?
- Blog posts focusing on solutions to challenges?
- A user-friendly website that directs your visitors straight to where they need to be?
- Emails keeping your audience in the loop?
- Articles covering relevant industry news?
- Chatbots offering customer service?
- Wo/manned social media?
Not only does this approach help your visitors, but it also demonstrates your brand’s expertise in the marketplace while attracting new and potential customers with ease.
Visit Blumilk’s client, Western Power Distribution and see how their website is full of messages and features drawing the visitors in and making them part of the process for change and improvement.
One example is simply asking ‘How do you prefer to pay your bill?’ and requesting they complete a very quick poll with ease.
This will not only assist customers but this is a savvy business move to provide guidance to WPD on how they may need to adjust their payment process.
Ever heard the proverb: Growth and comfort do not coexist? Well, it’s true. If you’re wanting to grow, you have to be prepared to change and evolve.
To stay ahead of your competition, you need to be prepared to change and work differently when the need arises. Don’t be afraid to be a disruptive force in your marketplace. Don’t be afraid to try something distinct.
Don’t be a Nokia in a field of Samsungs. Always look at ways to develop your business model and do things differently from your competitors. By adopting an innovative approach and continuously thinking of ways to improve your offering, product or service, you’ll naturally stay one foot ahead.
By providing a superior and memorable experience to your customers will have them coming back for more. It’s not just about order taking and delivery, it’s about differentiating yourself from your competition.
