Make sure impeccable customer service is part of what your small business brand delivers.

By Nirdesh Singh

Whether you have a startup business or an established but small one, you will always be competing with big brands. Small business owners have to work a little harder and more smartly to survive this well-funded competition.

Even if you have just ventured into the world of business and you are a very small fish in the big sea, you must see yourself to be very important. You will have to develop a warrior attitude that will take you through the choppy seas of competition. You will have to work through your strategies to understand what can be done better to survive. More importantly, you will have to keep track of your business techniques to ensure that they are yielding the desired results or else you must replace them.

Here are some tips on how you can compete with big brands:

Do as the big guys do – Build a brand

Your first step is to build a strong brand for your business. You must get a professional company to design a logo and a tagline for your business. It is these things that will help prospects and customers differentiate you from others. When you portray yourself to be a brand rather than a small business, clients too give you importance. Having a brand name gives you recognition among your peers and you are then recognized by that name and brand.

Localize and focus

It is not essential to have a large network initially. When you start your business, you need to focus on the prime areas first. If you are providing even one or two products or services, ensure that they are provided in the best manner. You could pick up an area and concentrate on that first before thinking of expansion. Serving a niche perfectly is better than thinning out, initially. Once you are sure that your customers now follow your brand and will not go elsewhere you should think of expanding your business.

It has been rightly said that being a ‘Jack of all trades but master of none’ will not take you anywhere. You must initially focus on serving a niche and once that is set up properly you should then move ahead.

Marketing is important

Marketing is an important aspect of any business, whether big or small, new or existing. You have to constantly be in front of the customers so that they do not forget your brand. Whatever type of marketing suits your business; you must get it done for your business. You must ensure that your brand is visible to the customers every now and then. Using online marketing strategies is the order of the day. You can take the help of online digital marketing agencies that will spread the word about your business, its products and services and other things about it. You can either learn the techniques of online marketing from the specialists or hire them to increase your brand’s visibility through SEM, social media, web design and content marketing.

Online marketing is more helpful in the sense that you can get real time information about your customers, their suggestions and feedback, which can help you improve your products and/or services. Real time chat or engagement with the customer will enable you to bridge the communications gap and experience higher conversion rates.

Expand your horizon

Only those businesses succeed that have a wide spread network. You have to make yourself and your business known. You must constantly be in touch with your dealers, customers and representatives to make your presence felt. You must attend seminars and conferences and speak about your brand. When you are in the spotlight, you will surely get noticed.

You must increase your network slowly but steadily. Increasing the network without having the resources to support growth will only result in failure, which can bring a bad name to your business. Instead you must expand your horizon taking one step at a time.

Excellent customer support and service

In today’s competitive world, one business succeeds over the other for the simple reason that the one succeeding provides better customer services and support. Customers only want personalized attention and service. If they are not satisfied with your services even if your products are better, they will move on to the next best company as customer support and personalized services are what customers look for. If you are able to impress the customer with your impeccable service and support, he/she will spread the word. Generating positive word of mouth is invaluable.

Therefore, you must invest in people. You must impress your customers with impeccable attitude and professionalism. Outstanding customer service will definitely pay in the end and you will have customers for life.

Conclusion

Running a small business is not without challenges. You have to understand that overcoming these obstacles is what can make your business succeed. Therefore, you must not be scared of competition from big brands but rather consider them to be the motivation that will push you to excel.

If you have the attitude and the desire to succeed, nobody will be able to stop you. You must develop a sense of passion and zeal for your business; only then will you be able to succeed.

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[amazon_link asins=’0718033329′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’succeedingin-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’e0513fdd-e100-11e7-afce-41f1a4571dbd’]Nirdesh Singh has 10 years of experience in the IT sector. He owns a development company Zedex Info Pvt Ltd., where WPfixs.com is an in-house product that provides WordPress support and services across the world. He loves to write and share information about technology, startups and business very often. He also share some tips for new entrepreneurs that he learned during his entrepreneurship journey.