This post continues from my previous post "Hedgehog Concept As a Basis For Tactics & Strategy".
This is based on "Marketing Warfare" & "Bottom-Up Marketing" by Jack Trout & Al Ries, plus insights from miscellaneous sources.
I don't have space for each detail of these books. You might need to read the books or thorough summaries.
I've written other posts based on what Al Ries & Jack Trout have written. My post URLs change when they're automatically archived. You can do a search to get what might be in an archive.
You need a tactic & strategy. Choose a tactic (action: idea to implement) others aren't using in your market. Use a strategy (plan to implement your action) to make the tactic effective. It means developing a solution & getting people to use it to solve specific problems.
Marketing battlegrounds are in people's minds. Their mental conditions are affected by physical conditions & competitors' offers.
Your offers should fit people's conditions better than competitors' offers, so you need to know what their conditions are.
Solutions are bought in people's minds before money is paid. As people weigh options, you need to tip their scales with compelling descriptions of value.
Too much retail advertising is just product names, pictures & prices. It works for big retailers offering familiar products for low prices. It works when people are ready to buy from familiar stores. When people are familiar with products & stores, connections are made quickly when desires or needs arise.
You shouldn't compete with the same offers. Your success might depend on new products big retailers won't stock. It's hard for them to justify stocking thousands of units without a clear market. If you stock a few units, you can get sales while big retailers wait for a market to grow.
Better Information & Superior Results
You need to show your store is a better source for better solutions. Provide persuasive information about benefits to show you offer more value.
When people think products are the same, they focus on prices. You need to explain how products are different & why it matters in particular conditions. You should add information people need to get superior results.
Your advertising doesn't have to compete for attention against clutter.
You can reach people through employers, businesses, clubs, schools, etc. Community involvement is vital for long-term success.
Guerrilla marketing is modeled after guerrilla warfare. Optimal success in any guerrilla effort depends on winning people's support.
When your offers are valuable incentives, you can ask employers, businesses, clubs & schools to distribute offers.
Incentives could be donations or better value than competitors offer. Donations would be in exchange for sales compared to paying for advertising.
Example 1 - Your donations can help clubs & schools buy equipment.
Example 2 - Employers can reward workers & make their lives easier. Compared to competitors, what can you offer to improve conditions at work or home? Will they be less stressed & possibly more attentive at work? Will their morale be better?
Marketing Principles
These principles in "Marketing Warfare" are applicable to small stores:
Guerrilla Marketing Principles:
1 - Find a segment of the market small enough to defend.
2 - No matter how successful you become, never act like the leader.
3 - Be prepared to bugout at a moment's notice.
Flanking Marketing Principles:
1 - A good flanking move must be made into an uncontested area.
2 - Tactical surprise ought to be an important element of the plan.
3 - The pursuit is as critical as the attack itself.
Let's apply these principles.
Find a niche you know better than competitors do. Combine products, services & information to develop superior offers for specific conditions. It's best to offer what competitors don't. If a product or service is similar, use information to innovate a significant difference.
Offer information people need to get optimal results, so they don't have to guess or rely on inaccurate tips.
A Profitable Category
Find a small category that's unprofitable for a competitor. Even if your category is profitable for you, it's risky if it's similar to a strong competitor's category. If a competitor expands, you may need to adjust or abandon your category.
Your category can be based on helping people thrive in conditions in your area. Your category should be small enough to defend with limited resources. It means you can reach niche members with compelling offers often enough for significant profits.
It should be a solution category more than a product/service category because people need solutions.
Example - There isn't a product that fits every condition. People remove wet & dry dirt in various ways. Your promotions should show solutions, so you can serve people according to current problems. You should adjust your inventory when people's conditions or competitors change.
Though big stores have cleaning products, small stores can have better quality & selection. In a small store, people can quickly find supplies & go home to start cleaning without having walk through a big store & parking lot.
When you have problems, do you want miscellaneous product lists or clear solutions? Instead of offering miscellaneous products, you could group specific products.
Determine which products apply to current conditions & make compelling offers.
Critical Mass Is Vital For Offense & Defense.
Critical mass (CM) is putting more resources in a space than a competitor has there. Though your resources are small compared to big retailers, your focus can make a difference. You can advertise enough to hold your niche's attention with solutions they need.
When you determine which conditions you can mitigate & who needs help, you can send offers through somebody they trust.
If competition is too strong & you can't generate CM, you can bugout of a product line or category.
A competitor's identity is tied to its category. You need to be careful, so your identity won't be a weak copy. You need to make it very different to keep it strong. Your business's identity depends on its category.
A category & identity are important for top of mind awareness. You need people to remember your store in the right contexts. You can't afford to let a competitor fit your context & category better.
Niche members should recognize what you offer & be interested enough to learn more. Your ad copy should explain how your offer fits their conditions better than competitors.
Big competitors watch each other; they can't afford to watch everybody. Even if they notice your store, they can't afford to change tactics & strategies to match multiple small stores.
Since you have a small business, you should be flexible enough to adjust. You need to test methods & determine what to stop or adjust.
Big businesses tend to move ahead instead of sideways. They have a lot of infrastructure to change. With a smaller infrastructure, you can change when competitors or consumers change.
You need to make your focus fit the population so you'll have enough sales volume. If you're in a small city, your opportunities might be shorter, so you might have to change quickly & often.
When local demand is satisfied, you can pursue other opportunities. Be ready for significant changes, so you can get in & out quickly.
Hopefully, you have fast product turnover, so you can change your inventory quickly. You can adjust your marketing quickly. Big businesses might have warehouses of inventory so changing is hard. Their promotions are set months ahead.
As you track results, you'll know what to pursue or stop. You'll notice what's worth more investment. When something isn't effective, you need to put resources toward testing other things.
As you monitor your niche, you'll notice what matters to customers. Track how they respond to your promotions & what they say.
When success wanes, you should consider why. When necessary, you need to withdraw.
A market leader might try to defend a position. Guerrillas move to different positions.
Specialists Concentrate On Specific Problems
Like medical specialists concentrate on specific functions, you should focus on functions in people's lives. When you know what causes problems, you can restore optimal functioning.
You should be an authority on specific life functions. As an authority, you'll be credible when you advise buying & using products.
Instead of advertising miscellaneous products, you can promote solutions to specific problems. You can reduce people's stress by helping them find what fits their conditions.
Since you have direct consumer contact, you can learn about new conditions & stock products for those conditions. Your promotions should emphasize optimal solutions.
Based on people's goals, you can determine if you have what they need to make positive changes.
When you plan promotions, focus on how competitors come up short of full solutions & what you can do better to fill gaps.
Instead of thinking about what you can sell, your inventory & promotions should based be on eliminating problems.
High Quality & High Price
Manufacturers justify high prices with high quality benefits. You need to show those benefits are worthwhile in local consumers' conditions. Example - For people in cold regions, are sewing machines powerful enough for multiple layers of thick fabrics?
In my area, a retailer offers warranty service. Warranty service is seldom required for high quality products. Customers get more benefits because the machines seldom wear out or break. The products are more expensive & last longer than what big stores sell.
Replacing cheap machines is more expensive than investing in long lasting quality.
He chooses good suppliers & adds value. He offers free lessons to help people get maximum benefits. He & his suppliers make the machines well worth the prices.
His store is profitable though big stores sell cheaper machines.
Copyright 2017 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here-
https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/
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