The customer should be at the heart of all of your small business marketing. If it isn’t it needs to be.
These Customer Understanding blogs aim to help you, as a small business owner, to re-focus your marketing messages and improve your marketing performance.
When they start working with you, every client begins with an expectation.
Whether they are basing this expectation on a network recommendation or their experience of your website, they will have a picture of their mind of what they expect and believe will happen when they first interact with your small business.
The moment they interact with your business, that expectation meets reality. How will reality compare to that expectation?
Customer Surprise Gap
The difference between what they expected and what they actually experienced is what can be called the Customer Surprise Gap. This surprise can go in two directions – up and down.
When Reality Falls Short
You understand customer dissatisfaction. Hopefully this doesn’t happen too often, but have you really considered what causes it? It isn’t caused by your product or service. It’s caused by the gap between expectation and reality.
An IT provider may solve every technical issue, but if they promised immediate support and took two days to respond, clients focus on the delay rather than the solution.
An ecommerce business may promise next day delivery, but if the Friday order doesn’t arrive on Saturday, the customer will be surprised. If you meant next working day, was that made really clear?
In these situations, the client isn’t simply evaluating the outcome. They’re measuring the difference between what they expected and what they received.
The larger the negative surprise gap, the greater the dissatisfaction.
The Power of Positive Surprise
Of course, the opposite is also true.
When businesses exceed expectations, customers experience a positive surprise gap. This is often where loyalty, referrals and positive reviews are created.
A service provider responds to an enquiry within minutes when the customer expected to wait until the next day.
A hotel guest expects a clean room but receives a complimentary upgrade.
A retailer promises delivery within five days and the order arrives the next morning.
These experiences create memorable moments because reality exceeds expectation.
Why Managing Expectations Is Critical
It is critical because clients rarely talk about businesses that simply meet expectations, but they frequently talk about businesses that surpass them. The ones that surprise them will be talked about.
Too many small businesses focus heavily on improving their products and services while paying less attention to the promises they make.
A good experience combined with realistic expectations can produce delighted customers.
An excellent experience combined with unrealistic expectations can still produce disappointed customers.
This is why successful businesses carefully manage their messaging. They avoid making promises they cannot consistently keep and ensure that marketing, sales and customer service all communicate the same message.
Reducing the Surprise Gap
Businesses can reduce negative surprises and create positive ones by focusing on a few key areas:
Be honest about what customers can expect.
Set realistic timescales and delivery dates.
Communicate clearly throughout the customer journey.
Consistently deliver on promises.
Look for opportunities to add unexpected value.
The goal is not to lower expectations. It is to align them with reality and then find ways to exceed them.
The Experience Clients Remember
Customers rarely remember every detail of a transaction. What they remember is how the experience made them feel.
When reality falls short of expectation, frustration follows.
When reality exceeds expectation, customers feel valued, respected and confident in their decision to choose your business.
The businesses that earn long-term loyalty understand that customer experience is not simply about what they deliver. It is about managing and exceeding the expectations that customers bring with them.
The surprise gap is where customer perceptions are formed, reputations are built, and loyalty is won or lost.
This article was inspired by something discussed in The Uncensored CMO podcast. If you would like to listen to the whole episode, click here.
As a small business owner, you don’t have unlimited time, budget or staff to dedicate to marketing. That makes consistency even more important.
Many small businesses market in bursts. You update the website, post heavily on social media for two weeks, send a few emails, then get busy with running the business and everything goes quiet again. The problem is that inconsistent marketing (sometimes described as feast or famine) makes it harder for people to remember you, trust you and eventually buy from you.
Consistency is what turns marketing from random activity into long-term growth.
Who are you?
Whether someone sees your brand through their own efforts, or they receive some form of marketing from you, the chances are slim that they will get in touch. If they found you, they may be in the market, but they don’t know who you are. They will need more interaction to get to know you more.
If you reached out to them, they’re almost certainly aren’t actively looking for what you’re selling – and they don’t know who you are.
Over time, they may decide to buy from you. If your marketing disappears for months at a time, people forget about you and move on to competitors who stay visible. The Law of Sod says the moment they need what you sell is just after they’ve forgotten your brand!
Consistency builds trust
When your branding, messaging and activity are consistent, your business feels more established and reliable.
That means:
Your website matches your social media
Your messaging is clear everywhere
Your business regularly appears active
Your tone of voice feels familiar
Your target audience will notice these things, even subconsciously. Consistency gives them confidence that you are organised, dependable and professional.
For a small business, trust is one of your biggest competitive advantages.
You do not need to be everywhere
We had a client a few years ago that believed they should be on as many social media channels as possible. They wanted to that they were seen in as many places as possible so that as many people as possible saw their brand…. just in case! Whether its just social media, or you’re using many other marketing channels, trying to be everywhere is a bad idea.
Remember the very first line of this article – you don’t have unlimited resources – so you can realistically generate quantity for a period of time, or quality consistently. To be everywhere you will need quantity, but if the quality of marketing isn’t there, it isn’t going to be effective.
Think about who your Ideal Client is. Limit your marketing to the channels most likely to get your brand and messaging in front of your ideal clients. By limiting activity to what is most likely to be effective, you reduce your workload and are able to maintain things consistently.
Repetition strengthens your message
There is no magical frequency that anyone in marketing can tell you will work; you will have to work it out through experimentation. What we can say is that you need to regularly and consistently appear in front of your target audience to ensure they remember you at the point they decide they want what you are selling.
You need to consistently reinforce:
Who you help
What makes you different
Why customers should trust you
The clearer and more repetitive your messaging becomes, the easier it is for people to understand and remember your business.
Consistency helps you compete with larger businesses
Larger companies often have bigger marketing budgets, but small businesses can still compete effectively through consistency and personality. A business that communicates clearly and consistently often appears more professional than a competitor with better resources but weaker messaging.
Over time, consistency creates familiarity, and familiarity creates confidence.
Marketing works over time
One of the biggest mistakes we see small businesses make is expecting immediate results from their marketing. Most marketing works gradually:
SEO builds over months
Social media grows through repeated visibility
Email engagement improves steadily
Brand awareness compounds over time
The businesses that usually win are not always the loudest. They are often the ones that simply keep showing up consistently.
Consistency also makes marketing easier
Once you establish a consistent approach, marketing becomes less stressful. You stop reinventing everything every week. You develop:
Clear messaging
Repeatable content ideas
Stronger branding
Better customer recognition
More efficient workflows
That saves time and helps your marketing feel more professional without constantly increasing effort.
You do not need a huge marketing budget to build a strong business presence. What matters most is consistency.
If your business regularly communicates a clear message, stays visible and reinforces its value over time, you build trust and recognition naturally.
Small business marketing is rarely about one big campaign. It is usually the result of steady, consistent activity that keeps your business in front of the right people long enough for them to choose you.
Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to drive brand awareness and sales for your business, whether you are B2B or B2C. The absolute nirvana is when people open and interact with every email you send out. If that is happening, you’re doing your email marketing well, but how do you get there? Here’s what is involved…
Before you even press send
People within your target audience can only open your email campaigns if they are delivered to their inbox (or at least their junk folder, initially). For that to happen, you need to prove you are trustworthy to the email receivers. They need to believe that you are really you.
DMARC, DKIM & SPF
Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) is an email protocol that identifies you as being definitely you. It uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) to prevent phishing and domain spoofing. This protects both you and your target audience. You can find out more about these here.
Authentication
Your email marketing platforms will all expect you to authenticate your domain and sending email addresses. This improves your deliverability rate, prevents misuse of your domain and makes you an authentic email sender. Your preferred platform will guide you through this, and is likely to keep reminding you until you get it done!
Validate your list
If you are setting up your email marketing for the first time, using a list that you have gathered over the last few years, validating your data is something we really recommend. We use ZeroBounce to identify the email addresses that are still valid, which are no longer in use and even whether there are spam traps.
The quality of your list is another part of your deliverability score (lots of bounces count against you), so the more you can do before you press send, the better.
What are you sending?
This section and the next one can be swapped around. It doesn’t really matter which order, as long as you do both.
If you want to get to the point where people open your email campaigns because they trust you, what you send them really matters. There’s a “simple” way to work out what to send – it has to be useful to them.
If every email you send is trying to sell to them, let’s be blunt, you’re going to upset (insert whatever word you want here) them.
Useful content helps them and they start getting used to getting useful content from you. The more they trust you, the more likely they will open and click your emails.
Who are you sending to?
This can go in front of the previous section.
You can work out who you’re sending to and then work out what will be useful to them, or You can decide what to send and then determine who that will be useful to.
In almost every case, you will not be sending to your entire mailing list. For example:
If you are sending sales email campaigns, only send to the people who aren’t already buying that product
If you want someone to buy something again, make sure they have bought it before
Content that is only relevant in one country should only go to people based in or operating in that country.
Strong Subject lines are vital
In the early days, this is true. Before your target audience really trusts you, they will open or delete your email based on your subject line. Does it excite them or generate interest? If not, they are likely to skip past or press delete.
Content that matches the subject line
One of the quickest ways to get people to unsubscribe is for the email’s content to be completely different to the subject line. If your subject line promises help with an issue, and your content just tries to sell something, they will click unsubscribe and not your Call to Action.
A name
Next to the subject line is From. If that just says “Your Company Name”, you’re missing a trick. The old adage people buy from people is still true. Having a person’s name there will generate higher open rates, whether the name is yours, your Sales Manager’s or whoever, people begin to recognise the name and start opening because of the name. The first step is strong brand recognition.
Consistency
Any company can produce a great email campaign with useful content. Far fewer can do it regularly. Whatever frequency you can commit to, keep sending to that frequency. People get to expecting an email from you every week/fortnight/month. They may not start drooling when your brand name appears in their inbox, but there is definitely something Pavlovian when you’re consistently producing good email campaigns with useful content.
Why do this?
When people are opening your email campaigns because they recognise and trust the brand, who are they going to go to when they have a need you can help them with? If your brand becomes synonymous with a service, a product or an end result, the people who trust your brand come to you to buy. That a good enough reason?
For the record, we love Shawshank, both Top Gun films and anything Tom Clancy related…
What’s your favourite long-running TV programme?
Nigel was brought up on EastEnders, Corrie and Emmerdale Farm (as it was called in the old days), but only until he left home!
How are they different?
Now think about how these two programmes differ..
One-off (let’s ignore the probable sequel for now) vs. weekly event
One if much longer than the other
Effectively unlimited budget vs tight budgets (Titanic cost $200m to make if you were curious. Eastenders has a £250K per episode budget)
No real deadline vs very strict deadlines
Keep filming until its perfect vs. get it to good enough
Stunning film from the 1st to the last minute compared to some great episodes and some not so good.
Both have a strong audience
Whatever you think of these programme choices, there are stark differences between them. Now compare the marketing of your small business to these two. Which is your approach?
The Titanic Approach
Mostly filmed in Mexico and costing £200m, Titanic took 8 months to produce, starting on the last day of July 1996. Originally meant for release in July ’97, it did not hit screens until December. Technical challenges, a perfectionist director (James Cameron) and even a spiked clam chowder meant delay after delay. Once released it became the highest grossing film of all time and is still ranked 4th.
Do you focus on one thing and will not release it until it is perfect, even if that means nothing goes out in the meantime? Imagine a social post that goes viral for a week. If you asked someone to name a film, even though it’s estimated that 85% of Americans have seen the film (probably similar stats around most of the world), would Titanic be one of the first 2-3 films they mention?
The EastEnders Approach
Filmed on a production set in Hertfordshire, the team responsible has produced 4 episodes a week since 1985 on a budget that is currently around £250K per episode. Episodes typically take no more than two days to produce and are filmed 6-8 weeks in advance to keep everything on schedule. Every episode gets around 3.5m viewers.
Do you work to produce the best you can on a regular and consistent basis, knowing and accepting that sometimes what goes out could have been better? You’re producing marketing that is seen by your target audience regularly, and they keep coming back. If you asked someone in the UK to name a soap, they would say either Coronation Street or EastEnders – maybe Emmerdale.
Where we going with this?
As a small business owner, you’ve probably not got $200m lying around. You may not have £250K either, but you will have some budget, in time or money. You are far better off producing marketing that is always good enough and sometimes outstanding, that is seen regularly across your target audience. If you get brand recognition with many other people, even better.
The Titanic approach ties your money up for a long time and means nothing goes out to maintain brand awareness during that time. Whilst you may then produce a Titanic or Avatar, you may also produce an X Men: Dark Phoenix and lose big.
If you need a hand with moving to an EastEnders approach, get in touch.
Good marketing is not just about what you say. It is also about when you say it. The timing of your marketing affects how many people see it, how relevant it feels, and whether it leads to action. When your marketing appears at the right moment, it works harder and delivers better results.
Understand When Your Product or Service Matters
Every product or service is more useful at certain times. For some businesses this is seasonal. For others it depends on events, customer behaviour, or business cycles.
Seasonal and Event-Driven Opportunities
If demand rises at certain times of year, your marketing should start before that demand appears.
Begin by listing key dates such as holidays, industry events, budget planning periods, and major sales moments. Planning early helps you stay ahead of competitors and avoid rushed decisions.
Instead of launching everything at once, break campaigns into stages:
Awareness activity to introduce your offer
Consideration activity to help customers compare options
Conversion activity to encourage action
This approach keeps your brand visible and supports customers as they move closer to a decision.
Look back at previous campaigns. Note when interest increased, when enquiries peaked, and when sales slowed. These patterns help you improve future timing.
Match Marketing to the Buying Journey
Most customers do not buy straight away. They usually move through a process that starts with a need, continues with research, and ends with a decision.
Timing Based on Customer Thinking
Marketing works best when it appears while customers are thinking about the problem you solve. If it appears too early, it may be ignored. If it appears too late, the opportunity may already be gone.
Search data, website visits, and enquiry patterns can show when people begin looking for solutions. These signals are often more useful than fixed calendar dates.
Behaviour-Based Timing
For products and services that sell all year round, customer behaviour should guide your timing.
Changing messages when someone returns to your site
Automation tools help you respond at the right time without extra manual work.
Set a Sustainable Marketing Frequency
For non-seasonal businesses, the main question is how often to communicate.
Consistency Matters
Long gaps followed by heavy bursts of activity can reduce impact. A steady flow of marketing builds recognition and trust over time.
Spreading messages across days or weeks usually works better than sending everything at once. Testing different days and times will show when your audience is most responsive.
Timing Across the Funnel
Different stages of the customer journey need different timing.
Top-of-funnel activity should run regularly to attract new people.
Mid-funnel activity should support research and build confidence.
Bottom-of-funnel activity should respond quickly when interest is high.
Use Data to Improve Timing
Data helps remove guesswork from marketing decisions.
Personalisation and Smarter Targeting
Modern tools can spot patterns in behaviour and suggest when people are more likely to engage. This helps you send messages that feel relevant rather than repetitive.
CRM and Engagement Signals
Your CRM can highlight useful timing signals, such as:
Email opens and clicks
Pages viewed on your website
Past purchases or renewal dates
Using this information helps you follow up while interest is still strong.
Plan Ahead With a Marketing Calendar
A marketing calendar keeps activity organised and on track.
It should show:
Key campaigns across the year
Content deadlines and publishing dates
Important industry or seasonal events
Planning at least three months ahead makes it easier to stay consistent and make improvements.
Review and Improve Your Timing
Timing should be reviewed regularly. Customer habits change and marketing platforms evolve.
Track results by day, time, and channel. Look for trends in engagement and conversions. Use what you learn to adjust future campaigns and improve coordination across channels.
Small timing changes can lead to better results.
Getting the timing of your marketing right helps you reach customers when they are most open to your message. It relies on good planning, consistent activity, and learning from data.
When timing is treated as part of your strategy, marketing becomes more effective, more efficient, and easier to manage. Of course, if you need a hand, click here and let’s arrange a time to talk.
In ecommerce, email remains one of the most reliable ways to connect with customers. Yet many retailers overlook a simple tactic that can dramatically improve results: resending email campaigns.
Resending is not spam. It is a strategic way to give your content a second chance at being seen. With inboxes overflowing and customers easily distracted, even a well-designed campaign often goes unnoticed the first time around.
On average ecommerce open rates hover around 25–30 percent, meaning three out of four subscribers never see your message. Resending can lift your total opens by up to 30 percent. A second send helps your offer cut through the noise, creating more clicks and conversions without new creative work.
Data-Driven Insights from Resending
Resending is not guesswork; it is a data-led optimisation method. By tracking performance between your first and second sends, you can uncover powerful insights:
Preferred send times: Identify when your audience is most active.
Day-of-week trends: Learn whether weekday or weekend sends perform better.
Subject line responsiveness: Test which tone, length, or emojis attract attention.
By tracking the performance of both original sends and resends, we’ve identified the best times to send email campaigns for our clients. The difference between the best and worst times of the week for one of our ecommerce clients is 1400%!
Increasing ROI Without Additional Creative Work
You’ve spent time and probably money developing great email campaigns. Resending multiplies that investment’s value. Instead of starting fresh, reusing proven content extends its reach and impact.
Example:
We sent a campaign for a firewood company in the autumn that generated just over £3,000. The resend to non-openers the next evening, with a new subject line, generated another £3,300 That’s >100% uplift in sales for that campaign, from just a few clicks. For this client this type of result happens 1-2 times a year, with the average (over the last 4 years) being a 28% uplift in sales per campaign.
How to Resend Effectively
The difference between a smart resend and a spammy one lies in subtle but deliberate changes. Here are best practices:
Revise the subject line: Add urgency, curiosity, or simplicity to stand out.
Adjust send timing: Try a different day or hour based on audience behaviour.
Segment carefully: Only resend to non-openers or those who clicked but did not buy.
Refresh visuals: Change the hero image, call to action, or headline slightly.
Add a friendly note: Use phrases like “In case you missed this earlier in the week” to show consideration.
These tweaks keep your communication relevant and customer-focused while maintaining brand consistency.
Avoiding Fatigue and Overexposure
Resends do deliver, but too many follow-ups can lead to unsubscribes and brand fatigue.
Limit resends to one per campaign, occasionally two for major sales or product launches.
Always exclude previous openers and purchasers from resends.
Use automation to manage frequency and maintain consistency.
Your emails need to remain as helpful reminders, not repetitive interruptions.
Supporting Broader Ecommerce Goals
Resending isn’t just for sales campaigns; they work for every part of your communications. Common use cases include:
Product launches: Ensures late openers still see your announcement.
Seasonal promotions: Reminds customers before sales end.
Post-purchase communications: Highlights complementary products or loyalty offers.
Each resend strengthens continuity, creating more touchpoints and improving overall conversion rates.
Leveraging Automation and AI
Modern ecommerce tools make resending smarter and more efficient. Platforms like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and Shopify Email can:
Automatically detect who didn’t open or click your first message.
Optimise resend timing based on past engagement data.
Personalise subject lines or offers using AI.
Example:
AI might identify that one shopper tends to open emails at 9 a.m. on weekdays while another prefers 8 p.m. on Sundays. Automated resends can adapt accordingly, ensuring maximum visibility with minimal manual effort. Automation turns resending into a scalable, intelligent growth tactic, not just a manual follow-up.
Measuring and Refining Performance
Success in resending comes from measurement and adjustment. Track the following metrics for both your initial and follow-up sends:
Open rate
Click-through rate
Conversion rate
Unsubscribe rate
Focus on what is important for your business. As an ecommerce business, this will mostly be revenue and that comes from click rates. Open rates are great, but they don’t usually mean revenue. Your email platform will give you stats you can use but use Google Analytics as a confirmation tool as well.
Building a Smarter Ecommerce Email Strategy
Resending is not about repeating yourself. It is about maximising visibility, learning from data, and respecting your customers’ time. In an ecommerce landscape filled with distractions, persistence pays off. By resending intelligently, you extend your campaign’s reach, recover missed opportunities, and increase sales without additional creative costs.
Resending should become a core component of your email strategy—a practical habit that turns overlooked messages into measurable results.
Case studies are invaluable tools for UK businesses, serving as compelling evidence of your expertise, success and ability to deliver on your promises to prospective clients and your target audiences. To ensure your case studies effectively showcase your capabilities, here’s the way we recommend to you for producing the perfect case study:
1. Select the Right Client
Choose clients who have experienced significant positive outcomes from your products or services. These clients will be very happy and that enthusiasm will come across in their testimonial. They’re also much more likely to share and comment on social media posts you do to share the case study.
Their genuine enthusiasm can lead to more impactful testimonials, enhancing the credibility of your case study.
People don’t buy a product or service; they buy the result. So the more you’ve chosen clients where the results have been significant, the more they will be liked by readers.
For us, the Systems IT case study was perfect. SME Needs has always done a lot of work in the tech sector (Nigel worked client-side for an IT Support company prior to launching the business). They’ve been a client for many years now (and hopefully many more) and the results produced have been significant.
2. Collaborate with Your Client
Engage your client from the outset, involving them in the development of the case study.
Ask permission. Whilst you don’t actually need permission, its far better if you have it.
Draft this with key staff. Your delivery staff/account manager will know the client best; get them to help you get this right.
Agree content with your client. Give the draft to them and check they are happy with it.
This collaboration can strengthen relationships and provide deeper insights into the challenges addressed and solutions implemented.
3. Structure Your Case Study Effectively
Organise your case study with clear sections:
Title
Craft a concise and compelling headline. Headlines entice people to read down, consuming the content you’ve crafted. Titles that are just the company name will attract people looking for information about that company, but not help you. Titles that include a key result will be much more effective.
Who is the Client?
Provide background on the client. The aim is for readers to resonate with your client, recognising much of themselves.
What were their Challenges?
Describe the issues faced by the client when you started talking. It’s likely that the reader will have similar issues – again its about them recognising the similarities.
What did you do?
Detail the solutions you implemented. Often the smallest section of any case study, as it isn’t the most effective section. It does need some detail, as that helps readers understand how you work.
Visuals
Use engaging imagery or videos to support the content. Images are great, with video even better. Remember LinkedIn will pull in the main image when you add the URL to a post.
Results
Arguably the most important section of any case study. But also the most frequently missed section, often because small businesses write case studies too soon.
More detail on this below
Testimonial
This is the other bit that competes for the most important bit! More information on this below…
4. Incorporate Client Testimonials
Testimonials within case studies have X roles:
They demonstrate that you have permission to publish the case study!
The testimonial communicates the delight your client has from working with you.
It’s the readers’ peer telling them they should work with you!
5. Highlight the Results
People don’t care what you do. They care about how you can help them. They care about the results you deliver and the value they get from working with you. Putting a reference to the results you’ve delivered as the main headline will grab people’s attention. They will read on to find out more.
Results can be qualitative or quantitative, depending on what you do and what the clients gets from working with you. Looking at a couple of our case studies, Kindling n Things was all about the additional revenue, so quantitative. On the other side, the Charcoalblue case study was much more about helping them start a particular journey with their marketing.
6. Utilise Visual Elements
Integrate high-quality images, charts, or videos to make your case study more engaging. Visual content can effectively illustrate results and processes, making the information more accessible to readers.
7. Ensure Readability
Another common mistake we see with case studies published by small businesses is writing it like a school essay – 1 or 2 long paragraphs that make it really difficult for people to pick up the key points. Making it easy for people to read, both skim-read and in detail, helps the reader get what you want them to get. It also helps the search engines rank the page, moving you up the search engines.
Make sure your headings and sub-headings are H2 or H3 formatted (they stand out and the search engines know what they are)
Bullet points quickly communicate what you want people to know because they stand out
Concise paragraphs are easier to read than longer ones
Italicise and centre the text for your testimonial, making it eye-catching and obvious what it is
The easier it is to read, the more likely people will read the whole thing.
8. Include a Call to Action
Conclude with a clear call to action, guiding readers on the next steps, such as contacting your team or exploring related services.
By implementing these strategies, your case studies can effectively demonstrate your business’s strengths and successes, serving as powerful tools to attract and convert potential clients. We’re offering a free review of your case studies to help you make them as effective as possible
Why It’s Important for Your Small Business to Stand Out from the Competition
In today’s highly competitive marketplace, your ability to differentiate your small business from your competitors is more crucial than ever. With thousands of businesses offering similar products or services, standing out is not just an option but a necessity for growth and long-term success. Whether you’re running a membership organisation, an e-commerce business or a tech startup, creating a unique identity and offering something distinct can make all the difference in attracting and retaining clients. Here, we explore why it’s important for your small business to stand out from the competition and how it can lead to increased brand recognition, client loyalty, and profitability.
1. Attracting Attention in a Crowded Market
One of the primary reasons for standing out is to capture the attention of potential clients. With the rise of online shopping, social media, and digital advertising, your target audiences are bombarded with marketing messages every day. If your small business doesn’t offer something unique or memorable, it risks being overlooked.
A distinctive offering, whether it’s a unique product feature, an innovative service, or an eye-catching brand aesthetic, helps you grab attention in a crowded space.
In industries where multiple businesses are vying for the same target audience, standing out can be the factor that causes clients to choose your brand over the competition.
2. Building a Strong Brand Identity
A well-defined and memorable brand identity is key to making your business stand out. This identity isn’t just about a logo or colour scheme. It’s about how your brand is perceived by your target audience. This perception is shaped by your company’s mission, values, client service, and the overall experience you provide.
When your business stands out with a strong, consistent brand:
it creates a sense of trust and reliability.
Clients are more likely to remember and return to a brand they resonate with.
Whether through a compelling story, a distinct personality, or a clear value proposition, having a standout brand identity ensures you don’t fade into the background of a sea of competitors.
3. Creating Client Loyalty
In a competitive market, it’s not enough to simply attract clients – you need to retain them. Offering something unique that aligns with your clients’ needs or values can turn one-time buyers into loyal, repeat clients. Brand loyalty is crucial, especially for small businesses that rely on a steady client base for sustainable growth.
When clients feel a connection to your business, whether because of the personalised service you offer, your unique product offerings, or your commitment to social causes, they are more likely to return and recommend your business to others.
Differentiation helps create this bond. This can be more difficult to establish if you simply follow the crowd and offer the same products and services as everyone else.
4. Commanding a Premium Price
One of the most significant benefits of standing out from the competition is the ability to command a higher price for your products or services. When you offer something distinctive that your competitors don’t, you create perceived value in the eyes of your clients. This perceived value allows you to justify a higher price point without fear of losing business to cheaper alternatives.
For instance, small businesses that offer high-quality craftsmanship, eco-friendly products, or exceptional client service can often charge more because clients are willing to pay a premium for these unique qualities. Differentiation allows you to move beyond competing solely on price, positioning your business as a top choice for clients who value quality or uniqueness.
5. Better Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Promotion
When your business stands out, it’s easier to create a buzz and attract attention through word-of-mouth marketing. Clients are more likely to talk about your business and recommend it to others if they have a positive and memorable experience. This kind of organic marketing is invaluable for small businesses, as it’s both cost-effective and highly credible.
Differentiation makes it easier for clients to be advocates for your business. If your brand or product resonates with them in a unique way, they’ll be excited to share it with their network. Whether it’s through social media, client reviews, or personal recommendations, word-of-mouth marketing is often the most powerful tool in attracting new clients.
6. Attracting the Right Clients
Standing out also helps ensure that you attract the right clients who align with your business’s values, products, and services. When you differentiate yourself, you clarify exactly what your business is about and who it serves. This helps to weed out clients who may not be a good fit and attract those who are more likely to become loyal patrons.
For example, a small business that focuses on sustainability or eco-friendly products may attract clients who prioritise these values. By standing out and clearly communicating your unique selling points, you can attract clients who share your values and are more likely to stay with your business for the long haul.
7. Enhancing Client Experience
To stand out from the competition, many businesses focus not only on their products or services but also on the overall client experience they offer. From the first point of contact to post-purchase support, every touchpoint is an opportunity to differentiate your business.
Providing an exceptional client experience that goes above and beyond the norm can set your business apart in a meaningful way. Whether it’s through personalised service, fast response times, or going the extra mile to solve problems, clients remember businesses that treat them well. A remarkable client experience can be a significant differentiator and a reason why clients choose your business over others.
8. Long-Term Business Success
In the long run, standing out from the competition is essential for business growth and sustainability. Without differentiation, your business may struggle to adapt to changing market conditions or consumer preferences. Having a unique identity and value proposition provides a solid foundation for growth and helps ensure your business doesn’t become obsolete or irrelevant over time.
By continuously innovating and reinforcing what makes your business unique, you can build a lasting brand that stands the test of time. This is regardless of the competitive pressures you face.
Conclusion
In a crowded and competitive market, standing out is vital for the success of any small business. It allows you to attract attention, build brand loyalty, command higher prices, and ensure long-term success. By offering something unique, creating an exceptional client experience, and focusing on what differentiates your business, you increase your chances of thriving in an increasingly competitive environment. In the end, differentiation is not just about being different. It’s about being memorable, valuable, and relevant to your target audience.
Our Focus Workshops are all about identifying who you want as Ideal Clients, about why you and what makes you stand out. For more information about this phase of our strategic marketing support, click here.
In the competitive world of B2B marketing, standing out can be tough. Traditionally, companies would use a Unique Selling Point (USP) to highlight a distinct feature of their product or service. But as markets become more saturated, a single, standout feature is hard to sustain. Instead, B2B companies are finding new ways to differentiate themselves by focusing on trust, service, and adaptability.
Evolving Beyond a Simple USP
In the past, B2B companies could rely on a single USP to set themselves apart—maybe it was an innovative feature, or perhaps a unique benefit. However, in today’s crowded B2B landscape, features that once made brands unique are quickly copied by competitors. This shift means B2B businesses must look at the bigger picture, offering more than just one impressive detail. It is the combination of selling points that makes the difference, ensuring they stand out from the competition.
Service-First Approach
Many B2B brands are now focusing on the service and experience they provide rather than solely on product features. For example, UK software provider Sage doesn’t just emphasise its accounting software’s features; it also highlights customer support, training, and guidance. This approach assures clients they’ll get the help they need, creating a more reliable USP that competitors can’t easily replicate.
Building Trust and Reliability
In B2B, trust is essential. When clients invest in a supplier, they want assurance they’re choosing a reliable partner. UK-based Rolls-Royce, for example, is known for engineering excellence and reliability. Their reputation for consistent quality helps them stand out. Building trust can be challenging for competitors to replicate, as it’s based on years of reliability and strong client relationships.
Personalising the Customer Experience
Tailored service can be a powerful USP. The growth of Oracle Partner, Namos Solutions is a great example of this. In just 12 years they’ve grown from 1 to 160 people by delivering a great customer experience, based on a culture of “Big Enough to Deliver, Small Enough to Care”. The passion for delivering beyond expectations is displayed in every interaction they have with clients.
Transparency and Ethics
Ethics and transparency are more important than ever. Many B2B buyers seek suppliers who share their values, which means companies that genuinely commit to ethical practices gain a competitive edge. For example, Unilever promotes its dedication to ethical sourcing, appealing to clients focused on environmental and social responsibility. Such practices are hard to fake and can make a significant impact on brand perception.
Innovation and Adaptability
In fast-evolving industries, companies need to show they can adapt and grow. UK-based engineering firm Arup, for instance, focuses on innovation in sustainable design. This appeals to clients looking for forward-thinking partners who help future-proof their businesses. By staying adaptable and proactive, brands like Arup demonstrate a USP based on growth and resilience.
Building Community and Loyalty
B2B brands also stand out by fostering a community for their clients. For instance, the Financial Times offers subscribers exclusive content and networking events, turning a simple service into a richer experience. Loyalty programmes can also strengthen client relationships, encouraging repeat business and creating a USP based on long-term value.
Conclusion: Rethinking Uniqueness in B2B
In the modern B2B landscape, a traditional USP based on a single feature is rare. Instead, businesses succeed by focusing on delivering value through personalised service, trust, and adaptability. By building trust and showing they can adapt to client needs, B2B companies can stand out as reliable partners rather than just another vendor.
If you’re struggling to identify and promote your unique selling points, let’s talk. Give us a call on 020 8634 5911 or complete the form here.
Why Small Business Owners Need to Think Differently
As a small business owner, it’s easy to assume that what you love about your product or service will naturally appeal to your clients. If you’re passionate about what you sell, surely your target audience will feel the same way, right? Well, not quite. One of the most common mistakes business owners make is believing that they reflect their clients. Here’s 3 reasons why it’s important to recognise thatyou are not your target audience – and what to do about it…
1. Personal Preferences Can Skew Your View
As a business owner, you started your business because you identified an opportunity, or you wanted to work for yourself, after doing something you love for someone else. You’re deeply attached to your product or service, which can lead to personal bias. This emotional attachment sometimes clouds judgement, causing you to focus on details that matter to you but might not resonate with your audience. Just because you love something doesn’t mean your clients will.
For example, if you’re drawn to sleek, minimalistic designs, you might prioritise aesthetics over functionality. However, your clients may care more about ease of use or affordability. By assuming your tastes match theirs, you run the risk of misjudging what really matters to your audience.
Have you ever found yourself saying:
I don’t like that design/colour/language
I never go on Facebook/LinkedIn, so let’s not….
2. Clients Have Different Priorities
Steve Jobs developed products and then made huge numbers of people want them. He was one of a very rare breed. He also had mega-marketing budgets behind him; something very few small businesses owners have.
When talking to prospects and new clients, we frequently hear them focus on the tech or the complexity. They’re immensely proud of what it has taken to develop their product – and so they should be – but their target audience is rarely interested in the bells and whistles. They want to know whether it will solve a problem they have, in a convenient, reliable or cost-effective way.
A fintech client of ours used to talk about the power of their analysis platform and the size of their data warehouse, wondering why people weren’t engaging. Put simply, its because nobody cared about those things. They cared about the results of the analysis and what it enabled them to do. Now that company talks about increased capacity, time savings and profitability – because that’s what their clients get from the work they do.
3. You Don’t Always Share the Same Background
Your age, income, lifestyle, or even geographic location might be quite different from your ideal client. These differences matter when it comes to purchasing behaviour, communication preferences, and product expectations.
If you’re a 40-year-old business owner, but your target audience is primarily 20-somethings, your marketing approach might miss the mark if you’re only drawing from your own experience. Just because you may not understand TikTok or Instagram, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be active on them as part of your marketing.
Recognising these demographic differences helps you craft messages that better align with your clients’ lives and use the right marketing channels.
4. Client Insights Matter More Than Assumptions
Instead of guessing what your clients want, listen to them!
Gathering feedback, tracking behaviour, and conducting client research are essential for understanding your audience’s real preferences. Assumptions can lead to costly mistakes, while actual data can guide you in the right direction.
Whether through surveys, reviews, or even informal conversations, hearing directly from your clients ensures you’re making decisions that are aligned with their needs, not just your personal vision for the business.
5. Show you understand your clients
To truly connect with your audience, you need to understand them. What challenges are they facing? What motivates them to make a purchase? Putting yourself in their shoes and empathising with their situation can transform the way you approach everything from product development to marketing.
When you take the time to understand what your clients care about, you’re better positioned to create solutions that genuinely resonate with them, rather than simply catering to your own preferences.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, running a successful business isn’t about what you want—it’s about what your clients want. Recognising that you are not your target audience is crucial for making smart, client-focused decisions. By stepping outside of your own perspective, you’ll be able to create marketing strategies that better serve the people who matter most: your clients.
In a highly competitive world, the more effectively you engage with your customers the more likely you are to sell to them and keep them. Onboarding your customers is vital for any ecommerce business (and most others too). Spend the next four minutes finding out why and when you should be onboarding your customers.
5 reasons why Onboarding is Crucial for ecommerce Businesses
1.Customer Retention
One of the biggest challenges for any ecommerce business is keeping customers coming back. Take a look at how many of your customers have bought more than once. The lower that percentage, the bigger the problem onboarding can help with.
Studies show that acquiring new customers is significantly more expensive than retaining existing ones. Onboarding helps your customers feel welcome. Onboarding gives them more information about your business and your products. Equipping them to use your products or services effectively. This increases the chances that they will continue to engage with your brand and buy more in the future.
2. Building Trust and Loyalty
If your customers do not trust you, they won’t buy from you again; customer trust is essential. Onboarding is an opportunity to:
reinforce your brand’s values
showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction, and
build a lasting relationship.
By offering a smooth and helpful onboarding process, you’re showing your customers that they are important to you. When your customers trust you, they are more likely to spread positive word-of-mouth, become brand advocates, and remain loyal.
3. Reducing Customer Support Costs
If your customers aren’t completely clear on how to use what they buy from you, there’s a good chance they will have issues. Either they get annoyed (losing trust in your brand) or they come back to you with questions. Questions that take time to answer. If your onboarding process includes answers to common questions, sources of information and maybe even tutorial videos, your customers are less likely to be calling. Fewer calls means lower support costs and happier customers.
Customers who are onboarded well are more likely to engage with your brand in the long term. This leads to repeat purchases over a long period of time. Lifetime value is the total revenue you can expect from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship with your business. The more positive interactions a customer has with your brand, the more likely they are to make future purchases, refer new customers, and engage with additional offerings like upsells and cross-sells.
6. Reducing Churn
Customer churn is one of the most significant challenges in ecommerce. When customers are dissatisfied after their first purchase, they are likely to seek alternatives. Onboarding plays a key role in reducing churn by:
ensuring customers are satisfied
helping them to understand how to get the most out of their purchases, and
continually engaging customers with your brand.
When you need to be onboarding your ecommerce customers
To ensure that the onboarding process is effective, it must be well-organised and carefully tailored to meet the needs of your customers. Onboarding can happen at several stages of the buying process, each of which will help you deliver a positive experience.
1. Pre-Purchase Stage
The onboarding process doesn’t start when a customer makes a purchase; it begins much earlier, during the initial stages of the customer journey. At this point, the goal is to provide a smooth browsing experience and educate potential customers on your products and services. This is where the first impression of your brand is formed.
Clear Product Descriptions
Ensure your product descriptions are detailed, accurate, and easy to understand. Customers should know exactly what they are purchasing before they start adding items to their cart.
Trust Signals
Display customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials prominently on your site. Trust signals help your customers believe that your products are reliable and that others have had positive experiences with them.
FAQs
Providing an FAQ section or live chat support allows potential customers to get the information they want before purchasing, reducing post-purchase confusion.
Abandoned baskets
It’s amazing how many ecommerce businesses don’t send well-crafted emails to attract customers back so they complete the purchase they started. With upwards of 70% of customers abandoning their basket after browsing, converting just a small percentage of them into buyers could transform your business performance.
2. Purchase Confirmation Stage
Once a customer completes a purchase, they need immediate feedback to confirm their transaction. This stage is about reinforcing confidence and reducing buyer’s remorse. Much of this will be delivered from your ecommerce platform, and often from your courier too.
Order Confirmation Emails
A well-crafted order confirmation email is a vital component of the onboarding process. It should:
thank the customer for their purchase,
confirm the order details, and
set clear expectations about delivery timeframes.
Next Steps
Clearly outline what will happen next. For example, provide tracking information and details on what to expect when the product arrives. If you offer digital products, ensure the download or access process is seamless.
3. Product Delivery Stage
Whether your product is digital or physical, the experience your customers have during the delivery phase can shape their overall perception of your brand.
Shipping Updates
Keep customers informed about the status of their purchase through regular updates, again something that is often done by your delivery couriers. If the delivery is delayed, communicate proactively to manage expectations.
Guided Setup and Use
Once the product is in the customer’s hands, they may need assistance in setting it up or understanding how to use it. Offer tutorial videos, quick start guides, or links to user manuals in the order confirmation or follow-up emails.
4. Post-Purchase Engagement Stage
The onboarding process continues even after the customer receives their product. This is the time to strengthen the relationship and encourage future interactions with your brand.
Hints & Tips Emails
Send follow-up emails providing tips for getting the most out of their purchase. This can be more than one email and can include recommended associated products. If they’re buying firewood, do they want a kindling axe, or would they prefer to buy ready cut kindling, for example.
Collecting feedback
Collect feedback from your customers by offering a short customer satisfaction survey. This feedback may provide valuable insights that can help you make improvements to your products or services. Asking them for reviews (on your site or on your Google Business Profile) will help you too.
Loyalty Programmes
If you have a loyalty programme, this is a great time to introduce customers to it. Rewarding them for repeat purchases or for referring others helps build long-term loyalty.
5. Continuous Engagement and Education Stage
The onboarding programme will realistically last until a short period after the purchase. But that doesn’t mean you stop communicating with them at that point. Regular communication needs to continue to maximise re-purchase rates in the future:
Promotional campaigns
Seasonal offers
News about your business
These are all good examples of how you can keep brand awareness levels high, maximising the chances of them buying again and spreading the word about you.
Onboarding is an essential part of ecommerce success. By guiding customers through every stage of their journey, from pre-purchase to long-term engagement, you create positive experiences that foster trust, loyalty, and increased lifetime value. The goal of onboarding isn’t just to sell a product but to build relationships that lead to sustained growth for your business. Through clear communication, personalised interactions, and continuous support, you can turn first-time buyers into long-term advocates who will keep coming back to your brand.
If you would like to talk more about onboarding and the benefits you can get for your ecommerce business, get in touch.
Marketing success is getting the right messages in front of the right people at the right time. Our recent article looked at the timing, so this one looks at another aspect – getting your messages right. There are three aspects of your marketing messaging you need to think about – and one to definitely not focus on.
How you help your clients
What success looks like
The evidence you have to support what you’re saying
We’ll look at these in more detail in a moment, but let’s first look at why you need to do this.
Making you stand out from the competition
Unless your small business offers something rare or unique, there will be others who are competing with you. To win more business, you need to stand out from your competitors. Luckily for you, a lot of your competitors will be doing one of two things:
Still talking about features of their business, or
Saying the same things as everyone else.
If you’re not doing either, you will stand out and have a far better chance to engage with, and sell to, your target audiences.
How you help your clients
If your marketing messages are about how you help your clients, they show two things:
That you understand your target audiences, and
You have ways to help them.
We are all exposed to 100s of marketing messages every day, so we have very little time to process each message, seeing whether it sticks. If it becomes difficult to work out whether the company using that marketing message is going to be useful to you, you generally discard it. Onto the next one.
If your marketing messages make it easy for people to identify how you can help them, the message, and your brand, will stick. Of course, you need to keep getting the message to stick regularly until they need what you sell.
What success looks like
The classic line, from Harvard Business School Professor Theodore Levitt, is that “nobody buys a quarter inch drill; they’re buying a ¼ inch hole”. The more your marketing messages talk about the end result, the more your target audience will believe that you understand their needs and issues. The more they believe, the more likely they are to buy from you.
Supporting Evidence
But all of the above has to be supported by evidence. Evidence that you can deliver what your marketing messages are promising. Let’s face it, we all shop online now. The first thing we look at when considering whether to buy a particular brand or model of the product we want is the reviews. We’re looking for evidence that others have tried and really like what we’re considering buying. It’s the same whether the product is from a huge business, or from one of the smallest.
It’s just as true for B2B as it is for B2C, except we look for slightly different evidence. Case studies, testimonials, knowledge pieces – all will be considered when deciding who to buy from.
When using evidence, particularly at the bottom end of the sales funnel, make sure that the evidence you present to potential clients is from their peers. If you are selling, for example, temporary space solutions for construction sites, you wouldn’t show a prospect case studies for 50th birthday parties or for restaurant seasonal extensions. All are valid uses of a marquee, but the construction prospect wants to see that you have worked with other construction firms – and delivered a great solution effectively.
A Set for each target audience
Something we see too much of is trying to use the same marketing messages for different target audiences. Don’t do it!
Whilst many different people may use the same product, they will have many different reasons for using it. They may even use it differently.
Final point
There is one final key point when it comes to your marketing messages – stop using big words!
Too many people think that big words make them look intelligent and that they know a topic inside out. Big words and jargon usually do the opposite, and you run a real risk of using them incorrectly. And that’s never a good thing.
If you want to discuss your marketing messages or need some help developing them, get in touch. Call us on 020 8634 5911 or you can book some time directly into Nigel’s calendar.
Your customers buy from you because they like what you have to offer and they see how it can help them. But they can only buy if they have entered your “shop”. That doesn’t mean you have to have premises on the high street or the local shopping centre. Your website is just as much a shop window as a physical premise. Let’s look at why this is important and how you can make sure your shop window entices people in, maximising the chance that they buy from you.
Why a good shop window is vital
There are three core reasons why it is vital that your shop window or website is right:
Wasted time and money
Driving traffic to your website takes time, effort and, often, money. Using all this resource only for people to quickly leave is a waste. Here’s some examples we’ve come across over the years:
92% bounce rate
A kitchen company asked us to look at their Google Ads account as it “wasn’t working”. Their ads had a 17% click-through rate (CTR) so they were definitely working, but the site’s content was so bad they had a 92% bounce rate (in old Google Analytics terminology)
£5k a month
An appliances business was spending £5K a month on Google Ads, sending traffic to their site. But the site wasn’t right, so much of this investment was wasted.
0.2% conversion rate
Great social media and natural SEO drives a lot of traffic to another site we’ve seen, but the usability of the site meant that people were looking but not buying.
These are just three examples of how you can invest time, effort and money in your marketing, only for it to fail at a critical point – the “shop window”
Poor first impression
People make up their minds about something quickly. First impressions count. It takes less than 3 seconds for people to get that first impression and it takes a lot of effort to make them change their minds. There’s some great stats about website first impressions here.
Lost opportunities
How many sales opportunities are you losing because your website isn’t great? Your website is there purely to generate new business for you, so if that isn’t happening, what do you do?
How to improve your website
1. Make it about them
Let’s for a moment put aside the design element. The headline and all the content (except the About Us page) should be focused on the reader and not on you.
2. Content is about how you help, not what you do
Putting it bluntly, nobody cares what you do. They do, however, care about how you can help them. The content needs to be about the issues you know they face and what you can do to help them. What is the end result they are looking for? Make sure your content talks about that.
3. Plenty of evidence you can deliver
You have lots of stories about how you’ve helped your clients in the past. You wouldn’t be in business if you hadn’t. Even if you are a brand new business, chances are you’ve got stories from the past where you’ve helped people. It is rare for someone to start a business they have no experience in, so use that experience and your stories to prove you can deliver on your promises. You can see more about how to effectively use your stories here.
4. Multiple ways to get in touch
Many people think that if they pick up the phone, you will start trying to sell to them straight away. Even if that isn’t the case, that’s what they believe, so give your audience multiple ways to get in touch with you and get the information they want initially.
Brochures they can download (may be gated, may not)
Telephone numbers – maybe a WhatsApp alternative
Email addresses
Appointment booking
Contact Forms
This is about what your prospects want – not what you want. The more you restrict their ability to get in touch in the way they wish to, the more likely that person is to go elsewhere.
If you’re not getting the leads you want from your website, stop spending time and money sending people there. Put your effort into working out what needs to be done to make your website more effective.
If you need some help, call us on 020 8634 5911 or use any of the other contact methods that you can see here.
The easiest topic in the world for you to talk about is you. Let’s be honest, nobody knows you better than you. You are the expert on you. It’s the same with your business. You know why you set up your business and you know, intimately, what you do. That makes it a very easy thing to talk about in your marketing. Unfortunately, it is one of the worst things for you to talk about in your marketing. This article looks at why you need to stop talking about you and what you should do instead.
Five reasons to stop talking about you
1. Nobody Cares!
Slightly harsh, but relatively accurate. People will listen to you but they then make assumptions and have pre-conceived ideas about what a marketing consultant/software developer/accountant/[insert what you do] does. If you want to grab their attention, you need to talk about them!
2. It wastes time
Talking about you, especially when you get into the nitty gritty of how, is burning time. Imagine you’re at a speed networking event. You have a minute to grab their attention and get them to want to talk to you again in the future. If you talk about what you do, you’re wasting time because you aren’t talking about what they want to hear.
3. It puts images in people’s heads
People have pre-conceived ideas about what you do. Most people think that an accountant lives and dies next to a calculator or spreadsheet. Most of the time, this image in their head is completely wrong, but it happens, and it is negatively impacting your opportunity to generate a connection or prospect.
4. Do you really understand your clients’ needs?
If you’re talking about your business, you run the risk of people thinking you don’t understand them. Buying from a new supplier is always a risk and if your prospects start to think that you don’t understand them, the level of perceived risk in their minds is going up and not down. You can find out more about perceived risk, and what to do about it, here.
5. You don’t stand out
There are now very few businesses that do something completely unique. There are lots of small businesses in your area that do what you do. If you talk about what you do, you’re doing the same thing as most others. You’re not standing out as different to the crowd (there’s an article here about the importance of being different). When people start looking for a new supplier of what you do, they will develop a shortlist. Normally they shortlist the people who are different from the others and are showing that they understand them.
If you don’t stand out, you run the risk of rarely being on the shortlists.
5 things you need to do:
1. Talk to them
Talking to them, particularly online, means writing in the 2nd person. If you were standing in front of them, you would talk in the 2nd person. As people rarely share computer screens today, why would you not talk to them in the same way?
2. Show you understand them
When you talk about their needs and issues, you show that you recognise what they face and what they need. This grabs their attention and keeps them engaged with your brand. Matching what you do with their needs and issues further proves that you understand them.
3. Talk about success
The classic line is “people don’t buy a ¼ inch drill, they buy a ¼ inch hole”. They buy the drill bit to get what they want – the hole. People want the result, so you should talk about the result.
4. Tell stories
Everyone loves a story. We all grew up consuming stories. Starting with people reading them to us, going through reading books and watching films. You can vividly remember your favourite stories. When people are looking for a solution to a problem they have, they will remember stories you tell them much more than a description of what you do. Make the stories about their peers (so they resonate and they recognise themselves) to make them even more effective.
5. Provide evidence
Talking about the person and how what you do helps them, along with what success looks like, is going to move you much closer to closing the sale. Proof that you can deliver on your promises is going to get you even closer. Evidence, in the form of case studies, testimonials and reviews, reduces risk in the mind of your prospect and helps them make the decision to use you.
Next steps
Take a look at your marketing, particularly your website and answer these questions:
Does the first sentence talk about you or your target audience?
Use this test to see if your website pages are more about you or about your target audience.
Is your marketing written in the 2nd person (you) or the 3rd person (he/she/they)?
Do you have a set of stories you can tell people that demonstrate how you help your target audience?
Is there an evidence set easily found on your website and/or social media?
If your answers show you are talking about your business, rather than to and about your target audience, you need to take action. If you would like to talk to us about how we can help you, click here or call us on 020 8634 5911.
Reducing perceived risk in the mind of your prospects increases sales and grows your business. There are several ways your marketing, and everyone in your business, can help you reduce perceived risk. This process starts from their very first engagement with you…
1. Make sure your website is helping
Your website is the first touch point for many people. As your shop window, your website is there to do two things: invite them in and make it easy to start the buying process.
Clear headlines and content that show how you can help them.
Contact details on every page, above the fold.
Proof that you have the knowledge and experience they need.
Make sure it looks up to date too. If it looks old, it will suggest either you don’t care, or you cannot afford to get an updated version.
2. Telephone manners
Ensure everyone in the business answers the phone in a professional manner. “Good morning/afternoon. company name, first name speaking. How can I help?” is a good starting place. Make sure they know how to then transfer the call to the right person too, especially now that many of your team are working remotely.
3. Respond quickly
When someone wants to talk to you about your products or services, they usually complete a form on your website. The sooner you contact them, the more likely they are to buy from you. The average response time, from Harvard Business Review research is 42 hours.
Getting in touch within an hour of the enquiry makes you at least 7 times more likely to qualify the lead. More qualified leads lead to more sales.
4. Tell them a story
You have always loved stories. When your parents put you bed and started: once upon a time, you loved it. As you grew up Roald Dahl took over and then maybe JK Rowling. Maybe Helen Fielding, maybe Arthur C Clarke and maybe Tom Clancy. Whoever wrote them, you have always read stories and enjoyed it as they take you through a process.
What stories do you have within your business that can help your prospects visualise what you do and how it can help them?
What have you done with other clients that demonstrates you understand the issues your prospect faces and will show what a successful resolution looks like?
Put some of these stories where they will be found early in their movement through your pipeline (your website) but keep one or two for when you’re sitting in front of them. The impact there will be even higher.
5. Stop talking about you
75%+ of the marketing material I see (both online and off) talks about the company. It talks about how good the company is at [insert topic] and that they’re the leading proponent of that topic (whether they are or not). NOBODY CARES Change your messaging so that it talks about the target audience and how you help them. Change the wording so that you’re talking to an individual…
We help our clients by
You can benefit in this way from working with us
Changing your point of view and language helps prospects to understand, and believe, what you can deliver for them.
6. Provide proof
If you look for something on Amazon, they make sure that you see review ratings, and can filter by those ratings, before you get to filter by price. They know that peer reviews will make you spend more as they are evidence that the product you are considering is worth a little extra cash.
If you can put a series of reviews (also called testimonials) in front of a prospect, they will start to see the value you provide, and the level of perceived risk is reduced. If these reviews are from people similar to them, the level of risk drops even further.
Case studies work even more effectively as they put more meat on the bones. The 5 key parts of a case study each do a specific job in reducing perceived risk and there’s more detail on this in another of our blogs. You can read that here.
For a prospect to continue moving through your pipeline, and then sign on the dotted line, you need to reduce the level of risk they perceive. After all, nobody likes change. It’s a risk; what if things go wrong? Who is going to get blamed?
These tips will reduce the perceived risk your prospects have in their minds. They will never make it go away, but they only need to get it down to an acceptable level. One where the prospect says “yeah. Let’s go”.
Your marketing plays a critical role in reducing the perceived risk for buyers. By establishing trust, managing perceptions of risk, and providing education and support, a company can help alleviate buyer concerns and make the purchasing decision more comfortable. While there is no single approach that will work for every buyer or every transaction, companies that invest in their marketing efforts are more likely to see success in the competitive world of B2B sales.
Of course, if you need a hand working out exactly how to reduce perceived risk for your small, call us on 020 8634 5911 or get in touch here.
In the B2B (business-to-business) buying process, there are many factors that influence the decision-making process. One of the most important factors is perceived risk. Perceived risk is the level of uncertainty or concern that a buyer has about a product or service. In B2B buying, perceived risk can be a major obstacle to making a purchase. Here are some reasons why reducing perceived risk is essential in the B2B buying process.
1. Increase the likelihood of the sale
Firstly, reducing perceived risk increases the likelihood of making a sale. B2B buyers are often cautious and conservative, especially when it comes to large purchases or investments. They want to make sure that the product or service they are buying is going to meet their needs and provide a good return on investment. If they perceive too much risk, they may decide not to buy at all. By reducing perceived risk, you can increase the buyer’s confidence and make them more likely to move forward with the purchase.
2. Build trust
Secondly, reducing perceived risk can help to build trust and credibility. In the B2B world, trust is crucial. Buyers need to trust that the seller is going to deliver what they promise and that they are going to provide good service and support. By reducing perceived risk, you can show the buyer that you understand their concerns and that you are committed to providing a high-quality product or service. This can help to build trust and credibility, which can lead to long-term business relationships.
3. Differentiate your products
Thirdly, reducing perceived risk can help to differentiate your product or service from the competition. In many B2B markets, there are a lot of similar products or services available. Buyers may have a hard time differentiating between them and deciding which one to choose. By reducing perceived risk, you can make your product or service stand out from the competition. If buyers perceive your product or service as being less risky than the competition, they may be more likely to choose you.
4. Minimise post-purchase regret
Fourthly, reducing perceived risk can help to minimise post-purchase regret. In the B2B world, buyers often have a lot of regret after making a purchase. They may feel like they made the wrong decision, or that they could have gotten a better deal elsewhere. By reducing perceived risk, you can help to minimise these feelings of regret. If the buyer feels like they made a well-informed decision and that they have made a good investment, they are less likely to regret their purchase.
5. Increase customer satisfaction
Finally, reducing perceived risk can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. If the buyer perceives your product or service as being less risky, they are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase. This can lead to increased loyalty and repeat business. Additionally, if the buyer feels like you have taken their concerns seriously and have worked to reduce perceived risk, they are more likely to recommend your product or service to others.
Reducing perceived risk is essential in the B2B buying process. It can increase the likelihood of making a sale, build trust and credibility, differentiate your product or service from the competition, minimize post-purchase regret, and lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. To reduce perceived risk, it is important to understand the buyer’s concerns and address them in a thoughtful and comprehensive way. By doing so, you can build strong, long-lasting business relationships that benefit both you and your customers. In our next article we will provide a range of tips on how your marketing can help you deliver on all of the above. To ensure you don’t miss that article, either follow our Company Page or subscribe to our mailing list here.
Marketing for small businesses is often considered to be all about generating leads for the business. At which point, many people think that marketing stops and the sales function begins. With today’s buyers often completing up to 70% of the buying process before they talk to anyone (even in the B2B world), marketing’s role in supporting the sales process has perhaps never been more important. A massive part of this is helping the buyer to trust you and believe that your business can deliver. This article will discuss how marketing helps develop trust and help buyers to trust small businesses.
Perceived risk is the level of risk someone believes there is in doing something, in this case in buying something. The level of perceived risk varies dependent on these things:
The cost of what they are buying.
The importance of the purchase to them or their business.
To help them buy from you, the level of perceived risk in their mind has to be reduced to an acceptable level. The role of marketing is to put in front of buyers the three key tools you have for reducing risk:
Knowledge
The knowledge and expertise within your business is a key part of your ability to deliver on your clients’ needs. The more people consider you to be an expert in your field, the more likely they are to approach you in the first place. Assuming that demonstration of knowledge continues during the sales process, the buyer is much more likely to buy from you.
Evidence
If you “stand” in front of a prospect, saying “I can deliver what you want, honest guv!” or words to that effect, they might buy from you. If you can put evidence in front of them that backs up your claims, they are far more likely to buy from you. Evidence comes in many forms:
Most effective when given verbally, but often contained within articles and blogs. Stories usually look in more detail about a specific part of something you’ve done for a client.
Testimonials
The words of your clients carry a lot of weight with your prospects and will really support the sales process. Ideally in video format and should include the name, title and company of the person who said it.
Reviews
Most reviews are placed on independent sites, so you have no ability to edit them. We generally recommend Google Reviews, but companies like Trustpilot and Feefo have been around for years.
Value
Most often delivered as the results part of a case study (see how we believe a case study should be structured in this article), showing how you have delivered on previous clients’ needs is a key part of demonstrating value. If you talk about how you have saved a company 10x what they spent with you, or quickly found them a member of staff they’ve been trying to find for ages, you’re demonstrating real value. The more you can do this, the better.
Marketing’s role
Depending on the size of your business and the way clients buy from you, the role of marketing is developing trust can vary.
At its most basic level, marketing:
Produces content that demonstrates the knowledge and expertise within your business
Writes case studies and publish them onto your website.
This is where a lot of small businesses make a big mistake. They spend the time collating all the proof we’ve discussed above. It goes onto their website and it …. Just sits there. The real role of marketing is getting this content in front of the right people. Assuming you have already identified and mapped your Ideal Clients (see here for more information on that), it is time to get this evidence that you can deliver in front of them. Within the buying process this can mean:
Building automated email campaigns that share this content at the right time within prospects’ journey through your pipeline.
Making print and digital versions for sharing by Sales, either at trade shows or through trackable email clicks.
Embedding your Google reviews on your website.
Tracking WHO is reading what so that your Sales team know what to talk to people about.
Getting them back to the website regularly until they are ready to buy.
Analysing how people are engaging with the website to improve it, thus increasing leads and sales.
All of the above can happen after a potential client has made that first contact. If your Sales staff do this, you are taking them away from that vital role, so let your marketing continue after the lead is generated.
To find out more about how SME Needs can help you with this, give us a call on 020 8634 5911 or click here to get in touch.
Sales are the lifeblood for an business, particularly small businesses. Without them, you have no business. Knowing what sales you have coming in, likely to close or simply in the pipeline, is vital information for any small business owner. To collate this information you have three options:
Keeping it all in your head – only good if you have very few sales opportunities – and not that great at that.
A spreadsheet – a great way to start and we have a template you can use available here, but they lack functionality to help you to predict your pipeline and close more sales.
A CRM – great, but which do you choose as there are so many out there?
With so many CRM solutions on the market today, which is the best CRM for small businesses? Let’s look at what we consider to be the most important factors when you start your search for the right CRM for your business
Intuitiveness
How quickly can you pick up the right way to use the CRM? Intuition is different for everyone, but the best CRMs will have done a lot of work on making it as easy as possible for you to log in and start using the platform.
Functionality
In our opinion, most CRM solutions put too much functionality in. They are built to provide every possible tool for every possible type of business. Presumably this is so they can capture as big a chunk of the market as possible.
The problem for the user is then finding the right functionality for their needs. The language used by the different CRM providers varies (perhaps deliberately), so terms mean different things on different platforms. On Hubspot an individual person is a contact, but in Salesforce they are a lead – for example.
Whilst we are fans of functionality, we believe it is far better for it to be hidden and available to be turned on. Far better than having to work out what can be turned off and working out how to stop people in your small business using different functions.
Adaptability
CRM solutions are used throughout a business. From the owner/MD to Sales, from Marketing to Admin. The right CRM will help the whole business to perform effectively and efficiently. But not everyone needs the same functions and the same reporting. Being able to adapt and customise to the individuals’ needs is key.
Integrations
The bigger platforms, such as Hubspot, are looking to completely replace your marketing technology stack. They will provide landing pages, help with your SEO, send and track email campaigns, schedule your social media posts and help you manage your sales pipeline. All great so far, but this comes at a price and that price jumps a lot as you take on more functionality and have more contacts in the system.
A CRM that effectively integrates with other tools helps your small business in two key ways: it controls the price and allows you to get best of breed technology across the board. As a Mailchimp Partner, we believe it is the best email marketing platform out there, so being able to integrate and sync data from our CRM to, and from, Mailchimp is a real bonus. Being able to integrate with Outlook and Gmail too puts all communication in the same place.
Reporting
Adding data is all great, but doesn’t help you manage your business and your pipeline. We’ll go into this in more detail in a future blog, but we believe there are 4 key reports you need from a small business CRM to help you manage your marketing and your pipeline:
Leads by source – where are your leads coming from and over what time period?
Pipeline by stage – how many leads do you have at each stage of your pipeline and where are they dropping out?
Pipeline value against target – what is likely to come out as sales and how does that compare to your sales targets?
Win/loss reasons – what are the reasons you are losing sales, and why are you winning them too?
Adding performance by individual, by office and by product will also help to manage and improve sales and marketing performance.
Support
Intuition and functionality can only go so far. Sometimes you need some support to work out just how to do something within your CRM. The best CRM for small businesses will have both prepared support (documents and video). They will also have either a phone number or Live Chat function – usually for when you simply cannot get your head around something, or the support pages.
Price
Last, but most definitely not least, price is a key factor when identifying the best CRM for small businesses. A search on” best free crm uk” provides nearly 34 million search results. For many people, these can provide enough, but we’ve already been worried about the lack of reporting available on the free CRM solutions.
Once you start paying, you can quickly rack up your monthly subscription. The more functionality you want, the more you have to pay and the price steps are often huge.
Hubspot provides 6 different pricing plans, a range of bundles and additional features. Starting at £38 per month (when paid annually), the next level up is £650 a month – a massive hike.
Which is the best CRM for small businesses?
We’re not brave enough to say XXX is the best CRM for small businesses. Since SME Needs was formed in 2011, we have used for our own needs just three solutions, one being the spreadsheet we have made available for you. We currently have clients using a number of different solutions, including Keap, Hubspot, Salesforce, ACT and then specialist products like Eventpro. A previous project led to us recommending Insightly to a client because of their very specific needs and that is the important factor. What are your CRM needs? The platform we are currently using is uPilot. We’re using it because it delivers on most of the factors we list here and if you want to have a look at it, click here.
We hope our look at the CRM factors that are important proves to be useful for you. If you want to talk more about your marketing and your use of CRM for your small business, simply click the button below.
Children’s games are rarely something that comes up in a conversation about small business marketing. There is one game (sort of) you can play that will definitely help you to sell more to your current clients: Battleships!
Remember Battleships?
Whether you played it on paper, the manual plastic version or the really posh one: Computer Battleships, you must remember the game. You start with a grid, about 10 squares each way. You then draw on a set of ships (two squares for a frigate, 3 for a sub and 4 for a battleship). Your opponent does the same and then you use grid references to guess which squares their ships are in. First one to destroy the fleet wins!
The marketing version.
The marketing version is similar, but you are aiming to build sales, rather than destroy ships.
Start with a grid
Clients down the side
Products across the top
Mark which clients have bought what products/services
The gaps give you a list of clients to market to and try to sell more.
Why you should do this.
There is more about why you need to be marketing to your current clients in this article, but these are two key reasons for playing this version of Battleships…
1. Stickier clients stay with you
You are highly unlikely to have a client that buys everything you sell from you. But the more an individual client buys from you, the stickier the relationship becomes and the longer they stay with you.
2. Easier to sell to
They already know and trust you, so if they can use additional products/services that you provide, why would they not buy from you?
The simplest way to describe it is a list of new business opportunities. There is no reason why your current clients shouldn’t buy more from you, so why not try. They may currently have another supplier, but that can always change. They may not actually need more from you, but (again) that can change in the future.
Put it this way: if they know you, trust you, have a need and don’t already have a supplier, the only thing stopping them from buying from you is you asking them to.
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