Article Directory :: Business - General Articles

Why A Small Business Is A Marketing Expert Without Realising

By Andy Jones

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 08Mar2011 Word count: 589 Viewed: 228 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Small businesses often don't have in-house marketing expert advice. However, they are probably engaging in marketing practices and are a marketing expert in how they operate their business without realising it.

Marketing is founded upon a range of theory and models, such as Porters' 5 Forces, Ansoff Matrix, SWOT analysis, gap analysis and so forth. However, businesses who do not have the formal marketing advice are probably participating in these marketing theory models anyway without realising it.Smaller businesses often do not have the specific marketing expert skills or know-how that larger businesses do and may be without a marketing consultant and marketing expertise. However, marketing can be down to common sense. Here's why.

Customers

A small business relies moreso on their customers for income and profit and there can be no margin for error. Keeping their customers happy is often easier for smaller businesses because they are closer to their clients with more personal contact with them. If a problem arises, smaller businesses are quicker to respond and put the problems with customers right. Whereas a larger organisation can sometimes lose touch with their customers' needs and be slower to respond.This, in a marketing expert view, would be responding to customers' needs and wishes and basing the organisation solely round the customer.

Threat of competition

Smaller businesses are also more aware of their competition and are hungry to lead in the market. Entrepreneurs are resilient and assertive in gaining market share and getting ahead of their competion. The Porters' 5 Forces model that marketers use for strategic business and marketing planning is more than likely deployed in smaller businesses. In the market place of any given business, this model will look at the possible threats of existing competition, subsitute products, new entrants to the market, the bargaining power of customers and the bargaining power of suppliers. Smaller business will understand very quickly any threat that is facing them and how dynamic their market is, and are also quick to react to minimise any threats to profits and revenues by competitors.

Listening to customers

Very often larger organisations end up delivering products to customers what they think is right, rather than what the customer actually is asking for and wants. A key part of small business marketing is meeting customer expectations, and to do that, businesses need to listen to their customers' feedback and comments and develop products that customers want. Smaller organisations will have the `on the ground' ability to be closer to their customers and therefore listen to their requirements. A larger organisation will have layers of management and departments which in turn makes them more removed and therefore remote from their customer.

Networking

Selling and marketing is a people business. People buy from people and marketers market to people, so a smaller business will have that edge because they are more likely to forge closer relationships at all levels of an organisation and be able to market their products or services to customers that know and respond to them positively. Smaller businesses will also give more help and advice, which in a marketing sense means that businesses are customer-centric.

All of these things add up, and small businesses have marketing expert principles in their organisation without realising that they do. In some cases, they probably are doing marketing without having the huge overheads and costs that larger businesses have, and therefore gain more return in the long run.

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here

More articles by Andy Jones

Free Report!
Ten Essential Secrets Of Article Marketing ... Grab Your Free
Copy Now:

Need Content?
Regular Top Quality Content for your Blog, Ezine or Website ...
Delivered Direct,
For Free!
Click For Details