But even the most seasoned marketer will soon discover the hidden complexity and the unique challenges this inherently brings to ensuring the success of any marketing initiative. Here, a different mindset and approach is required to successfully tap into the very specific wants and needs of the pioneering and innovative spirit that drives this particular market segment.
Small business owners work hard, so they also need their service providers to work hard for them. If the offering your business client is selling is built to serve small businesses, you’ll need a marketing approach designed to address their main concerns or pain points head-on.
Here’s a quick look at the top 6 things every B2B marketer should know about this thriving but deceptively complex sector when developing strategies, content, and campaigns.
1. Offer advice and support – not sales – in your marketing approach
A unique aspect of marketing to small business owners is that there’s often very little distinction between their professional and private lives. You often find it’s a case of a small business owner investing all their cash and entire life savings into their business, and they carry the sole responsibility for making it work.
Here, in addition to providing for their families, these entrepreneurs are also responsible for the welfare of the staff they employ whom many consider part of their ‘business family’. As such, for many of them, the business is understandably very personal and treating them as people and not as prospective sales leads is essential to building lasting relationships.
2. Show how what you’re marketing can help them today
Long-term benefits are great for cash-flush organisations that can weather quarterly ups and downs. Small businesses generally don’t have this luxury, so investing for the long term is often rarely considered if there are no short-term gains to be seen. Make sure your client’s value timeline aligns with the resources of your small business customers.
And if the offering you’re marketing requires long-term investment, your marketing approach will have to work that much harder to demonstrate that it’s worth the wait. This requires both strategic and creative thinking around what to land and when best to land it.
3. Avoid the one-size-fits-all SME customer approach
A lack of resources and expertise in certain areas may mean that many small businesses don’t have typical or formal procedures or systems in place. Make sure you go even further to show what you are marketing fits; speaks to, can be delivered or consumed, or is creatively ideated according to the unique needs of each client. This offers a competitive edge, which in the super competitive SME marketplace, often goes a long way towards sealing the deal.
4. Factor in follow through to your marketing approach
All sales and service promises must be kept, or better yet, exceeded. Small business owners watch expenses carefully, and if they aren’t getting immediate returns or follow through on what was promised to them, they’ll be quick to drop their current service provider and go to the competition. Here factoring in regular follow-through and follow-up into your customer journeys or marketing approach will often make or break sales and marketing success.
5. Be able to demonstrate tangible value in an authentic way
Small businesses very often have little appetite for risk as money tends to be tight and covering their expenses and earning some kind of a profit tends to be an immediate and constant concern.
This means that from the outset service providers will need to prove their value. And this is where testimonials, trustworthy reviews, guarantees and even third-party verifications all go a long way towards instilling trust. And if customers aren’t prepared to invest in the solution straight away, chances are the offering you are marketing will remain top of mind or they will hold on to your marketing brochure or collateral for when they have the appetite and means to commit.
6. Show how what you’re marketing will help them grow
All small business owners want growth and stability. If what you’re selling ties into growth, be sure to highlight that fact. Since many of your prospects are constantly worried about generating enough business, growth means security. If what you’re marketing will bring growth and security, your product or service will be considered a necessary or justifiable investment.
Understanding the intricacies of marketing to small businesses is pivotal for B2B success in this dynamic sector. It’s also helpful to highlight customer retention benefits. Repeat business is huge for small operations, so show them how the product or service you’re marketing keeps regulars coming back.
