Whether your business is new to a heavily regulated market or not, the three B2C strategies you’re about to discover guide you to success. After all, they have proven essential to the success of the e-cigarettes industry giant Electric Tobacconist — and are relevant to whatever industry you’re aiming to thrive in.
Useful for all business to consumer (B2C) companies, but particularly important for heavily regulated businesses, these tips resemble the backbone of sound business practice.
Not only is this advice significant to increase the selling potential of your business; it also helps streamline the way you run your company. This might seem like a bold claim to some, but once you’ve read this article, you’ll understand why this advice is essential to success in a heavily regulated industry.
1. Be An Expert In Your Field
Put in the research and dedication to be an expert in not just your business field, but also in its regulations. The cost of regulation is already high for most small businesses; wasting time having to re-read or even remove ill-advised products and services could prove fatal to any profit margin.
In fact, it’s widely recommended that your company should possess multiple experts. Not everyone can afford to have a law department to constantly refer to, neither are all companies big enough to employ full time marketers. Still, though, you should always have another employee in place who can confidently answer questions or take part in essential decision making, should the primary expert be unavailable.
But it’s no use becoming an expert if you can’t remain an expert. Staying informed on new regulations or changes in regulation is essential to maintain a successful business model. While some industry laws might only be reviewed infrequently, time should be reserved every month to make sure nothing slips past you.
Electric Tobacconist uses a blog as the perfect opportunity to show customers they are on top of vape industry news and regulatory changes. Not only does this promote them as an expert in their field, but it also keeps them up to date with all things e-cigarettes, ensuring their business practices are always on point. That’s two birds with one stone.
Following this simple practice will ensure you stay ahead of the game and allow every aspect of your business to work effectively. There’s little sense in working on fantastic business ideas if they’re brought to their knees because someone didn’t check the latest regulations properly.
2. Keep It Simple
Because your business has to deal with stricter, more specific and often more in-depth regulations, keep whatever you are offering your customers simple. This doesn’t necessarily mean technically simple; just simple to sell. To generate sales, it is important to understand that customers appreciate help. This help can take many forms and doesn’t need to involve any human interaction at all. Making your business helpful makes the products simpler to sell, so ensuring helpfulness and simplicity is a goal your business should take very seriously.
Take the vape industry as an example. It is a technical market, influenced heavily by regulations and detailed product features. To avoid people feeling confused by the products, Electric Tobacconist categorizes its vape store products. E-cigarettes are split into three “types”, then customers are offered a custom categorizer which allows them to pinpoint exactly which vape pen they need based on brand, specification, and price.
You are trying to help people understand the product with something as simple as a label. It’s like ordering a wrap: pick the wrap, pick the main ingredient, pick the salad, pick the dressing. Buying the product becomes easier because you have been given a logical pathway to follow, just like a menu.
3. Find A Key Differentiator
Finding a key differentiator is a lot like creating your unique selling point (USP). It gives customers an additional, standalone reason to invest in your brand. While a USP is essential to developing effective marketing strategies, having a key differentiator enables your products to be associated with just about anything.
This is why it is particularly important for heavily regulated businesses, as it can be complicated or even ineffective to advertise directly. By developing a key differentiator, you can sell your customers a lifestyle or culture, rather than just a product. Electric Tobacconist founder Pascal Culverhouse only began his e-cigarette business in 2013, and reached a seven-figure turnover in just 18 months. He believes that key differentiators like passionate views on vaping laws, and exemplary customer services (such as quick and often free delivery), have allowed his business to thrive.
Discovering and broadcasting that stand-out factor you possess not only makes your product more appealing; it contributes to advertising your businesses, as it becomes synonymous with the differentiator. Coca-Cola, for example, will always be remembered for its Christmas advert, even though its products have has very little to do with Christmas at all!
Whatever approach you take to marketing and sales in a heavily regulated B2C industry, it’s important to remain creative and think outside the box. These three key components to business success provide the outline for you to be innovative, be inspired, and make your B2C project a success.
