You are a successful small business owner, with great products & services and happy customers. Yet, that initial growth spurt has flatlined and you want to bring your product to more people. Here are 3 proven tips to build the scale you are seeking.
As someone who has scaled businesses from a hundred to hundred of thousands of customers multiple times, I’ve hit upon some proven small business marketing methods that will help your business scale sustainably. You can read more about my latest venture moneysherpa here.
Read on to learn the 3 practical SME marketing methods that will help your business reach its full potential.
- How to size the gap in the market by using free SEO tools
- How to assess the market in the gap by using simple unit profit calculations
- How to market to the gap using straightforward low-cost digital marketing
1. Is there a gap in the market? SME Marketing
You have proven there is a gap in the market by getting to where you are today. There is a customer need for your service which you have been able to meet.
The real question now is how much more of a gap in the market is there? If you could remove the training wheels and take at it, how much market demand is there for what you can offer?
The good news is getting a handle on this no longer requires expensive market research. In the age where every passing whim is typed directly into Google, all SME’s have access to an unbelievably rich seam of customer demand data.
Simply go to Google Trends or sign up to one of the online SEO tools (some are free and all have free trials), to see how many people in your town, state, country or world have Googled for services like your own last month.
2. Is there a market in the gap? SME Marketing
Hopefully you now have solid data showing untapped demand. You must find the SME marketing method to reach it.
Whichever market gap Google has pointed you to, before hitting super size you need to check one critical thing. Will I make any money in this gap?
To check this you just need to know 2 key things.
- The sweet spot price that maximises your revenue
- How low you can go on unit cost
Finding the sweet spot pricing
The sweet spot is the Goldilocks price point, not too high to drive volume away, but not too low to leave revenue on the table.
Being over- or under-priced can be fatal for scaling. Pre Google, finding the right sweet spot used to be tricky, but again simply Googling competitors in your market will give you a great idea about the price the market will bear.
How low can you go?
Tracking and being on top of your unit variable cost gets a whole lot more critical at scale. The bigger the gap between it and your unit price, the quicker you break even, and the quicker your growth curve (as long as you don’t cut corners on quality).
So, you need to level up on variable cost management to scale sustainably.
3. Can you market to that gap? SME Marketing
So great, you know there is a gap in the market and you also know you can be profitable in that gap.
But you also know this is only if you can keep your customer acquisition cost under a certain number. Take it from me. This is where it is really easy to get tempted by a shiny marketing & PR campaign that pumps the ego or worse gets you carried away with phrases like “spend money to make money” ringing in your ears.
Remember if your unit acquisition cost pushes your variable cost over your price point, you are simply spending money to lose money faster. Never a good idea.
Smart digital marketing using content, Google Ads and Facebook Ads combined with digital conversion tools such as automated emails can halve your customer acquisition costs over traditional methods and work really well for small business.
In a nutshell – Small Business Marketing
Scaling using SME marketing isn’t as hard as you think. With these 3 tactics you can level up your SME marketing skills and scale up your SME sustainably.
Tactic 1: Size the gap in the market by using free SEO tools.
Tactic 2: Assess the market in the gap by using simple unit profit calculations.
Tactic 3: Market to the gap using straightforward low-cost digital marketing.
Great tips indeed! I would like to call these – Guerilla Marketing Tips. these kinds of tactics help to small-caliber attacks with a blast result against giant competitors. Thanks for sharing with us.