Small businesses lack the marketing resources of big enterprise yet that can be an advantage to us small guys. Where they have the advantage of scale, we can implement much faster. Where they have to work very hard to deliver a personal touch, we do not.
And although we’re small, we can think big and get big results by using the same successful tactics, systems, and marketing tools used by our bigger brethren.
The infographic below, courtesy of Salesforce, illustrates two business tools and one area of business operations that enterprise business focuses on for big results. As small business owners, we can do the same.
3 Enterprise Marketing Tools Every Business Owner Can Use
They are the Ansoff Matrix, Artificial Intelligence, and Communications. Add these ideas to the business processes that power your systems to grow your sales and profits.
The Ansoff Matrix
The Ansoff Matrix is a visual display of how businesses grow from a paper by Igor Ansoff. He proposed that business growth is a result of work in four areas:
- Market Penetration
- Market Development
- Product Development
- Diversification
This takes place within the framework of New and Existing Products, and New and Existing Markets.
Most big companies are challenged or forced to pick one quadrant (hopefully the right one) and work at it. For example, a clothing company that succeeds in the US might decide to go to international. That’s Market Development—existing products into a new market.
Small businesses can easily and continuously look at all four areas. Just like big business, we probably don’t have the resources to implement in all four areas at once. Yet our constant questioning, with the Ansoff Matrix as a guide, can lead us to new opportunities we might not normally consider.
The infographic has a few questions for each quadrant that will get us thinking about new growth and marketing strategies.
Communications
It’s a bit ironic that big corporations struggle to be like small local businesses in delivering the personal touch.
Big companies today have entire teams and in-depth strategies to avoid being labeled a "faceless" corporation.
Of course, we have the advantage in that we’re already small and personal by nature. Sometimes we are the business. We just need to remember that fact and use it to our advantage.
We can use some of the same tools big business uses to keep that personal touch intact and bring it to even higher levels.
One way enterprise business tries to deliver the personal touch is via better communications systems. Even though we are small, we should strive to do the same.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but systematized business processes make it possible for our customer interactions to be even more personal than they are.
With the multitude of digital channels available to us today (mobile, online, social media, email, text, and content) it pays to be systematic in how we interact with our clients.
Our clients may be coming at us in ten different ways. We need to be prepared. No single employee or owner can remember everything nor can we figure it out on the fly. It has to be organized with good business processes.
Good communications also make our businesses more effective and profitable. According to one statistic,
“nearly 15% of employee’s work time is wasted due to inefficient communications.”
That’s a big number even in a small business.
Our infographic covers 6 ways to improve internal communication and 3 ways to get better customer communication.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is the newest shiny object in marketing and sales tools, yet it’s a great one when used strategically. The infographic shows:
5 ways to use AI to improve efficiency
9 ways to use AI for better marketing personalization
Today, even the smallest of businesses can implement artificial intelligence.
Conclusion
Most small business owners like us don’t plan on becoming a giant enterprise. Yet we can use the same enterprise marketing tools and techniques to generate significant growth in our own little corner of the world, wherever that is.
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