How Information Can Level the Playing Field

As a small to medium-sized business (SMB), it can feel like the bigger competitors in your industry have all the advantages. Their larger teams and greater store of resources form a barrier to your own company's success - one that cannot be removed by playing by their playbook. Your best strategy is not in trying to apply their techniques at a smaller scale but in making the most of your unique advantages as a more lightweight entity. By combining the benefits of speed and flexibility with the right information, you can level the playing field to capture a greater part of the market.

The Small-Scale Advantage of Speed

It may seem surprising, but there are some significant advantages to being an SMB. In a large corporation, nearly everything takes more time, limiting the business's ability to adapt promptly to both unexpected events and changing industry factors. These organizations are often slowed down by lengthy approval processes, bureaucracy, and even political and legal concerns, preventing them from acting quickly on the latest information.

By contrast, streamlined teams and communications allow your SMB to move quickly, changing tactics or processes almost immediately to address a new need or opportunity from your customer base. The advantage of a small size positions your business to better use market trends and real-time information than the larger competition, even in a crowded industry. The following methods and tools describe specific ways to use data and rapid adaptation to win market share against your competitors.

Location-Based Advertising

One area in which SMBs are better positioned than larger businesses to capitalize on information is location-based advertising. While big corporations struggle to target customers across multiple locations, small- and medium-sized organizations like yours can more easily focus on a local audience. This local approach can provide your business with a much better result with a smaller advertising investment, and you can take advantage of local events to promote your company and products or services. The benefits of location-based advertising provided by tools like Google My Business are evidenced in BIA/Kelsey's report indicating that location-based mobile ad spend will reach nearly $30 billion by 2020.

Addressing Customer Needs

A great advantage of real-time data is seeing shifts in customer desires and needs as they happen. The approval processes and politics of large businesses mentioned above affect these organizations' ability to identify and adjust to changing or rising customer needs quickly. As an SMB, your flexibility gives you the opportunity to rapidly determine if a new product or shift in focus is required to meet those needs and get that solution out into the market while your competition is still in the discussion stages. Agility allows you to be constantly on the move when it comes to knowing and meeting customer demands.

Small Business Information Advantages

Using Small Data

Although "big data' seems to be the focus when it comes to informing better business decisions, there are disadvantages to using the same large quantities of information that your competitors use. You'll be working from the same data as the competition - and, more importantly, big data is not always accurate. As a small or medium-sized business, you can take advantage of what is sometimes called "small data" - a subset of information that comes directly from your known customers. This information, while smaller in scale, offers the kind of high-quality, accurate information that makes it possible to make even better decisions for your company. This "deeper" data also saves time, as you won't have to sort through the useless segments of big data from third parties.

Being small doesn't have to be a disadvantage in business. In fact, with the right kind of data and agile processes to use, you can succeed where your larger competitors simply cannot and use the information to your advantage.

Need Help Implementing These Ideas?

Asymmetric, led by former Army Delta Force operator and corporate executive, Mark Hope, can help you implement these ideas in your business. You can contact Mark by email at mark.hope@asymmetric.pro, or by telephone at +1 866-389-4746, or you can schedule a complimentary strategy discussion by clicking here.  You can read all of his articles on Medium.

Mark Hope - Asymmetric

Mark Hope

Mark A. Hope is a co-founder and Partner of Asymmetric Marketing – a unique agency specializing in building high-performing sales and marketing systems, campaigns, processes, and strategies for small businesses. Asymmetric has extensive experience with organizations across many industry segments. If you would like some help in implementing ideas like these in this article, feel free to give Mark a call at 844-494-6903 or by email at mark.hope@asymmetric.pro. Read Mark's other work on Medium.

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