Budgeting for coffee as you do your monthly expenses. Expecting checked baggage fees to cost as much as half or more of your airline ticket price. This is the reality of our world today because the big brands made it this way.
Big brand marketing strategies can work just as well for small business. Scaling these marketing strategies to fit a small business doesn’t necessarily warrant a big shift. Depending on your sales or growth goal and how well aware consumers are of your brand, making a big brand strategy work for your small business could be a matter of shifting your messaging or focusing on a different target audience with your small business digital marketing.
Marketing Strategies for Small Business from Starbucks
How many posts of Starbucks coffees on social media do you see a week? Not to mention, the uptick in numbers when fall and holiday flavors roll around. Taking Starbucks’s strategy and using it for your small business is possible. Here’s what they did and what you can do.
Starbucks changed the consumer experience by providing great service, a nice, comfortable place to relax or do a little work (with free Wi-Fi no less), and yes, even a little prestige in drinking from a cup or mug emblazoned with a Starbucks logo.
A small business doesn’t have millions to spend on marketing like Starbucks does; however, you can spend a small fraction of that and still change your customers’ experience. For example, add comfortable furniture and snacks to your waiting area. Make it company policy for employees to learn and use your customers’ names. In a world where many consumers feel like a number, creating a personal touch is an easy first step to building a big-business brand.
Marketing Strategies for Small Business from Southwest Airlines
Airlines’ checked baggage fees can cost up to $60 per bag on top of the airfare cost. Southwest Airlines went full on “no baggage fees,” in addition to touting their low fares. Lower cost tickets and no baggage fees have created a loyal audience, and Southwest’s company personality and customer service are icing on the customer satisfaction cake.
Southwest relies on their employees to give their customers a positive experience. They invest in intensive training for their employees to ensure a cohesive “Southwest” message and experience across aircraft, customer service agents and airport gate agents.
Take a page from Southwest’s marketing playbook. Review your competitors’ pricing models. Can you make logical adjustments to your pricing to the equivalent of Southwest in your industry and area? Is there deeper or better training you can provide to improve the customer experience and make it consistent regardless of employee or location?
Again, these strategies don’t require enormous financial investment. Both can be scaled to your small business. Including free samples with orders, offering additional product knowledge through your employees’ expertise or additional training – all can be easy on budgets and worked in to marketing strategies for small business.