Merely an idea based on a question I was asked.
It was about how innovation changed the character of competition in business. And whether innovations in the marketing space allowed entrepreneurs to select where and how they compete with their competition.
Most of the time I do not about it in those terms. As the owner of an Plymouth based online marketing company I use everything from SMS Campaigns, QR Code Campaigns and mobile marketing to Twitter and call tracking.
But I don’t think about it in terms of the competition. My motivation is more to do with engaging with prospects and people that are on the fringes of being interested in what I do.
So what did I answer? Does innovation in the marketing space let small businesses select how they compete?
In one sense yes, you do have a choice. In reality small businesses making an attempt to reach out to prospective clients have many more options than ever seen before to achieve this goal.
This does not imply that you really get to choose how you compete and I’ll tell you why.
If you define your actions as a reaction to rivals you’ll always be playing catch up.
Lets say you have three local rivals and one uses Twitter, one uses Facebook and one uses Mobile Marketing.
Would you try to move ahead of the rival that uses Twitter by using Facebook?
How about getting in front of the one that uses Facebook by using Twitter?
What about getting in front of the one that uses Mobile Marketing by using Pay-per-click?
If you think about marketing in terms of one-upmanship, your perspective and driving motivation becomes twisted, misdirected and overly simplified.
Do not think that by doing what others aren’t you’ll automatically push in front. Using marketing innovations to compete effectively takes more that just leaping on the bandwagon and doing things because others aren’t.
When possible resist the temptation to over simplify how and why you use innovative marketing.
Rather than thinking about new marketing channels as a silver bullet to help move in front of your competition, think about them more holistically.
The question you should ask yourself is how innovative marketing will help you develop a healthier relationship, reputation and rapport with existing and prospective customers.
If this is your first motivation, you will stay focussed on being a better business and will not become so distracted by what your competitors are, or aren’t doing.
By Stephane Kolinsky owner of Springboard Outsourcing, a company that delivers, mobile marketing and QR Campaigns. Also a mobile website development agency, Plymouth, Devon.













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