You have what it takes to outthink, outwit and outsmart your bigger competitors. Here are 6 easy ways to get started now.

By David Levy

It’s a big day. Your printer just dropped off your bright shiny new product brochure. This is the big marketing push for the year. The mailing list is purged and clean. Your entire staff of five got in at the break of dawn, coffee in tow, to stuff, stamp and bag. Hope is high and you’re licking your chops in anticipation of the phone ringing off the hook and inventory flying off the shelves. It really is a good day.

On the way to drop off the mailing at the post office, your eye is drawn to the giant billboard of a competitor in town announcing a big sale event. Ouch! As you punch the buttons on the car radio trying to ease the frustration, you catch a local TV celebrity singing the praises of your chief nemesis, who is introducing their new core product, a niftier version of your best seller.

Suddenly, that shiny new brochure has lost some luster. That familiar feeling of frustration and helplessness creeps into your mind as it has for a long time. You ask, How can I compete when the big fish are outspending me 100 to one and dwarfing my marketing efforts?

If this story sounds familiar, that is not surprising. You are one of millions of small businesses competing with larger companies that have significantly more powerful marketing budgets and sales resources than you have. That is the reality of small business in America today.

But don’t despair. You have what it takes to outthink, outwit and outsmart those bigger competitors. Here are six ways to do it. Let’s get started right now.

1. Build a Board of Advisors.
A Board of Advisors (BOA) is anywhere from three to 10 people you know who have diverse experience in areas that can help your company grow. A BOA can provide great advantages over competitors who are relying entirely on their employees. An experienced and well connected BOA can help your business grow and prosper in ways you’ve never imagined.

Your BOA will help you make better, faster and more informed decisions. Collectively, the board should have deep experience, powerful resources and valuable contacts that can lead to new business opportunities. The BOA also acts as part of your sales team, touting the virtues and strengths of your company.

Your BOA can be particularly helpful in areas like marketing, operations, human resources, legal and finance. These are all areas where small businesses are generally weak due to the expense needed to staff such positions.

THE BENEFITS OF YOUR BOA ARE:

• Unbiased perspective from people you trust
• Provides powerful influence for networking and new business referrals
• Enhances community and public relations
• Added credibility for customers, vendors and lenders
• Helps you avoid costly mistakes
• Adds key skills to the management of the company
• Provides support for key strategic planning and decisions
• Lends a calm hand and knowledge in times of crisis
• Helps anticipate changes in the market and trends

Board members generally meet once a quarter for about 4 hours, and should be paid for their time. Very small businesses can generally get away with a meeting fee of $500 per board member. For midsize companies, the fee generally ranges from $1,000 to $1,500 per member. You need about three to five board members with a range of various expertise.

2. Become a “competitive intelligence” detective.
You can’t outsmart your competitors if you don’t fully know what they are doing. By taking the time to study your competitors and understand as much as you can about them, you can develop ideas for ways to differentiate yourself, and identify tactics to compete better and win business. Just by answering some essential questions, you will be amazed at how easy it is to see new paths and creative opportunities to gain a competitive edge. Answer these three vital questions:

• WHO ARE MY COMPETITORS? List them all.
• HOW DO THEIR CUSTOMERS PERCEIVE THEM? First, collect and make notes on all the marketing tools your competitors are using. Then, stand in the shoes of your target market and view that competitor from the customer’s point of view. Write down your observations and feelings about each of your rivals.
• WHAT COMPETITIVE EDGE DO THEY HAVE? Be honest with yourself and answer to this question from the customer’s point of view.

This effort will take some time but is well worth it. Enlist friends and family to help. They can “mystery shop” the competitors in person, on the phone or online. Get input from business associates, vendors and people in the media such as local newspapers’ business reporters. Your Chamber of Commerce, library, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and trade associations are all excellent sources of information about competitors.

In order to easily compare and contrast your various competitors, create a simple matrix grid by listing the competitors vertically with the question categories along the top. Just fill in the answers and you will then have an easy-to-compare snapshot of each competitor.

3. Create your competitive edge.
Now that you have studied the strengths and weaknesses of the competition, coming up with ideas to take advantage of opportunities is limited only by your imagination. In business, you need to find ways to stand apart from the competition. Being different, in a relevant, meaningful way, is the foundation to establishing your competitive edge.

Since you now have a clear understanding of how your competition is perceived by their customers, how they market themselves and their products, and their competitive advantages, carefully consider what makes your business unique. Evaluate the benefits and strengths you provide to your clients and identify those that are different from and superior to your competitors. Or create new ideas based on opportunities you have identified that your competitors are not taking advantage of.

For example, your small size may enable you to be more nimble and provide better customer service or customize your offerings. Or you may have identified an opening in the market that your competitors have missed. Now you can take full advantage of your size and ability to act quickly and get the jump on your rivals.

Once you have pinpointed the reasons why potential customers should choose you over your competitors, and why current customers should buy more and remain loyal, you need to find clever, affordable ways to reach your target audience with your new messages, over and over again. There are a number of smart, inexpensive ways to accomplish just that.

4. Treat your customers like gold…and you’ll earn more gold.
It’s amazing how many companies look right past their current customers when they think about building their businesses. Growing any business should always start with its existing base of business—its customers.

It takes far less money and time to build a business with current customers than to find new customers. Think about this. If you learn your current customer retention rate and create a plan to increase that by 10 percent, you have just added 10 percent to your growth rate. Considering the high cost of promoting to and wooing new customers, centering your growth strategy on your current customers makes great financial sense.

Remember, you now know your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. You have created new ways to get a competitive edge. Here are several good ways to let your customers know about these important new reasons to continue doing business with you:

• CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS. Customers want to know you are thinking about them and care about what they have to say. Construct a simple survey to get feedback on your customer service, current products, special offers or new product offerings. Use the survey to send messages about your new competitive strategy. Or create a newsletter to share helpful information, new product offerings and specials, your press clippings and any other positive messages.
• MAKE COMPLAINTS WORK FOR YOU. When a customer lets you know they are unhappy, either in a survey, over the phone or in a letter, they are likely to complain to many others in their sphere of influence. Create a program to handle these complaints quickly and find creative ways to go the extra mile to win the client’s confidence again. If you do this consistently and satisfy the customer, they are actually more likely to remain a happy customer and to tell others about the impressive way you handled their issue.
• GET TESTIMONIALS. Once you have created a two-way communications channel with your customers, you will be able to identify those who are exceptionally happy with your services. Offer a small reward or certificate of recognition to those who would be willing to provide a testimonial quote about why they do business with your firm. Post testimonials on your website and incorporate them into your outbound marketing tools.
• GET REFERRALS. Create a program to reward your customers for referrals. These are simple and easy to manage. And best of all, your customers will appreciate that you value their business.

5. Form strategic partnerships to generate qualified leads and referrals.
One of the fastest routes to closing a deal is to begin the sale with a qualified lead or referral provided by a strategic partner. These partnerships are one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to generate frequent and reliable leads for your business.

A strategic partner is a company that is doing business with your target audience and does not compete with you. An example of such a partnership would be a web developer and a marketing consultant. The web developer could refer the marketing consultant to its clients for strategic assignments; the marketing consultant could generate new business opportunities among its clients that need web work.

Begin this process by identifying businesses that complement yours and serve the same customer base. Discuss the potential advantages with your partnering prospect and work out a business deal that benefits both sides equally. Each business prospers since it receives opportunities that it might never have been able to acquire on its own.

Make sure that you select your partners carefully. Be certain that the companies under consideration are financially strong, trustworthy and have a solid reputation. A failed partnership could create an uncomfortable situation among your referred customers.

6. Jump into online social networking.
Social media marketing is providing a new wave of business promotion and brand building, and you’d be smart to jump on board. It’s called business social networking. There is no cost to join, and by participating in these vibrant and growing communities, you can build business relationships and promote your products and services.

Social networks attract members who have shared interests and opinions. As the network grows, a trusted cluster of connected associates and friends is established. When a member discovers your business or product and recommends it or comments about it, it has a powerful “word of mouth” impact. If you spend the time needed to establish your social networking presence, you can build leads and referrals and convert those into sales.

Just Google “business social networking” and investigate the various sites that can contribute to your particular business or niche. Then create and monitor content, track your referrals and leads, and keep building on your experience and success.

You can start outsmarting the competition tomorrow. The process is simple. Take it one step at a time and you’ll be amazed at how much progress you can make. The best part is that you can generate serious business growth without adding anything extra to your budget. In fact, a wise strategy is to gauge your success and reinvest a portion of the new profits these six steps generate into bigger and better marketing tactics. Before you know it, you’ll be one of the “big fish” that the others will be trying to outsmart.

David Levy is president and owner of GrowthFactorX (www.growthfactorx.com), a virtual full-service marketing solutions firm based in Philadelphia. GFX provides strategic marketing expertise and a full range of creative and media services to both large and small businesses.