Get Noticed in Today’s Crowded Marketplace

You can surpass the marketing efforts of your larger counterparts–without spending beyond your means.

[source: Inc Magazine] Although being a small or medium-sized business can feel daunting when compared against bigger, longer-established corporations, there are definitely ways SMBs can still stand on equal footing–maybe even surpassing their larger counterparts–without spending beyond their means.

Donald Chestnut, Global Chief Creative Officer at storytelling agency SapientRazorfish, offers the following 5 specific tips that can help any small or medium-sized business better reach and engage with customers.

1. Analyze and understand the value of innovation
As more and more businesses begin to understand why they need to innovate and how to do it, the next step involves answering the question “What is the value of innovation? And how do I measure it?”

2. Redefine your entire business around operating in a digital world
Rather than simply introducing digital components into physical spaces, organizations must think of the balance that they want to strike between these two realities. Each company will be different and what works for one may not work for another. Think retail, location marketing, etc.

3. Align with the fast-paced evolution of mobility and mobile usage
Consumer mobile behavior continues to go beyond the pure “mobile” aspects of a device. Smartphones and their brethren can (and are expected to) now be used in novel ways to enhance consumers’ surrounding environments and experiences.

4. Evolve the test and learn mentality using new technologies
To keep up with the pace of technological advancement and consumers’ generational distinctions, organizations are evolving the agile structures and thinking that allow them to test and learn faster. In this case, digital and automation act as enablers/facilitators by sitting at the core of these structures and strategies, thereby allowing businesses to remain competitive.

5. Evolve your consumer insights and research to better understand unique journeys
Emotion insights, chatbots (as a testing ground), and artificial intelligence are just some of the evolved methods being used to better understand consumers and design personalized experiences.