As we explained in a previous article , the key to locally owned businesses surviving and thriving in a competitive, online marketplace and tight economy is to find and dominate a niche of their own.

Small businesses can’t compete with the advertising dollars and inventory numbers of huge national chains; they can establish themselves by finding a specialty and being the best in it.

You Can’t Please All the People

The toughest part of becoming a successful niche business is realizing that you simply won’t be able to make everybody happy. If you choose to specialize your small business in science fiction, for example, then you won’t gain a following of classic literature lovers. But you will gain science fiction fans. If you choose to specialize your locally owned restaurant in a specific type of cuisine, perhaps Italian, then you’ll lose the people who don’t like pasta. But you’ll have fervent and loyal customers in the pasta lovers.

The Trade Off

For a business to succeed in a specialty or niche, it has to make a trade-off. You trade the complacent, so-so, average customers for the fervent, dedicated, enthusiastic ones. Sounds like a good trade, right? It is, because a few enthusiastic customers will give you more in lifetime value and passionate referrals to their peers than many average customers.

Finding Your Enthusiastic Fans

The first step to identifying those customers you want to find and keep for the life of your business is to clearly define your specialty. What are you offering that’s different, better, or more unique than your competitors? Once you’ve identified your own niche – your special offering – you’re in the right position to find the people who will be interested in what you have to offer.

The second step is just a bit of simple brainstorming: who is going to be the most interested and the most enthusiastic about your specialty, your niche? Don’t focus on the people who might be interested. Focus on the people who will love what you offer. If you’re selling science fiction books, you need to be at the sci-fi gatherings, clubs, and conferences, and partnering up with the local theater when the next sci-fi movie opens. Market yourself to the most passionate people in the particular niche; they, in turn, will market you to the people they know. When you find and convert enthusiastic customers, they do the advertising for you.

Places to Look for your Niche Customers

• Specialized online communities and groups
• Local clubs and meetings
• Conferences
• Meet-up groups
• Fan clubs
• Organizations and associations
• Trade shows

Note: If your “niche” is too big to define and go find in groups like these… then your “niche” isn’t a niche at all – and you need to work harder to find your small business’ niche – a truly narrow scope or specialty that will create a winning formula for your business in a difficult economic time.

Where would your ideal customers hang out? Where do they gather? That’s where you need to be.

Image by Rachel Voorhees.

Note: I got an e-mail a while back that challenged me on my inclusion of an Amazon link in one of my e-mail campaigns. This and the following post (and probably a few more beyond that into the future) will be my long-considered answer to the seeming “crisis” presenting itself to local brick-and-mortars… the invasion of big boxes and big-box style on-line competition. Here’s my first stab at how small businesses can beat Goliath.

Small businesses face a double challenge in the new economy; not only are we in the midst of recession like times, with everybody tightening belts and spending less, we’re also transitioning from store-front shopping on Main Street to isolated shopping via the Internet. Location is not the factor it used to be in shopping choices; anyone with Internet access (which seems to be practically everyone) can shop at any store online. The options have opened up, and for the most part, consumers seem to love the choices.

Locally owned small businesses can thrive in the new economy – and love it – but it requires a different approach. When your competition expands from being the other small retail shop two streets over to being the biggest national box stores plus the on-line retailers… it’s time to think of a new angle.

Independent bookstores are a good example, because the ones that have survived and thrive despite competition from Amazon.com have learned to work the new economic angle successfully.

The angle is this: you must create your own niche position and dominate it in order to compete with huge brands and online options.

It’s not enough to be an average bookstore, or an average retail shop, or an average restaurant. When customers have limitless options, average is not going to bring them back.

But you can bring them back.

Niche Examples from Independent Bookstores

An article in the New York Times highlighted how the niche angle has helped independent bookstores to survive. “Being a specialty store gave us something that would distinguish us,” said Alan Beatts, owner of Borderlands, which focuses on science fiction. “We are serving a special demographic, and we receive customer loyalty in return” For a locally owned bookstore, a niche could include

• Selling signed first edition books (and holding regular author events)
• Selling, trading, and assisting customers in rare books
• Covering niche topics (stocking and special-ordering specialized books, magazines, newspapers, and trade journals)
• Establishing expert status in book-related topics or specialized topics
• Engaging an active online community and having stellar e-commerce options

So, if you’re a bookstore, a retail store, a service-oriented business, or a restaurant, how can you find your niche, establish yourself in it, and thrive in this new economy?

“It’s entirely possible that you will choose a niche that’s too small. It’s much more likely you’ll shoot for something too big and become overwhelmed. When in doubt, overwhelm a small niche.” -Seth Godin, business & marketing expert.

Want more ideas from the local book store angle? Here’s a post from USA Today on a similar subject showcasing ways that small local brick and mortar bookstores are competing with the Kindle, Nook and similar book technology…

Image by ReneS.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to do a series on local business marketing planning for local or small enterprises. This is the sort of planning that you should be thinking about right now as the year winds down and another gets ready to launch:

1. What will you do differently in 2011?
2. What are your goals for 2011?
3. What is your unique strategy to connect with customers in 2011?
4. What media will you use to communicate with customers, vendors, prospects, employees, etc. in 2011?
5. What products/services, etc. will you offer in 2011? What will be different or the same from 2010?

And many more questions just like these? How do you answer those questions strategically – and literally – for your business, so that you get your new year off to a blazing start? It all boils down to your local business marketing plan for 2011. That’s what we’ll be unpacking in the next few weeks.

Why is this important?

A local business marketing plan is important because many of you would otherwise march into 2011 without a single strategic weapon in place. Things happen just like you plan them – and if you don’t plan or you plan to fail – you’ll get just that. Local business must PLAN for success – create a road map that will win – not unlike a military going into battle. Yes, sometimes things don’t work out precisely as planned – but at least you have the order of the plan that you can change and aren’t just marching blindly into battle. Your chances of success are increased exponentially with the careful attention to planning that you give – and the success will be sweet at the end when you win – and win big for your local business!

Here’s how this will work:

Some of the content will be available here on the blog. A LOT of it will be in written “lesson” format via our e-mail newsletter. Let’s just say that 2/3 of the content will arrive in your inbox. Once I’ve finished the series, I’ll compile it all into an e-book and teach a webinar on the topic of local business marketing plans around the first week of the year.

The first e-mail lesson will go out next Tuesday, so go ahead and sign-up for the e-mail newsletter now, so you don’t miss a thing. (Motivating hint: the first lesson is something you can accomplish in ten minutes even in the midst of the holiday bustle to position yourself for a successful planning session later when things slow down a bit.)

Sign up in the box on the top right side of the page… just click here… and happy 2011 planning!

Photo Credit: West Point Public Affairs

Want to know how to make money in the retail business? Doesn’t matter what retail sector you’re in: fashion, spa, shoes, or home decor – even the restaurant business… There’s one simple way to make money.

Here’s the magic formula:

Sell more stuff at better margins.

Are you doing that? Why not? Maybe it’s because a bunch of complications sneaked into your life and your business that are keeping you away from the primary job at hand.

New & Improved Marketing Tools – or New Distractions?

I spent two hours this morning researching new marketing “bells and whistles” that clients had e-mailed me about this morning – mostly so I could explain why they were a bad idea.

They were a bad idea because they are a distraction. They will distract the customer, and they will distract the retail business owner. A few years ago, retailers were easily distracted by the local radio, television and newspaper guy that came knocking and selling the must-have advertising slot in their media.

Today, it’s the folks from Groupon and Living Social, Facebook ads and apps, text message marketing and e-mail gimmicks that don’t even drive traffic to your own web site. There are search engine optimization gurus and Google and YouTube ads and virtual tour creators. And the old fashioned Real Yellow Pages with their new amazing web-based tricks, the newspaper now has added their own set of online offerings and all the old faithful media still call, too…

It’s easy to become distracted by all of the options – and to say yes to the one that sounds the best. The problem with more options is that we get further and further from the purpose of owning a retail business: to sell more stuff at better margins.

Retail marketing should drive SALES – good, solid sales numbers.

Around here, our private clients are posting double digit sales increases across the board. No exceptions. And they’re following a simple system that builds long-term valuable customer relationships (and retail sales) and teaches customers how to most effectively share their experience with their friends. Sure, we’re using “new technology tools” – but we’re using them in a simple and effective way that produces sales and long-term customer relationships. We’re using simple systems that keep us on track – on the sales track.

Let your competitors follow the gimmicks.

Be okay with that. Then laugh all the way to the bank while you keep it simple. It’s cliche – but “keep is simple stupid” is still a sound business strategy for your retail business. Sell more stuff at better margins. Go do it.

Life as a small business owner can be tough. Owning a local business can be stressful. It can sometimes not feel like it’s doing for you what you wanted it to do. Maybe you just have a mental block about your business in general.

But some days the stars align. I actually believe God is gracious and just showers me with His undeserved Grace a bit more on these “good days.” But the bottom line is – they do happen occasionally – and I wanted to let you know how to recognize the entrepreneurial “good days” and enjoy them.

GOOD ISN’T PERFECT

First off – you have to come to grips with the fact that perfection doesn’t exist. Life and work are not going to peacefully co-exist, and we’re talking about “good days” here – not perfect days.

That means that while some loose ends or underlying currents of strife or stress might be there – it’s important to not allow those to overshadow the blessings and positives. A critical element to business success is the ability to be thankful – and thankfulness flows out of a positive attitude – one that recognizes tiny blessings and is able to pause, soak them up and then show appreciation where appropriate.

SEEING THE GOOD

I think this is most easily explained by an example.

Today was a good day for me. In the past 24 hours, not one – but FOUR of our private advisory clients (and there aren’t but 10 of them at any given time) have called or e-mailed not simply to compliment or thank us for our work – but to RAVE about the results they’re getting in their businesses. They took the time to stop what they were doing and give us specific, positive feedback at no urging of our own. Completely random accolades.

Now this may seem over the top as an example – but I didn’t talk to all of these clients. Andy talked to two of them, and two of them e-mailed enthusiastic and specific, but very brief e-mails. In my distracted, busy and otherwise cluttered life, I could have entirely missed the magnitude of these blessings – and missed gaining the benefits of a “good day.” Thank God I didn’t, because they were blessings. And I like blessings.

There are plenty of icky things going on in my life – but when “good days” happen – or even good moments – have your eyes wide open to see them.

USING THE GOOD

When you see good in your day, don’t waste it. Here’s what I recommend:

1. Take a moment – or an hour – to pause and soak it in. It’s okay to reward yourself a bit. Take a deep breath, smile, laugh, allow yourself an extra long lunch or a day off in reward. Use this “good” as a stress reducer – reduced stress is good for your body and your spirit and will give you the stamina to keep going!

2. Reflect that good just came into your day – a blessing.

3. Blessings deserve a thankful attitude; pass on the “goodness” of a thankful attitude to someone else or many other people as appropriate.

4. Use this good as a milestone that motivates and inspires you to keep going in your work. When things aren’t so good – reach back in your mind to this moment and be motivated and inspired by it many times over.

5. Learn from it. What did you do to get this “good” result? If you can pinpoint it – maybe you can replicate it to create more “good days” in your business.

What about you? What “good days” or “good moments” have you had in your business or life lately? Share the goodness.

Photo Credit: Ev0luti0nary

On Friday, I had the privilege of meeting with a favorite client of ours who is about one year deep in his social media marketing journey. He gives bold testimonial that new media and social media are his number one marketing tools – and he can say that confidently because his businesses are thriving like never before.

Last week, another client of ours closed a deal that had been in the works through social media channels for nearly four months. But what a doozey of a good deal it was – a key influencer purchased and is telling everyone about his purchase. Gold.

We get asked all the time: How quickly can social media move the needle?

There are a lot of answers to the question. Here are a few thoughts I have in the “how long does it take to move the needle” category.

1. Once you have built an engaged social media community and are providing valuable information to them through other new media channels as well (such as e-mail and website or blog), if you ring the dinner bell on social media (most typically Facebook Pages or Twitter), they’ll come. Sometimes in less than an hour. That’s quick needle-moving.

2. Rome wasn’t built in a day. That community that makes some businesses look like an overnight success – it isn’t. Sure, you can build NUMBERS in a matter of days if you know what you’re doing – but trust and engagement that lead to sales (and isn’t that what we’re after: selling more stuff) – that’s a slower hill to climb. Sales will start increasing or at least stabilize in fairly short order, but the real benefit is gained by building long-term trust and engagement with your community of customers and prospects online. That trust that makes them feel like insiders will have a mushroom effect on your business success – when that level of trust reaches critical mass you are staged for record sales numbers, massive amounts of PR, and recommendations from key influentials in your target market – regardless of the economy. The needle moving sales success that happens at this stage of the game happens after deliberate, strategic, and consistent relationship building over a series of months (but not years).

3. Social media doesn’t move the needle. Solid marketing strategy integrated throughout your business, including a wise understanding of your customers and how to use and market via new media and social media tools is what moves the needle.

4. The needle will never move if you don’t make what’s happening online and off-line cohesive and consistent. Inconsistency will leave you dead in the water. You’ll also be dead in the water if the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.

5. The needle will move the wrong direction if you fail to make good on the promises you make online. If the pizza is burned, and you don’t make me happy again – the needle will undoubtedly move the wrong direction for you – probably sooner than later.

6. The needle is moving all the time whether you want it to you or not. We visited with a local restaurant manager last night that had no idea what was happening on Twitter in his area. Just because your head is in the sand, doesn’t mean that the world isn’t going on around you. The majority of brick and mortar buying decisions are made before the customer ever pulls into your parking lot – they’re looking online first. If you aren’t there – they’ll go somewhere else – and you’ll wonder where your sales are going. You will miss opportunities to grow your business.

The needle is moving, people are talking – are you listening, learning and engaging in an effort to move YOUR needle in the profitable direction – even if it takes a few months to hit one out of the park?

Photo Credit: Unhindered by Talent

For some reason, August is always like my second chance every year to course correct and get back on track with those New Year’s resolutions that fell to the wayside or to get my business’ marketing plan back on track after the lazy days of summer. It’s back to school – and with that fresh start for my kids seems to come a fresh start for me. And I know I’m not alone, because the phone is ringing off the hook with others just like me seeking help with their own fresh start.

This year has been an especially poignant one for me in the area of discipline, goal setting and goal achieving. I’ve always been a planner (I’m a recovering plan-a-holic). But this year, I’ve been learning a few things about achieving goals that I wanted to share with you:

It’s best to go towards a goal than to run away from a problem.

This year, I started running for the first time in my life. The problem was that I had gained some extra weight and had lost my father too young to a heart attack. The problem was that I was scared. But if I looked forward I could see a healthy me with lots of energy to do almost anything with my kids and who was able to live a long, happy, effective life. My goal is to live well and finish well. From a physical health perspective that meant not just losing some weight, but becoming more physically healthy. Andy and I started training for a marathon, and I’ve never run in my life. Now, that’s running towards a goal instead of away from a problem.

What about your small business? It’s probably easy to list all the problems, challenges and discouragements that you face each day. Your fears and anxieties can easily overshadow everything else, especially when it comes to the daily grind of owning a local business. But when you look into the future longingly – what do you want it to look like? Define the future – and then run towards it.

There is no time like the present to start making changes.

If you want to win, you can’t wait until next Monday to get started. Change doesn’t start next month or next year – it starts today. When you realize you aren’t doing what you should be doing, you need to set your sights on the future goal and run towards it – TODAY. It doesn’t matter how slow the pace or how short the stride – it just matters that you don’t wait – that you do something TODAY that moves you closer to your goals, whether it be in small business ownership or in life.

When you fail, focus that frustration on being better again. Not on guilt.

Here is where I confess my failures. We started training for a marathon. I could run five solid miles, and I spent Spring Break this year riding bikes and kayaking with my kids. Then we moved to a new home.

Andy and I have exercised (either swim or walk) no more than two days a week since April. We have eaten too many desserts, and I’ve been drinking soft drinks way too much. We quit spending time stretching everyday. We’ve put on a few pounds and our bodies ache again. We miss the health, and we’re going to get it back. We woke up yesterday disgusted with ourselves for letting this happen. And yesterday we started doing something about it. Soft drinks are out and healthy, life giving water is in. I stretched this morning and am looking forward to an evening walk with my hubby. We’re turning our disgust into positive, life-changing, goal-achieving energy. I’m not going to sit around and mope about my failure. I’m going to do something to make it better again.

How about your business? Have you been complacent about your marketing, customer service, store displays, community involvement, social media messages, employee training, e-mail campaigns, or web site updates? Have you let bad habits creep into your business life? Have you let your passion slide? Have you taken your eyes off of your sales goals, marketing goals, business goals, life goals? Don’t focus on the pain and consequences of your complacency and bad habits – instead focus all of your energy on achieving your goals, sharing your passion, and finding your future success.

The cliché is true: you really do eat an elephant one bite at a time.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that this all sounds well and good but your circumstance is WAY more complicated than this. You’ve got layers and layers of problems and failures and scary obstacles to overcome. I wish I could tell you but I can’t – but my health is the least of my worries. But I can also promise you this: doing nothing but throwing a pity party will not get you any closer to freedom. Don’t be overwhelmed by the big picture. It is what it is, and there’s nothing you can do to change the past. But you can change your future. You make choices every moment about how to spend your time – and what you do next will affect your future one way or another. So, with your eyes on the goals ahead, find a tiny little bite-sized piece of a task that you can do right now that will move you one tiny step closer to your goal, to your full potential for success. As you train, you’ll be able to take bigger bites and the momentum will grow and you’ll get more accomplished and the race will get easier. But today, just take a small bite. That’s all you have to do. And tomorrow, take another small bite. Keep taking bites. Until you eat the entire elephant – or achieve your small business goals…

Want some encouragement along the way? What are your goals? Share them, and we’ll stay in touch as you walk towards the future.

Photo Credit: One-Fat-Man