The most important small business marketing question to ask, and answer
By Brandt Stohr

When it comes to your business, there is one small business marketing question that you absolutely can’t afford to leave unanswered: Why should my prospective customers buy from me? The answer to that question, in fact, should form the foundation of your small business marketing strategy. In marketing lingo, it’s called a unique selling proposition.

Developing that unique selling proposition should be your first step in crafting a successful small business marketing strategy. To make sure that your small business marketing is all that it can be, follow these four expert tips:

Small business marketing tip #1: Focus on the benefits to the customer

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’re deeply passionate about the product or service that you’re selling. You know that it will make a positive difference in people’s lives. But from the small business marketing standpoint, your prospective customers don’t really care what great features you’re offering. They care about how your product/service will help them – how it will solve their problems or help them achieve their dreams.

So instead of listing the 100 fabulous features that your product/service has that the other guy doesn’t, list the 10 ways that your product/service will help your prospective customers, and you’ll be on your way to successful small business marketing.

Small business marketing tip #2: Consider your product/service from the customer’s point of view

Just as the fabulous features of your product/service only matter in so far as they help solve the customer’s problems or help the customer achieve a dream, it also doesn’t matter much how great you think your business is and all the value that you see in your product service. For effective small business marketing, you need to think like your prospective customers. So step in to their shoes.

Even if you can’t hire an expensive marketing firm to set up focus groups for you, you can create a small business marketing solution. Assemble a group of friends and family who are similar to your prospective customers and ask them what their needs and wants are. Then incorporate their responses into your marketing materials. Voila – you’re now speaking directly to the customer, from his or her point of view!

Small business marketing tip #3: Prove it!

If you’ve done your homework on the first and second small business marketing points (above) you’ll have made significant inroads with your prospective customers. You may have already convinced them to buy your product or service.

But some prospects are more reserved. They want proof that you deliver the benefits you claim to.

So, by all means, give them proof! One of the easiest, least expensive small business marketing strategies for backing up your claims with prospective customers is to include testimonials from satisfied current clients in your small business marketing materials.

Small business marketing tip #4: Project an image of confidence and authority

Whether you’re selling widgets or consulting services, small business marketing is really about selling yourself – your expertise, your integrity, and your reputation. Even if you’re just starting out in business, you are an expert in your own right. So act like one! If you see yourself as a confident, authoritative business person, your customers will, too.

Some say that small business marketing is an art, not a science. In many ways that’s true, but there are a number of tried-and-true rules to follow for successful small business marketing. Creating a unique selling proposition is one. If you can define clearly why your customers should choose you, chances are that they will.