Marketing To Small Businesses

Have you been wondering how to translate your success in the large-enterprise market into successful selling to the fast-growing and profitable small-business market?  Though you might be an expert when it comes to marketing to large businesses, selling your products and services to smaller companies requires an entirely different strategy. While still on the rise, large-IT budgets are not increasing as quickly as small-business budgets. Technology usage by small businesses is rapidly increasing as the price points of both hardware and software products drop and technology solutions advance along adoption curves. This makes the small business market an attractive new growth opportunity for many technology vendors, but the rules of success in the small business market are different from those of enterprise markets. Product features, high-value price points, distribution channels, and the connection of technology solutions to the small business owner’s overall success are critical to penetrating this market segment.

• The small business market is not a single market. Small businesses vary by size, vertical, and the speed of adopting technology. In developing a plan to enter this market, technology vendors need to sub-segment the market based on customer needs and the solutions offered.
• Small businesses have needs different those of large enterprises. They aren’t interested in purchasing big solutions that have unnecessary functionality that will get in the way of what they’re trying to accomplish. Keep in mind that these companies can’t afford the overhead of a full-time IT staff or expensive implementation costs. The best solutions need to go in quick and be easy to maintain, while still providing scalability as the business grows.
• Because of lower average selling points, the cost of sales for the small business market segments must be lower than for large enterprise sales. A direct model is virtually impossible to sustain profitably. Distribution through two-tier channel partners, online sales, and retail presence are critical to achieve the reach required and the price points needed to offer compelling solutions.
• When marketing to small businesses, you will face new competition from many smaller and regional players that provide focused solutions for niche markets. If you want to successfully compete against these niche players, you need to be able to position your technology against a multitude of offerings in a low-touch sales model.
• Small business buyers are much more apt to turn to the Internet and online communities for purchasing advice. With the growth of these online resources and communities, it’s important to use some of your marketing dollars to tap into these large networks.