I've realized just how tough it has become for business, and particularly small business, to market and sell its products and services in nearly any niche.
Sure, the uncertain economy has really made it hard. Cash and credit are tight and people simply aren’t buying like before. But the problem started before uncertain economic conditions changed business. A lot of companies were finding that their marketing initiatives were already in serious trouble.
First of all, the internet has really become a serious tool for any customer in any market or niche. The availability of volumes of information with a single click in a search engine literally inundates anyone with all kinds of options. The customer has more choices now than ever before, and it’s tough to be heard in the crowd. The signal to noise ratio makes it hard to capture and sustain attention long enough to demonstrate value to your prospect.
The result of all the information availability about any product or service has resulted in a lot of power shifting to buyers. It really makes it tough for any provider of products or services in getting the attention, and getting a customer to choose your offer over someone else’s. Great sales professionals were once a primary source of information and education. Now they’re glorified order takers as customers can educate themselves on their own terms.
The other factor is that new technology, efficient management and production and the general availability of products and services have driven pricing into a commodity model in many business vertical niches. When the supply of anything is high in relation to the demand, the market forces downward pressure on price, making it hard to compete on value propositions alone.
What were once differentiating factors in business have become standard expectations. Everyone touts quality, service, etc… These are now commonplace expectations with buyers, and nothing special for a company that must demonstrate all of these as basic entry-level competencies to just get into the game. If a business wants to use these basic expectations as part of their unique selling proposition, it might find their path to be filled with a lot more bumps.
To effectively compete, any business has to recognize the challenges it faces with each of these things, and adapt it's strategy to effectively find, win, and keep customers.