Stump the Strategist: How Can Small Businesses Stay Ahead of Their Competitors?

Q: In residential real estate, how can we get the listings before our competitors?

A:

The key is high frequency, low cost marketing. Small businesses cannot afford the frequency through advertising to create top-of-mind awareness. Being the loudest, most prominent voice in the room is very expensive, where as automated marketing content can achieve high frequency at a low cost.
Automate as many standard processes as possible into a 'one click' process. Use email or direct mail to notify your potential customers, and tell them why your process is better for them than your competitors. You'll gain customers that have used your competitors and want a comparison, and new customers who do not have time for lengthy processes.
The specialist beats the generalist. Use niche or 'inch wide, mile deep' marketing to position your company as a specialist in a specific area, or for specific people to be remembered. If you are the most relevant choice for one person, you are almost guaranteed to win that customer – 1st brand to brain gets twice as much recall as 2nd and 2nd twice as much as 3rd.
It has never been more important to be polarising. Knowing who you are not for, could potentially be the key to focusing on your target market.
Innovation is now the key factor in marketing. Go back to your markets core drivers and find a way to address them. Find out what your competitors are doing and be predatory.

Featured strategists are:

Glenn Bartlett – Associate Strategy Director, Step Change
Jeff Cooper – Founding Partner, Step Change
Adam Long – CEO & Co-Founder, Smarter Drafter & Conscious Step