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DQ News: Why Your Small Business Should Not Try to Be Something it Isn’t

If you listen to the advice that many experts in small business management and marketing are preaching these days, you would have little choice but to believe that it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Small business owners trying to make a buck in this difficult economy are being encouraged to go guerrilla in their marketing, implement a host of the latest killer apps or strategies, aggressively reign in their expenses, and put up a professional, polished front that will make potential customers think they are working with one of the Big Boys, and not some unknown little pipsqueak.

Reality Lost

While it may be true that the current economic climate has made running a small business more challenging, many of these “essential” strategies, techniques, and technologies designed to beat out the next guy may be missing the mark when it comes to how they are being implemented and what the expected return will be.

But in an effort to save their companies, countless small business owners have jumped in anyway. The result: an army of almost robotic social media business profiles and activity, “professional” websites sporting the latest trends in web design and lathered with prolific professional-speak and equally professional stock photos of good-looking employees who seem a bit too happy to be at work.

Who Are You?

The problem with this is that while the unique flavor of the business ends up getting lost underneath all the “professionalism” and social media “hipness,”potential customers have quickly learned to shut out these cookie-cutter efforts. So what we have here folks is a no-win situation. Businesses aren’t attracting customers, and customers are not being allowed to see what makes a particular company a suitable match for their specific needs.

Let Your True Colors Show

Though there is certainly a time and place for making a small business appear bigger or more established then it is, such as by hiring a virtual receptionist or operating out of a business center, all these strategies should be done carefully and sparingly. Moreover, there is much to be gained by leveraging your true colors and your smallness including:

• You make your company appear more genuine
• You can more easily show off what makes your company unique
• It may be easier to attract specific market segments who will identify with your company’s image or employee makeup
• You will be more at ease since you do not have to worry as much about “slipping up” with customers

In short, though there are times to think big while running a small business, sometimes it just pays to be the small fish in the pond.

Author Bio: Adam Gottlieb is a small business owner, freelance writer, and small business consultant with over ten years experience helping small and home-based businesses improve their image, increase sales and better manage their resources (both the animate and inanimate ones). He is currently the owner and senior editor of the The Frugal Entrepreneur Small Business Blog providing frugal business tips, tools, and resources to small and home-based business owners.

Photo Credit: actionafternoon

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