How many of you entrepreneurs can’t get a break in marketing your small business? Is your competition too fierce? Are your clients too hard to reach? Is your location too far off the beaten path? Is your domain name not very memorable? Is your brand too hard to differentiate?
As a small business development specialist, I frequently hear all of these concerns from my clients. That’s why I get so excited when I see a business owner literally ignoring all of these obstacles, and turning all of his challenges into unique opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
This past weekend, my husband and I took a drive through the New England countryside to look at Fall leaves. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, we passed a small, grassy driveway with homemade signs in the yard:
Berry picking!! Wine Tasting!! Art Sale!!
The driveway was so small that we had passed it before we knew it. Surprised and intrigued, we made a u-turn and headed back to the small farm.
Up the gravel drive, we found a red barn with a white silo. When we went inside, we saw a bar along one wall and a display of bottles of wine. A sign told us that it was $5 for 5 tastes of wine – 4 of our selection and 1 of the house sangria. The wine was made from farm-grown berries and bottled onsite (a self-guided tour of the facilities was available). The walls of the barn, as well as several tables were covered with beautiful stained-glass and fused-glass art work.
My husband and I each chose 4 wines to sample: raspberry, rhubarb, blackberry and currant. In between sips we chatted with the friendly wine steward and admired the art for sale. When we had finished, we donned straw hats and went to pick our own raspberries. After weighing our pickings, we collected our purchases with our own berry-stained hands: several bottles of fruit wine and our souvenir wineglasses.
The entire charming adventure was made possible due to a clever marketing strategy on the part of the farmer. Instead of bemoaning the fact that his farm was in the middle of nowhere, he instead took advantage of the tourists who flock to his community from New York and lower Connecticut to enjoy the countryside and the seasons.
He strategically banded together with various local artists to show an ever-changing collection of artworks. He recognized that he and the artists shared a similar complementary clientele – tourists who were interested in art and wine, and who had some discretionary income. The rustic experience of pick-your-own berries added some country authenticity, and the nearly free samples of wine put the customers in a generous buying mood.
I admired the way the farmer not only turned berries into wine, but with some creative thinking, also turned obstacles into opportunities. For inspiration, you can see for yourself at his website, www.whitesilowinery.com.
To recreate the farmer’s success in your own internet marketing approach follow these six steps:
- Identify the obstacles that are holding you back – ask yourself how would you market yourself if those obstacles weren’t there?
- Consider what you can do to make yourself stand out in the crowd of online businesses and websites.
- Brainstorm what other interests your customers have that you can leverage.
- Explore who you can partner with for a joint venture or sale that will help you both attract more customers.
- Select samples or deals that you can give away to encourage prospective customers to take a second look.
- Modify your business to involve your customers in your business and give them a hands-on experience to remember.
The following is an example of how this could work for your business:
A chiropractor in Phoenix, AZ wants to increase her business.
- She has the following obstacles:
- Over 24,000 chiropractors in Phoenix.
- No insurance coverage for her services means people have to be motivated to buy.
- No name recognition or unique brand for her business – she’s just one of thousands.
- She has a website but limited marketing funds. She decides to create a blog, write articles and use press releases as a low cost way to stand out – but she doesn’t know what to write about.
- She reviews her customers and realizes that many of them are golfers in town on business trips who injure their back on one of Phoenix’s many golf courses.
- She decides to partner with local golf pro’s, golf courses, and resort hotels who may have clientele who have injured their back; She decides to brand herself as the “golfer’s back doctor”, relieving sprained backs, providing classes with exercises to strengthen backs in the off season, and helping healthy golfers improve their swing; She buys a new domain name “Back in the Swing” and starts writing a blog about back health and golf.
- She receives referrals from local golf pro’s and golf courses, and makes arrangements to give discount coupons to her clients to local courses for games and lessons.
- She does joint seminars and demonstrations with local golf pros at golf courses and corporate events, to discuss back care and golf tips.
Before she knows it, her practice is full and she is looking to expand.
So now that you have the example, how can you use these six steps to overcome your own obstacles in your business and position yourself to stand out in the crowd?
This was a guest post by Liz Fuller a Business Development Specialist who works with Women Entrepreneurs to develop and expand their own businesses. She also runs the blog MoreThan WE Know.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
Hey John,
Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger - And I love the picture of the berry farm/winery that you included!
A pleasure. The picture is off the website you mentioned, I hope they won’t mind as you’re saying how good they are.
Liz,
Great article, really enjoyed it, great story followed by specifics and not one tired cliche.
Don’t mention it John, just between you and me right?
I would love to run an article by you.
Thanks Lindsay - glad you liked it. It was a fun experience and I enjoyed writing about it and lessons I learned.
Hello Liz,
This is a great article. The golfer story really demonstrates the power of understanding your core customers and core propositions. Often a small business takes off, when it finds their unique niche. And the discovery of niche could bring the business to a completely different shape of what the founder originally intended.
Who could think it is the golfers visiting the town. But that is actually a good target, because they are of the upper income segment, who can pay for un-reimbursed procedures. Maybe, next, she may partner with a stress mgmt, Yoga teachers to provide stress mgmt programs to these corporate clients!
I truly enjoyed the article. Thank you!
Hi Asako
Thanks for your comments on my article. Yes, what I especially liked about golfers as a target market was that they have already demonstrated a willingness to spend their discretionary income on their golf game. They are usually a passionate bunch of people who are motivated to learn more and do more to give themselves a competitive advantage in their game -whether it’s fixing an already hurting back, or learning how to avoid one in the future.
Yoga enthusiasts and stress management also have good overlap with this business - it’s kind of fun to see where you get to, when you start letting your imagination roam!
Lindsay,
Was “I would love to run an article by you.” addressed to me or Liz? If me then please feel free to send it over.
Regards, John
[...] In contrast, More Than WE Know is going strong - in less than 3 months, we’ve been included in the Top 100 Business Blogs, and been read over 4000 times by readers like you. I’ve been selected to do guest posts, published 14 articles and have begun distributing my own ezine. [...]
Carnival of the Capitalists…
Hello, and welcome to the November 5, 2007 edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. This blog is called Small Business Essentials, which has been recently relaunched after a hiatus and redesign. I also run a web design and marketing firm, NHG Consul…
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Hi Liz,
My father, Ralph Gorman, is the farmer mentioned in your blog on the White Silo Winery. We have worked very hard to create a unique experience at our farm and winery. In addition to the art shows we will be hosting a series of special events such as our Asparagus Festival in May. In early March all art shows and events will be published on our site. Thank you very much for your support.
Eric Gorman
Hi Eric
Thanks so much for the info! I’m glad you liked the article - I’m looking forward to reading the updated events in March. I noticed you don’t have an email contact on your website - have you considered putting one up, starting a blog, or soliciting subscribers to a newsletter?
My husband and I really enjoyed our experience at your father’s winery and we look forward to the Asparagus Festival in May!
Liz
Liz,
Yes we are in the process of updating our Website
to addd the features that you suggested. We now
have a blog whitesilowinery.blogspot.com. Thanks
again.
Eric
Hi Eric
Nice start to your blog. I think there is a lot of opportunity with it. Please contact me when you have a chance - I’d like to do a follow up story on my other blog - businessandblogging.com - we are profiling small businesses who are blogging.
Liz
liz(dot)fuller(at)b5media(dot)com