Guest post by Patrick Jones at PaySimple.
Every Fortune 500 company was once a fledgling business; learning the ropes, and testing and trying things for the first time. However as you get larger and larger, those first days seem too far away to matter. As a provider of merchant accounts, payment processing, and customer management software, we at PaySimple have had numerous conversations with business owners who are continually making on-the-fly adjustments to their processes to increase efficiency. Since our founding in 2005, we’ve come across quite a few characteristics that can translate to bigger brands. Here are four we think are important:
1. Don’t Get Stuck in the Past
History doesn’t always repeat itself. If something didn’t work five or even a couple years ago, who’s to say it won’t work today? Many newer, smaller, businesses don’t have the historical data to write something off because it didn’t work “in the past.” With this “new” mindset, any idea can be a winning one.
Say you launched a channel or campaign a few years back that had some positive traction but didn’t get the results you expected. Don’t forget that just a few short years ago, Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist. That very same campaign might be a huge success now that it can spread across the internet in a matter of hours. Recycle some of those old ideas. You never know, in today’s face-paced digital world, it only takes one social media “share” to launch a brand into the spotlight.
2. Rebranding is Possible…and Not as Scary as it Sounds
As a small business owner myself, I can testify that I’ve rebranded my company three times in the past three years. This wasn’t because I started with the wrong idea, it’s because the business concept changed significantly over time, and with those changes came a change in branding. I’ll be the first to admit, rebranding is a time-intensive process; changing business cards, letterheads, website design, email signatures, etc. However, it’s also one of the best ways to start over and revitalize your message. If you run a big company, and your current brand message has changed from where you started, but your customers can’t see it in your creative & tone, it might be time to re-brand.
Just look at Old Spice, after 70 years of being just another bathroom brand, their 2010 rebranding has done wonders for their business. With proper planning and a good agency on your side, rebranding can revitalize an “old” company and pay huge dividends in the long run.
3. Don’t Forget About Your Customers
If there’s one thing that business owners and those on the front lines understand, it’s the importance of customer service. Every single customer and contract matters to the bottom-line and the viability of the business. But, when you are dealing with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of customers each year, you might be disconnected from the customer pulse. In the old days, a disgruntled customer had a very hard time getting their voice heard. They might have told their friends about the poor experience they had with your business, but that’s where it ended. Not anymore.
Today’s consumers are armed with blogs, Yelp, Twitter, Facebook and a multitude of other online commenting tools. Don’t give them a reason to bad-mouth you on the internet; instead, give them amazing customer service and watch the unsolicited testimonials start to flow!
4. Be Nimble. Try New Ideas on the Fly
Last but not least, when you are smaller, you have the ability to implement new ideas in days or weeks instead of months or years. Large businesses can sometimes get bogged down with bureaucracy, internal politics and red tape. When a small business has a new marketing idea, they can usually get the concept up and running within a month, often times even less. Large businesses have layers of management to go through to get authorization to launch new initiatives.
Work on shortening the time it takes for initiatives to get the green light by re-looking at your process approvals, or allocating a “test” budget that has more flexibility. Nothing hinders a marketing team more than waiting three months to hear back about a project they wanted to launch the previous quarter. Wouldn’t it be nice to be on the cutting edge for once, instead of always playing catch-up? Shorten the chain of command and you’re well on your way.
Remember, just because your balance sheet says you are a big business, doesn’t mean that you have to act like a big business. Try things that didn’t work in the past; they might work now. If your current brand image doesn’t properly convey your present-day values, change it. Give clients the best customer service possible; your business depends on it. Lastly, try new things – it may pay off in dividends.
About the Author:
Patrick Jones is the SEO/SEM associate at PaySimple. He spends his time tweaking AdWords campaigns and writing blog posts about the increasingly popular business payments space. Google+
Image Credits: Facebook Chart, TechCrunch.com; Old Spice Ad, Oldspice.com; main photo, Robert S. Donovan via photopin cc