Limited resources and funds are known deterrents to growth and diversification for small and medium business owners – but, in reality, the most inspiring business stories are about innovative and zero dollar marketing strategies. Flexibility, nimble-footed strategic decisions and agile work culture are some of the major advantages that SMBs have over much larger corporations with a greater marketing muscle. Low brand visibility, limited marketing budget and minimal business references create a challenging roadmap for SMB marketing teams – but, adversity does bring out the best in human beings. Self belief combined with ingenuity (in products, service, consulting, customer service, automation) propels the fringe players into the big league.

What brings you here?
The confluence of consumers and sellers creates the platform for a vibrant marketplace. As a buyer who has complete confidence in his products / services, the selection of a potential market is a tricky prospect. A good number of marketers would work on the intelligence from these 3 factors…

• Demography: Age segment, gender, income brackets, region / location
• Psychographics: Intangible and softer aspects of the consumers – consumption pattern, cultural and social values
• Technographics: behavioral aspects related to technology adoption – social web behavior, mobile / smart phone based activity, gadget adoption and dependency

But, the most maverick of marketers immerse themselves in a potential market before even making the first move – by experiencing the culture and customer behavior in first person; by being an active member and contributor to all the social networks where the potential customers are hanging out.
In the end, our perception of the market guides us into entering a particular market – and the perception of our brand (products, service, consulting) engages the consumer community with our business.

What did you bring to the table?
Perception and brand scrutiny go hand in hand. Entering a market with a USP (Unique Selling proposition) coupled with the tag of quality and affordability creates a perfect ecosystem for a favorable market reception – both in the offline and the online world.
A great product line presented with passion (utilizing all the communication channels) provides the right momentum for your brand when entering a new market – power of persuasion is maximized when sincerity is combined with facts.

Clicks, Connections and conversations
No matter how phenomenal a brand is AND irrespective of the size of the marketing budget, what matters in the end is the number of product inquiries over a period of time. Marketing think-tanks are hooked on to the simple conversion elements like…

• Number of clicks (sales, leads, inquiries in the online world)
• The volume of phone calls related to product / service
• Number of requests made for product demonstrations