4 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Big Businesses

You can’t compete with big businesses and brands.

At least that’s what it seems like when you take a look at some of the advantages that have:
– They have a recognizable brand name
– They have a huge marketing budget
– They can easily attract the best talents
– They have better prices and profit margins thanks to economies of scale
– And lots more.

But none of these strengths should scare you as a small business owner.

Because they have as many weaknesses as they have strengths.

And that’s the way to win when you’re competing against big businesses – by taking advantage of their weakness.

In this article, we’d share a few ways to successfully compete against the big businesses in your market.

Competing To Win – Four Strategies That Small Businesses Can Use To Beat Big Businesses

1. Know Your Competition
2. Identify Their Weakness
3. Specialise On A Narrow Niche
4. Cultivate Long Term Relationships

1. Know Your Competition

The first step to success against your competition is to know as much as possible about them.

The more you know about them, the better your chances of success.

Run a competitor analysis. Identify your biggest competitors, both direct and indirect.

Then, determine;
a. What their value proposition is
b. How they are positioning their products or services (pricing, marketing etc.)
c. Conduct a SWOT analysis on them and determine their areas of strength and weakness.

2. Identify Their Weaknesses

The next step naturally is to use their weakness to compete against them.

This is the only way you can compete against big competitors. You can’t approach them head-on and expect to come out victorious.

Many businesses have been crushed trying to fight big businesses head-on.

Even David, the biblical character, must have understood this principle because he didn’t wrestle with Goliath.

He looked for his weakness and focused on using that against him.

So, identify what your competitors are not doing or doing poorly, and strategize on ways you can do those things better.

Also, you may discover after your analysis that your competitors have more weaknesses than you expected.

Instead of trying to do it all at once, pick two or three weaknesses that you are competent at and that is very important to your customers, and do it better than they can.

3. Specialise On A Narrow Niche

No matter how good your products are, you would not be able to compete with big competitors if you’re offering the same thing they are offering.

You have to find a smaller niche within your market and provide customers with specialized products in that niche.

For example, if you run a small store at your estate, and a big supermarket opens shop nearby, you can be sure that they would offer a wide range of products and at better prices.

While you may not be able to compete with them due to their size, you can pivot to a narrower niche within your market, like baby clothes, such that when your target customers think of baby clothes, you’ll be the one they think of.

4. Cultivate Long Term Relationships

For small businesses to win when they compete with big businesses, they have to play to their advantage.

One area is building relationships.

Small businesses are in a better position to build genuine, personalized relationships with their customers and employees.

Customers value personalized relationships, and big businesses can’t provide customers with that level of relationship.

So, you have to best them at it.

Know the names of your customers, show genuine interest in their issues, and show them you care by contributing to the growth and development of their communities.

You can also cultivate genuine relationships with your employees.

Big businesses may be able to pay them more, but you can show how much you value them through genuine interest in their personal goals and challenges.

In summary, you should identify the things your competition is not doing at all or doing poorly, and do it better.

You can’t fight them head-on, specialize in a narrow niche and provide super-specialized knowledge and offerings to your customers.

Best them at customer and employee relationships, simple things like calling customers by their name when they come to your store, or writing personalized notes of thanks can have a great impact.

One bonus strategy is to work with other small business to share knowledge, network and experiences.

This would boost your chances of winning against big businesses and growing your small business as you do.

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