This guest post on Savvy-Writer about how to make your small business stand out in an oversaturated market is from Glenn Wiseman, RASDT, RHDT, is the Sales Manager at Top Hat Home Comfort Services.
The key to success as a small business lies in attracting and retaining customers. But how do you stand out as a small business when competing within an oversaturated market?
With so many small businesses competing for the same customers, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd. You’re constantly looking for innovative ways to get people into your store. Plus, you you want them to use your service and keep them coming back for more. Regarding the home care services industry. There are many different companies that use different ways to appeal to customers. We want to help small businesses to thrive in today’s competitive markets based on our own experience as a business in this space.
What Makes Your Market Oversaturated?
Oversaturated markets tend to develop during a period of rapid growth or expansion in a particular area. This factor often occurs during economic booms. Why? Because entrepreneurs and investors see an opportunity for profit and start jumping into the same market simultaneously.
They open similar businesses that offer similar products and services in the same geographic area and hope to cash in on the trend. But what happens when the trends die down or the bubble bursts? These new businesses suddenly find themselves competing with each other for an ever-shrinking piece of the pie. This can spell trouble for everyone involved. This competition can still happen when trends are on the rise, such as in real estate.
We saw a huge upward spike in demand for in-home services as the real estate industry boomed throughout the pandemic. As real estate is a space that directly affects the home service industry, we saw demand for our services go up as demand for homes increased. This demand created new competition for customers that did not exist previously. We adapted and worked hard to stand out in what had become an oversaturated market. Here are some recommendations for your small business, no matter the niche.
Define Your Brand and its Core Values
Once you define the most critical aspects of your brand, what’s the next step? You make sure all aspects of your business reflect these brand values. Also, you must align your marketing assets, logo, visuals, website design, and tone, with these values. The more cohesive your color and branding looks and feels, the more likely you’ll succeed in standing out from the competition. Branding is massively important to the success of your small business, so if in 2022 you don’t take the time to define your brand and create some detailed brand guidelines, your business will fall by the wayside.
What Makes Your Company Stand Out?
Your unique differentiating factor is essential for standing out in an oversaturated market. Discover what makes your business unique and figure out ways to communicate that to potential customers. After all, people most people would prefer a store that offers something different than what everyone else is offering. It could be as simple as your location. Or perhaps something more complex like your approach to customer service or your philosophy on design.
At Top Hat Home Comfort Services, our scope of knowledge and expertise sets us apart from the crowd. We stand out by not being strictly specialized to one service area, but we are all-encompassing in professional home improvement, repair and maintenance services. We have created offerings that apply to every level of home care, such as appliances, tune-ups, roofing, gutters, annual maintenance, 24/7 emergency services, upgrades, and HVAC.
In addition, we stand out from the competition by offering a comprehensive list of services to our clientele. Rather than people needing to call a different company for each service, they reach out to us and get all the work done for their home needs.
Once you discover what sets you apart from other companies, use it to your advantage. Show customers why they should come to you instead of going somewhere else. Tell them what makes your business different and why that should matter to them. It’s also important to showcase your services and expertise on your website. Why? Because it shows potential clients why your company is the right fit to tackle the work.
Marketing and Promotions
Your marketing is vital for keeping your business afloat in an oversaturated market. What people think of your brand will make or break you. If the market is oversaturated, you need to establish your place. In addition, marketing helps you get noticed. You want to make sure that when people look for the products or services you offer, your company name shows up before anyone else does.
When potential customers think about home services, whatever area they may be in, we want the Top Hat brand to be the first thing that comes to mind. We can do this and stand out by building up our brand’s personality and reputation across multiple channels. Using consistent branding across various tools such as social media, content marketing, and search engine optimization will help build up your brand’s personality throughout digital channels, which is an effective way of standing out.
Get Referrals and Reviews
In 2022, customers read reviews more than they ever have in the past. A recent BrightLocal study found that 77% of consumers always or regularly read reviews when browsing local businesses.
So whether you’re a restaurant owner, agency operator, or manager of a home services company, your goal should be to get positive customer reviews regularly since they matter in every client-facing industry. In addition, highlighting positive reviews on your website, right on the home page, can be a great way of building trust with new clients and loyalty with returning clients. Referrals are another vital part of making your business standout from the crowd. Think back to the last time you used a new service or product; where did you hear about it? It was likely from a positive review from someone you know. Word-of-mouth referrals help build up your client base. People are four times more likely to purchase or use a service when referred to it by someone they know and trust. You can encourage word-of-mouth referrals through a referral program or tell satisfied customers to mention your work to their friends!
Wrapping Up How to Make Your Small Business Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace
Even though the world is such a big place, new technologies are regularly making it feel smaller and making businesses more aligned with one another. Funny how that works!
The internet makes it very easy for customers to find businesses of all kinds and sizes. In theory, this benefit should be good news for small business owners like you, but it could also be bad news if the market is oversaturated.
You can’t just be another business in a crowded marketplace and expect to stand out. You must:
- Offer something different or unique.
- Give potential customers a compelling reason to choose you over everyone else.
- Define your brand and market your brand’s personality.
- Highlight positive reviews and professional experiences through your website and promotional material and get person-to-person referrals.
By following these simple steps on how to make your small business stand out, your brand can outperform your competition and boost results.
Author Bio:
Glenn Wiseman, RASDT, RHDT, is the Sales Manager at Top Hat Home Comfort Services. The Top Hat Home Comfort Services team has over 45 years of expertise in various home maintenance and renovation projects, with a strong commitment to quality, craftsmanship and expertise. They are experts on home services and appliances, including tune-ups, roofing, annual maintenance, 24/7 emergency services, upgrades, but Top Hat Home Comfort Services’ most well-known service is HVAC.