Small Business Now
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By Kim T. Gordon

    Extraordinary marketing results are rarely achieved by playing it safe. Yet when it comes to marketing, most small businesses remain buried in the pack, going from year to year with the same minor market share. After all, with so much "me too" marketing out there, it's easy to consider mediocre marketing the status quo.

    The standouts are companies that in industry-speak are called "gazelles." These fast-growing small businesses are the front-runners -- pack leaders in just about every market niche -- whose marketing strategies and campaigns are anything but ordinary. They're the top competitors you love to hate yet wish you could emulate.

    If you want to run with the gazelles, you need to be bold and approach marketing with an altered mindset. There are four critical elements to extraordinary marketing success:

1. Originality

    A funny new jingle or revamped logo may be uniquely original, but the true acid test of originality is strategy. That's where everything begins. Do you have a definitive marketing strategy? How is it original to your company and its customers?

    Every business must have its own point of differentiation -- a promise to deliver a specific benefit to its customers -- that can't be claimed by any of its competitors. This is what positions your company or brand. It takes effort to understand what customers want and need most from your business and then to excel at delivering that benefit. Yet to be a marketing front-runner, you must carefully outline a strategy to communicate an original message based on this point of differentiation.

2. Improvisation

    Extraordinary marketers focus on their core competencies -- while allowing their product and service offerings to evolve -- and find ways to sell what their customers want to buy. They offer layers of products and services, all meeting the growing and changing needs of customers.

    The ability to listen to and learn from customers hinges on having the appropriate "listening posts" in place. These can range from simple online message boards, to more formalized customer advisory boards, surveys and other studies. As a small-business owner you have an advantage over lumbering corporate bureaucracies. You can turn on a dime to quickly create a new service or product offering based on input from customers or clients, and improvise your way to a whole new means of earning market share.

3. Change

    As the marketplace changes, so do the ways your prospects relate to your brand. New competitors enter the fray with unique, compelling benefits all their own, while others drop out of sight. Successful marketers know what to change and what to hold onto and nurture for the long haul. This may sound like fortune-cookie philosophy, but it's practical and proven time and again. It’s absolutely essential to stick with the core message of your company or brand while evolving to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. Marketing campaigns may come and go, but the core message of your brand must remain steadfast or customers will find nothing to believe in.

4. Values

    It takes guts to create marketing that reflects your company's values, and vision to stay the course. Today, more than ever, customers want to know what your company stands for -- whether you're a small manufacturer that touts eco-friendly production processes, or you make women's exercise apparel and support young women’s participation in sports. Exceptional marketers may rally customers around a mutual passion or cause, or merely communicate their charitable affiliations to a like-minded customer base. Are your company's values reflected in its marketing campaign? Show your customers the bandwagon and invite them to jump aboard. If you’ve read them right, they'll share your values and demonstrate intense, long-term loyalty that results in increased sales.

Kim T. Gordon's columns and articles are read by more than 3 million small-business owners each month.  She is a small-business expert and the author of four books, including Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars: The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business.