Manage Brand Expectations

With the advent of social media platforms, build-your-own website tools, and freeware of all kinds expectations for brand quality in small businesses has gone through the roof. How can you manage these expectations and from time to time exceed them?

The landscape

Consumers want it all. They are used to the levels of user interface and brand experience they have at Amazon, Google, and Zappos. Can’t get me my shoes tomorrow? Why should I bother? Can’t give me an answer to my wildest question with your app in seconds just like Siri does? I’m going to be disappointed. Big brands have spent millions of dollars creating wonderful technology. As consumers, we forget that technology costs money and small brands don’t have it. How can the little guy compete?

You’ve got something they don’t have

Figure out what it is and flaunt it. You’re small. You can be nimble. You can pick up the phone. You can give them something personalized, handcrafted, and unique.

Show and tell what you have to offer

As a small business, there is something you do better than anyone else. You have to over-communicate that thing. Maybe you have a booth at a farmer’s market. You can’t compete with a large grocery chain on variety. You can compete at a personal level. Your customers can meet the person growing their food. They can learn about your values. They can have faith in what they are feeding their family. Remind them. On your website, at your booth, in conversation.

Perhaps you own an event space but you don’t have a large staff. You can’t compete with high-touch service but you can with level of choice. Customers can choose their own vendors and save money by planning their own events. Point out what you do well and what you don’t. Explain the niche you fit into. By turning away some potential customers, you’ll avoid disappointed ones and gain the ones that give glowing reviews.

Focusing in on what you do best and being honest about what you don’t will help your fans find you and your detractors go elsewhere. Tell your customers exactly what to expect and then deliver on it. And the times you can go above and beyond what you promised will delight them even more.