How to market an SME

31/08/2010

Successful marketing strategies can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow their business, it has been suggested.

According to George Derbyshire, the chief executive of the National Federation of Enterprise Agency, writing for the BBC, the first thing firms need to do is address their potential customers.

They need to be able to identify a prospective consumer in order to tailor marketing to attract them and get their message across.

"The cost of servicing existing customers is much less than marketing to new ones," Mr Derbyshire wrote.

"So have a loyalty strategy. Reward repeat business."

He advises that it is important to encourage happy customers to boost business by introducing their friends and promoting the company via word-of-mouth.

"Charging less than your competitors is the worst marketing strategy of all, unless you have a brilliant competitive advantage, and let's be honest, that's unlikely," Mr Derbyshire warned SMEs.


Recently, research from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Grant Thornton accountants revealed that almost a fifth of firms are now feeling less confident about the coming year than they did during the first quarter.

Posted by Nicola Richards