Masters of Aikido, Judo and TaiJiQuan all leverage the inertia, strength and mass of their opponent to win the match – and small business can do it, too.

How?

By hyper-focusing on the client to build a brand that actually competes with major national brands. As a small business owner, you can over-deliver the tailored, neighborhood-specific, home-town features of your product or service that the big boys across the street cannot offer. That kind of specialty stands out! That helps develop a powerful local brand.
National chains cannot hope to know your customer as well as you do! So leverage that ‘disadvantage’ against the powerhouse national company!

Sorta like Pace Picante Sauce advertising that the competition came from “New York City”!
Yikes!

Yes we all know that Pace is owned by the Campbell Soup Company, and they don’t exactly fit the “small business” label, but even leveraging even a perceived strategic advantage is powerful stuff.
…and of course Texans want to buy their salsa from people in Texas who ‘know salsa,’ right?

My point is, big national companies rarely get to know customers by name, sponsor local high school athletic teams, send store managers to speak at local Rotary clubs, or give their store managers the authority to speak to local media without approval from the “corporate headquarters”.

But you can.

We followed that approach with one of our clients. A small independent pharmacy with no real advertising budget or media footprint. And right across the street – fierce competition from one of the “big boys”!

It’s Texas Star Pharmacy in Plano, Texas.

The owners – Mike and Donna Barsky – wanted to build their brand and expand their client base despite the proximity of a major national chain pharmacy nearby. How did they do it?

By leveraging the opponent’s ponderous weight as a tool! Senior pharmacist Donna Barsky is a marvelous speaker and writer. So she wrote articles and gave educational talks to local civic groups.
With decades of pharmacy experience, she was able to explain complex medical topics to local newspaper and TV reporters, and offer media interviews on health issues at the ‘drop of a hat’ – with no big bureaucracy to navigate for approval.

During flu season, they offered low-cost vaccinations at a local church.

We taught them how to start blogging, podcasting and developing content for YouTube. (She was a natural!)

They offered home delivery, one-on-one counseling for drug compatibility, longer hours, competitive pricing – and every customer got a hug!
Yes, that’s right. Donna’s a hugger!

How could the pharmacy giant possibly compete?

Over the course of the last year, Donna Barsky has been covered by local or national media at least 60 TIMES! And business has grown about 30%! And now they’re opening a new location!
This stuff really works.

A hyper-local focus. Listening to the client and putting their needs first. Becoming a resource for local media. And developing content for yourself (articles, videos, podcasts).

So borrow a page from the Judo Master and make your ‘strategic disadvantage’ into a powerful weapon.

Watch out for fake cures for swine flu.

As flu season gets into full swing, con artists are peddling an increasing number of fake