Can Small Be Good?
I appreciate reading the blog of Seth Godin (along with half the world, apparently). Today, he blogged about the fact that “small is a weapon, not an excuse” and spoke of the power of the web to level the playing field between small and large businesses. I couldn’t agree more.
I serve as the Pastor of a church, which I consider small (we average about 200 people in our Sunday morning service). I know “small” is relative in almost any field, but in this day of megachurches, we’re small. But I’m also a firm believer that small churches and ministries can sometimes do things that larger ones can’t. Sometimes it’s red tape, other times its intimacy, but there are often huge advantages to being small.
Don’t get me wrong, many churches are being unfaithful to the spread of the gospel because they celebrate smallness in all the wrong ways - they’ve become isolated from culture, are dying, and are oblivious to it because they keep celebrating the wrong kind of smallness. Nonetheless, smallness can still have its advantages.
Seth points out that your small business can have a better web site, blog, newsletter, customer service, etc. than many larger businesses. This is true. There’s a reason why Get Human is such a popular place - people hate automated answering systems and maze-like navigational menus when they encounter a customer service issue. They just want a face, a voice, a reassurance that they matter - something that large businesses struggle to capture.
So how do you do business better when your small? It’s a comprehensive subject, so I’ll just focus a few thoughts on how your web site can help you beat out the bigger competition…
1. You can have a nicely designed site. Okay, so can the big guys, but many don’t. While their developers have to account for a thousand unique issues related to the size of their organization, you can focus on a simple site with a killer look!
2. You can respond personally to pleas for help. Your site can feature a contact form to which you pesonally respond. I’m not a fan of auto responders because no matter how wisely they are crafted, they always seem… auto? Nobody wants to be answered by a computer.
3. You can develop a relationship with your clients. This is the age of social networking, not just for individuals, but for businesses too. The idea of customer loyalty was beginning to die a slow death in this supercenter age, but it’s returning as people follow the service and goods providers they love best online.
4. You can easily communicate about what’s happening behind the scenes. I always recommend that every organization with a web site post company news of some kind, even if it’s “Kate got a new desk…” Why? Because nobody likes to do business with invisible people, so open the blinds online, let folks know that you’re human.
5. You can do it all fairly inexpensively. Some of you can do all of this yourself for nearly free, but even if you hire a professional web developer, rent a server, and do some online marketing, you’re investing a few thousand dollars that will pay for itself in a relatively short time period. The internet offers some of today’s greatest advertising opportunities and this will only increase as more people in more areas get better access to the online world.
So I agree with Seth, small is not an excuse, it can actually be a weapon. Fire away!
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Filed Under: Advice For Businesses, Advice For Ministries, Marketing Strategy