One of the most difficult things that smaller businesses have to contend with is keeping up with their established competitors. Since customers will favour big brands and companies they’ve already shopped with (and had a good experience with) it can be tricky for smaller ventures to get a look in. However, it’s not impossible and with the right tactics you can build yourself up and it won’t be long until you’re competing with the big guns. Here’s how to go about it.

Find Your USP

This seems like such an obvious thing in business but it’s something that so many small companies overlook. If you want to compete with more established brands, you need to be offering something to your customers that’s different to them. You both might sell clothes for example,  but you might specialise in high end boutique while they specialise in mass produced budget wares. You might sell clothes for mature women, they might sell clothes for kids. If they sell clothing in a certain style, you could specialise in a different style. That way you reduce direct competition and you both have your own sets of customers. Spend some time focusing on your unique selling point, what makes your business different to the others? Then use this as a basis for your branding and marketing.

Get Better Software

Good business software isn’t just an added bonus, it is crucial to your success. When you mess around with manual methods such as storing data and bookkeeping, work can be tedious and time consuming with a high risk of human error. Software can do lots of jobs in minutes, this means you save time, money and hassle. From rota planning software to time and attendance management, accounting, HR software and more- decide which types your company will benefit from most. All of your competitors will be using these kinds of programs, so if you want a chance of keeping up then you need to be utilising them too.

Employ The Right People

As well as having the right software to automate areas of your business and do things efficiently, you will still need human workers. Having the right employees on board is essential for your success, these are the people responsible for the daily workings of your business. Hire with care, find workers who are either experienced or who show real potential who you can train yourself. Making your business an attractive place to work will attract the best candidates, things like a competitive salary and excellent employee benefits will all be taken into consideration. When productivity starts to wane, you will make less sales and business will slow. Customers can be left unsatisfied and bad reviews can roll in. Before long, your entire reputation could be jeopardised. Make it your mission the find the very best people for the success of your business.

It can take time to build up your reputation and really get to a stage where you pose a threat to your competitors. But keep at it, keep moving forward and do what you can to get ahead.