Help with business focus please..

[vickitcs]

Hi everyone

My business is "marketed" as a credit control service, but recent forums I have looked at, have suggested that it is a good idea to create a more specialised brand. So for instance, my business would perhaps be geared more towards being a cash flow optimisation package or suchlike. I can see the benefit, in that it stands you above the rest as being something different and providing a specialisd service, but then would I not lose customers who are specifically looking for a credit control branded business?

Thank!

 

[Karllacey]

I understand what a credit control business is and what it does; what on earth is a cash flow optimization package?? That can be construed as multiple different things from accountants to an energy savings company.

I would recommend you keep it simple 'credit control' does exactly what it says on the tin

 

[vickitcs]

Thanks Karl! I guess I shall have to look at another way to package the business the..

 

[LinkBright Media]

The advantage of specialising in a niche is that 1. as you rightly point out it makes you look like a specialist in your field, and 2. you have less competition when it comes to advertising, marketing and SEO. Good luck thinking of something!

 

[Ashley_Price]

You need to ensure two things:

1/ The "niche" is big enough to get plenty of business from it;
2/ People need to understand what you do.

As @Karllacey has pointed out, you can actually lose potential clients by trying to be clever with what you call your service.

 

[cautiouscapy]

What search terms do your potential customers use to find a service like yours via a Search Engine?

Might be a starting point for how to position yourself in a niche.

Another idea might be, do you have a particular industry that most of your customers are from? "Credit control for XYZ".

e.g. I worked with a coach once who had positioned herself as working with women in a particular industry.
She did coach others, but had found she already had several clients who were ladies from this industry so branded herself as being a specialist - and that's why I chose her as being a good fit for me.

Don't be afraid of "niching down" as they call it - you can always expand your "specialisation" and pick up other customers by recommendation.
If I'm an accountant specialising in beauty therapists (I'm not), hairdressers and massage therapists would realise that I would understand their business too, especially if their friends and associates were recommending me.

 

[vickitcs]

Ooh good idea. I will think on that a little!

 

[maxine]

Hi Vicki

I'm a qualified credit manager (MICM Grad) that moved into a career in direct marketing and have worked with various credit & debt industry businesses.

They can be extremely difficult to market until you are very clear on your target audience. Who is likely to buy from you the most and why being the key question you need to ask yourself.

Once you are clear on this then the branding will fall into place.

But in the UK people who want credit control services will go looking for credit control services. They won't go looking for "cashflow optimisation' as that would probably imply automated dunning letter software or something different to credit control.

I think the advice that cautiouscapy gave about industry niche is good but ... the market for outsourced credit controller services is fairly small so by all means demonstrate industry experience but I wouldn't exclude any target segments just yet if you can avoid it.

Hope that helps and good luck

 

[Greg Black]

Hi Vicki

I agree that using a fancy name for a service isn't really what you want to do.

When picking a niche, usp or focus for your business, pick something that you are really good, something that makes you stand out, but that is also something that is really important to your target customers, something that hits one of their pain points.

I've written a post on picking your USP and positioning your business, please take a look.

It's part of a series of 7 posts looking at the essential aspects of good small business marketing.

Cheers
Greg