When the tech industry was still nascent, many people who we know as tech giant owners today launched tech companies, quickly accumulating millions. We are talking about the ‘four horsemen of the tech’: Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
The owners of these companies understood that one should never underestimate their own ideas. Even now, there is still hope of finding yourself some space in the market even when the tech giants are seemingly quite grounded. The following 5 strategies should help:
1) Create advantages of your own
How does one do that?
The likes of Amazon and Apple can:
- Defeat any competition when it comes to content marketing
- Use their large resources to achieve anything
- Buy any technology
- Use their customer loyalty to their advantage
- Use tactics to beat others on pricing
While a startup may not enjoy these benefits, it can still:
- Be more customer-oriented because of their small size
- Be immune to the bureaucracy that plagues the tech giants
- Develop long-term relationships with their customers
- Stay on the edge of the market with no problem
- Adjust to the drastic changes that emerge in the market
You can grow in many ways considering these advantages over the bigger companies.
2. Create your own signature
In Blue Ocean Strategy, author Renee Mauborgne gives clear-cut advice against diving into the “blood-red section of water” where firms are “ripping each other apart.” Instead, what a new startup should do is sidestep that war, “look for opportunities” and “create your own clear space in the market.”
The simple meaning of this is that if you are a new startup and suddenly you find a giant stepping in your niche and finding comfort, then look for a sub-niche.
This should help you understand the ‘pivoting’ point in the benefits.
3. Outpace them with your unparalleled customer services
What is it in for you?
A- The shopkeeper’s advantage.
As a startup, you have the opportunity to increase your customer services to a level that is unparalleled, even by the giants. As Henry Elkus says in the Wall Street Journal:
“A well-tuned small business can easily outperform its larger counterparts in customer service.”
B- Building customer trust.
Josiah Humphrey states this well:
“…Moreover, effective customer service is crucial to acquiring and retaining customers over the long haul.”
Furthermore, at Appster, the recommendations for founders in order to improve their customer service is summarized in five phrases:
- Respond quickly;
- Act politely;
- Reward customers for their loyalty;
- Heed feedback;
- Provide free info.
4. Grow your backend facilities
Inessential owner Brent Simmons states the indispensable need for every starter to have cloud-based services that, if maintained well, can outperform the tech giants.
Backend services can be any service including messaging, cloud storage service, etc. Giving the same attention to such services as the attention you give to the main service can be effective in bringing customers in – literally in flocks.
5. Collaborate with the giants
If your startup has something to offer to a tech giant and in return for something else, this can be very good news for your company.
Sharon Hadary has emphasized this in his post on WSJ where he stresses the importance “…identifying what your company can bring to the relationship that increases the success of both entities.”
Competing with a giant can be stressful as well as lucrative. It can be especially lucrative if you do very good PR for your company as well. Pressfarm is the perfect destination for founders looking for quality connections with journalists who they can pitch their growing startup to. The expert writers and PR specialists at Pressfarm also help you to convert your brand story into a compelling press release using engaging story angles.