As technology has allowed both consumers and companies to increase and organize their presence online, it's become increasingly hard for many small businesses to separate themselves from competitors. While it may seem as though every business has a Twitter or Facebook account, some experts think it may be best to go back to the basics of marketing to help think outside the box.
According to Harvard Business Review, companies may benefit from seeing what their competitors are doing, and then doing the opposite. This doesn't necessarily mean not advertising at all, but rather taking the role of a doppelganger – something that is the same, but opposite.
For example, if most companies in a particular industry are using online surveys to learn more about customer opinions and sentiment, a business may want to invite individuals to write in suggestions, comments or concerns to a specific email address or a separate page on the website instead. This allows the company to accomplish the same thing, but in a way that differentiates itself from competitors and doesn't hassle consumers with email blasts, pop up windows or unnecessarily long receipts.
Another technique the source recommends is to look back at previous small business internet marketing campaigns and figure out why a certain angle or technique may not have worked. If a plethora of competitors began marketing one way due to how much easier it is, it may benefit companies to pick up the previous method as it may show a greater work ethic than competitors.
There are many things a business can do to ensure that its targeted internet marketing campaign is unique, inspired and engages the right customer base just by going back to basics.