That was my reaction when I recieved a Thanksgiving greeting via e-mail from a local business owner. It's not that I don't appreciate being wished well, its that the e-card stated how thankful the sender was to have me as a clinet -- but I wasn't. Now this may seem like a small thing, but in my opinion it is as off putting as the old "dear occupant" and about as likely to make me feel like this buisness new me or really cared.

Of course, I know that this was a mass mailing, not a perosnal greeting, but the statement that was lound and clear, though unspoken, was that the sender didn't feel it necessary to take the time to segment their list and make a version of the message for two groups. In this day and age, appropriate personalization easy to do and not doing it in an era of one-to-one marketing will make you stand out in your audiences's mind-- but not in the way you want!

Do you know what your biggest strength as a small business is ?

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy recently said in his 2009 Info Summit  https://gkic.infusionsoft.com/link/19d9e910f40/5e9ac0 (and I'm paraphrasing here) that what really matters to your prospects when they hear your marketing message is not the quality of the way its packaged or produced, but the emotional connection they feel with you. Wrapped up in this insight is a clue to the strongest advantage every small business has compared to large companies. What almost every small business can do better than almost every large business is build that personal connection that is critical to forming a business relationship. Though large companies are very good a many things due to their scale, vast resources and sophistication, it is extremely difficult for them to create and maintian a strong personal connection with thier customers.

So if you find yourself worrying about competing with the "big guys" ask yourself "What can I do to communicate my enthusiasm for helping my customers?" If you do, you can't be stopped.