They are better for the Earth too…

I like to search for anything related to Small Fish, for obvious reasons and I found this article. It’s about eating sardines and other small fish and how that is more sustainable than eating big fish – they are easier to catch, there are more of them and they have less of a seafoodprint (a bit like a carbon footprint).

The article is from a Canadian news feed and its source is David Suzuki, who knows a thing or two about sustainability (Yes, I am a bit of a tree hugger myself. Tell no-one.)

David Suzuki: Tiny sardines offer great guilt-free value

You might think I’m stupid (some do :)) but I like the analogy with a business focused on small businesses (like ours is, obviously – hence the name). It bears some scrutiny, too. Small businesses, like small fish, are easier and quicker to catch – you are doing business with a single decision maker, often and there are is no complex bureaucracy to navigate (compared to larger companies). There are certainly more of them – Australia has around 2 million small businesses and the USA has something like 25 million. That’s a lot of fish.

The analogy runs a bit dry here – we’re not eating our customers, after all but I like it still. Small businesses are a legitimate market for any of us. Many business owners or salespeople or marketers like to focus on larger businesses or corporations and for some of them, this makes sense – they certainly spend a lot of money. Many others focus on consumers and are chasing the (impossible?) dream of the kinds of volume that Apple and Coca Cola experience.

As a business focusing solely (geddit?) on small businesses, people often suggest we also target the lucrative big business market, but I think it is a a mistake to dilute your focus – our customers like to know who we are and what we’ll do and who we’ll do it for – being everything to everybody is confusing and leaves people not caring what we do and how good it is.

All this is fine and I’m not suggesting that you should abandon your market and start focusing on the small business market. But I am suggesting that you have a look at the market your business addresses and have a think about your focus and, of course, about what you can do to help that market. Focus on one market with one value proposition and you gain a great deal.

It’s not the only option but it bears thinking about.