Businesses used to be categorized as either “enterprises,” complex companies with large assets and myriad staff, “mid-sized companies,” which aspired to be enterprises, or “small businesses,” with good ideas and agile ways of bringing products and services to market but without much else.
Today’s business world no longer resembles that of even a few years ago. Size no longer matters, as even the smallest businesses now have an audience with the markets served by enterprises. The playing field has been leveled.
Forbes recently published an article that explained how today’s media has changed the way buyers purchase and the way companies market.
People no longer rely on expensive advertisements to become aware of products and services. They are doing their own research online and asking for feedback and reviews from their peers. Purchasing decisions are being made on trust, not on how impressive ad campaigns are.
And small businesses are good at building trust, because they’re good at being authentic—they’ve had to be, because it’s hard to fool people when you’re a small operation. In a world where authenticity and trust are essential to purchasing decisions, small businesses now have the upper hand.