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This Super Bowl is the biggest and most-watched of all time. Millions of dollars have been spent on commercials, one-hundred million dollars in advertising, half of which is going to the big winners. Who are these big winners? Well many small businesses and many of the mid-size businesses that have been around for years are winning here. And these companies are using the money they are spending in the commercials to fund their business ventures.
- The Super Bowl is a chance for small businesses to win against the biggest business in the world. In fact, it is the chance of any business to win against the biggest business in the world. This gives small businesses confidence that they can compete and win against the market power of corporations. This confidence is important because it gives small businesses the drive and motivation they need to excel in every aspect of their business. As I’ve written about before, this is the best time of year to be starting or growing a small business because this is when small business owners have the greatest opportunity to grow their business.
- With such a huge advertising budget going into this amazing commercial, what kind of message do you think the big business is sending? That they have a monopoly on the successful formula for success, and those small businesses must fend for themselves. In reality, the opposite is true. While big business giants like Microsoft and Google are spending billions of dollars on advertisements, small businesses are using some of their own money to advertise and publicize themselves. And in some cases, they are using the most innovative social media marketing tools to spread the word about their business.
- This is great news for small business owners. However, the problem is that many of the big winners from this year’s Super Bowl are only semi-finners. They are not even guaranteed to be among the winners when the final curtains come down. Why? Because in order to become one of the grand finalists, businesses must have a series of extremely creative and persuasive marketing plans. Otherwise, they will be seen as “underdogs” and their chances of reaching the top of the winner’s list will be severely reduced.
- In other words, if your business has an idea that can’t be beaten by its closest competitor, then your business is finished long before it reaches the winner’s circle. This is why smart small businesses are always developing new strategies and thinking about new ways to increase their exposure. It is also why many of the newly formed winners in this year’s Super Bowl were small businesses that had a unique way of marketing themselves. A great example of this is the sports blog GoldenPalace.
- The site was created by two small businesses, Matt Gagnon and Jason Whitlock, and it is one of the fastest-growing blogs on the web. Within its pages are a number of unique marketing strategies that have made these companies Super Bowl winners. Theirs was not a glitzy advertising campaign; instead, they built a community around a product, built a relationship with their users and used social media in ways not seen before to spread the word about their products. They did this because they understood that a national stage would not beat a small business-big game.
The NFL is now making the same mistake: counting on small business owners to be its weapons of choice to beat out the national competition. How many of the millions of people who watch Super Bowl each Sunday do you think have actually signed up for a website that promotes a company listed below? If you think that these companies are becoming too big to handle, just remember how few major brands have managed to strike it rich using these tactics. It is time for small businesses to get on board the big game. Join the crowd; sign up now for more tips on how to grow your business and get more exposure.
