The selling of user data has brought criticism from privacy advocates, politicians, and regulators. And two of Facebook’s competitors, Apple and Google, have created privacy policies which sharply contrast with Facebook’s policies. Those policies have also elevated them in stakeholders’ eyes, framed them as privacy protectors, and are expected to cut severely into Facebook’s revenues.

Many companies are prepared for crises which reduce trust in the eyes of target markets. These crises can come from disgruntled employees and customers, hackers, corruption, or even just simple market adjustments. They can impact customers, investors, regulators, and any number of other key stakeholders.

But how many organizations are ready for their competition’s trust crises? These are opportunities to gain market share with consumers who may be more open to your message than they were days or weeks ago.

Turn competitors’ crises into your opportunities

Apple and Google are tech giants on their own merits. But each is also a competitor to Meta, Facebook’s parent company. Google is a direct advertising competitor, while Apple’s iMessage app competes against WhatsApp.

But neither company could just jump in to attack Facebook during its crisis; that would have been transparently self-serving. Direct attacks could also hurt their own revenue, since each company is intertwined with each other and Facebook on various platforms.

Instead, they have proactively, and very publicly, developed new privacy policies. The biggest of these changes are new controls on the iOS and Chrome platforms that severely limit 3rd-party tracking. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg has admitted will cost his company billions. While these policies aren’t specifically anti-Facebook, they do take advantage of the target audience’s connection to Facebook’s failings. Furthermore, they frame Apple and Google as pro-consumer and pro-privacy.

Apple didn’t stop with creating its privacy controls; that would be like cutting down a tree in the woods with nobody else around. They also launched ads, intentionally secured positive media coverage, and received influencer support.

A good example of their messaging is in this recent privacy ad. The setting is a young woman watching her online habits be auctioned off, until she chooses Apple’s privacy settings. The message is clear: Apple is the online user’s privacy friend.

Be ready for the competition’s mistakes

Building trust protection is an important part of an overall communications strategy. You can’t wait for disaster to strike before trying to fill the trust reservoir; nor can trust be effectively rebuilt if no plan is in place to refill the reservoir.

But paying too much attention to the competition can also be a distraction from growth. Apple and Google aren’t building their strategy around Facebook’s mistakes. What they have done is incorporate Facebook’s vulnerability into their existing plans.

Competitors’ crises can also become your industry’s — and your company’s — problem

A final reason to take advantage of a competitor’s trust crisis is simple self-interest. Consumers, regulators, influencers and the media who have issues with Facebook also tend to have wider privacy concerns. This means that Apple and Google don’t just need to protect their own interests — they need to protect Big Tech’s overall reputation.

Likewise, the recent Ernst & Young test cheating scandal cost the company $100 million and lots of bad press. However, it didn’t just reflect badly on the company; it could negatively impact its competitors, especially since KPMG had a similar scandal in 2019.

And when payroll company Kronos was hacked last year, the media ran articles about how the incident might change how businesses consider and use outsourced payroll companies. ADP and other Kronos competitors now have to work extra hard to show they can be trusted to secure information and keep payroll running on time.

When others are in crisis, you’re in opportunity

An ethical cliché is, “Don’t kick a man when he’s down.”

But business isn’t about cheap shots. It’s about offering your better product, service or customer experience to more customers/clients, investors/stakeholders and staff/vendors. Apple and Google are simply differentiating themselves from a major competitor.

And in doing so, they are widening the reputation and trust gap to consumers, influencers, and anyone else who cares about digital privacy.

A version of this piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at PR Daily.

Facebook selling your private information has helped millions of businesses reach potential customers with amazing accuracy. But improved online privacy policies announced by two of Facebook’s competitors will reduce the tracking which makes this data available. This may cut Facebook’s sales by billions of dollars and will likely slash the pinpoint targeting to which businesses have become accustomed. One change is coming through the most recent set of updates to Apple iPhones. Others are coming through Google’s web browser and Android phone platforms.

Less consumer data has serious implications for small businesses. Reaching a target market will be much harder, more expensive, and more time-consuming. Facebook used this argument to accuse Apple of using privacy to hurt small businesses.

Businesses which want to thrive in the new digital advertising ecosystem should engage in surround-sound marketing. This is a strategy which incorporates paid media (ads), earned media (press), and owned media (content on platforms you own, such as a company website) to reach your prospective customers and all of the people who influence their decisions, such as family, friends, colleagues, and subordinates.

Create a rich marketing experience for your target markets

Imagine you’re going on vacation in the family car. Everyone is listening to a song on the radio. One way to listen is through a single speaker from the front of the car. A second way is to listen through two speakers which are on the left and right sides of the front of the car. And the third way is with speakers on the front left, front right, back left, and back right of the car — creating a rich listening experience no matter where you’re sitting.

Companies which use a single “speaker” to reach their target markets may secure some sales from a particular segment. But the approach is limited because few prospects are reached, and even those prospects are reached in only one way, in only one direction. Online, perhaps they saw your ad and made a one-time purchase. But that’s it; the customer’s brand loyalty is zero. And this approach is about to become even less effective because of Google’s and Apple’s privacy changes.

Companies which use two widely-spaced, front-centered speakers will create a richer experience for target markets. Potential customers will see your marketing and branding collateral multiple times in different ways. However, it’s limited because your strategy is still one-directional – front-to-back, meaning you mostly reach the driver and the passenger. If they are the purchasers, that’s good. But just like an online marketing strategy which uses Facebook but ignores Google ads and getting in the press, the kids in the back of the car — the purchasers’ influencers – won’t hear your message as clearly. They won’t have the same rich experience as the people in the front of the car.

We employ a surround-sound approach for our digital marketing clients. This puts “speakers” throughout the car so that purchasers and influencers have the same rich experience no matter where they sit. Prospective customers’ spouses, kids, and colleagues are talking you up. Prospects and influencers see your ads in Google searches, on social media, and on their favorite websites. And your name comes up in relevant press through influencer endorsements, interviews, articles, and op-eds.

Five advantages to surround-sound marketing

Surround-sound marketing is a time-tested, proven strategy which existed long before the Internet. Home service companies with great radio advertising, memorable names, quality service, and many vehicles on the road use this strategy. So do law, accounting, or financial advisory firms which are featured in the press, are on relevant boards of directors, have personal relationships with community leaders, and host livestreamed events.

There are many advantages to this strategy. Here are five:

1. Reach many market segments at once. You can then choose which one(s) to prioritize, and to which to tailor critical tactics like pricing, customer service, and capital purchases.
2. Create sales without being “salesy.” The Apple iPhone, the Google search engine, and the Facebook profile page have strong brands. They don’t have to “sell” you on using them — you’re probably already hooked because everyone seems to be talking about them and using them. Sales are a lot easier when prospective customers call you instead of the other way around.
3. Improved brand loyalty to increase gross sales and net revenue. Providing the richest marketing experience means customers may return more frequently for purchases instead of going to your competitors. They may also buy more with each purchase.
4. Reach new target markets who want your existing products and services. Surround-sound marketing uses all available tools to create a data-rich environment to guide future decision-making. With this data – digital or otherwise – you can use your own milestones and metrics of success to see new expansion opportunities.
5. Create new target markets. Apple was a computer company in the 20^th century. It added listening devices and services like iPods and iTunes 20 years ago. In 2020, it made 50% of its $274 billion by selling iPhones to a target market which didn’t exist two decades ago.

Earn more customer loyalty to drive more sales

Thanks to consumer privacy concerns, pinpoint online advertising may be on the way out. This means businesses have to work harder to reach prospective customers and to convince those prospects to make purchases. The question is how to do it – and we recommend surround-sound marketing to earn more customer loyalty and to drive more sales.

“Initially, I did financial planning, helped clients with investments, and sold insurance products,” said Bernhardt. “It took me six years to focus on what we do well and not try to be everything to everyone. Therefore, I quit selling insurance.” He later narrowed his niche to clients with at least a million dollars in investible assets. During that transition, Gordon sold 75 percent of the company’s clients to existing staff – helping them launch their own business – and reduced total staff size from six to two.

Despite being smaller, the company grew faster. “We cut our payroll costs, and within a year we had more assets under management than before. We grew faster because we streamlined our client service process and I was able to focus on the new niche in a more exclusive fashion.”

Gordon’s journey from solo operator to established market player was years in the making. He built teams that specialized in what his company did best. He twice narrowed his niche, launching the company to faster growth. And throughout the years, he updated his business plan and made the entire operation more efficient at serving its clients.

These are the keys to blasting through growth ceilings, whether you’re a start-up operation or an established firm facing stagnation. Let’s explore each of these components of growth and success.

Start off right – have a well-researched business plan

The first ceiling to overcome is development of a well-researched, targeted business plan. Many companies limit growth, gross revenue, and net revenue by never fully engaging in this process. Here are five keys to a great business plan.

• Provide a specific product or service. Don’t reduce your company’s value, dilute its experience, and diffuse its marketing by trying to be all things to all people. Gordon went from selling insurance and financial service products – which everyone does – to focusing on wealth management, then narrowed his services to those valued by high-net worth business owners, executives, and professionals.
• Identify and serve specific target markets. Gordon stopped serving people whose investible assets are under one million dollars – giving up short-term revenue but growing the company faster.
• Establish the company’s mission, tagline, philosophies, and goals. Where do you want to be in five years, three years, and one year? How will you get there? What do you want customers and staff to understand about the company culture?
• Develop a branding and marketing strategy. What will your logo and colors be and what will your website say about the company? What roles will marketing, personal relationships, and public relations play in your success?
• Determine your prices and stick to them. One of the biggest limitations to a company’s growth is a lack of confidence in pricing. Companies which negotiate on price are negotiating their future, and companies which have the lowest prices will get the least profitable clients who create the biggest headaches.

A good business plan is your first competitive advantage over competitors who guess at their prices, aren’t looking long-term, and don’t know their target markets. It also allows you to dynamically adjust to new information and update the plan.

Build the right team

Your most important investment may be your team. This includes direct staff, vendors, contractors, and a referral network. The question is: how do you develop the right team for success?

First, know who should be on your team and why. Start with your staff, from senior leaders down to the newest intern, including 1099 employees. Then consider necessary outside experts like lawyers, accountants, and bankers. Without the internal team, your company won’t produce for clients. Without the outside people, your company will be fine until an emergency hits. You don’t want to be scrambling when you’re sued, fighting the IRS, or need a line of credit.

The second answer is to consider personalities, skills, and experiences. Uber targeted experienced taxicab drivers who wanted a safer, calmer work environment and the flexibility to work their own hours. Tony Piloseno was hired by Florida Paints because of his passion for paint, not because of expertise in any specific area of business. One home service company hires former restaurant managers because they are trainable, hard-working, and appreciative of a good working environment.

The final answer is to develop a process to find and build the team. Do you want highly-paid, experienced staff members who can produce right away, or less expensive people who require more training? Do you use Indeed, your company’s professional network, or a headhunter to find your team members? What sort of mentalities should your accountant, lawyer, and banker have to drive your success?

From co-workers to your inner circle, always surround yourself with the best talent available. Successful leaders know that sevens and eights hire nines and tens – because CEOs aren’t always the expert, but they know how to surround themselves with experts.

Find your niche – don’t try to be all things to all people

Bernhardt Wealth Management blasted through multiple growth ceilings because Gordon did one thing very well: build a company around the strategy of a more focused niche. Success came from developing and implementing a plan, a team, a brand, and a client base around that strategy. His success can be yours because — no matter the industry — your organization is better off with a tighter niche focus. Here’s why:

• Your team’s expertise will be higher – just like the restaurant that has a small menu often produces higher-quality meals than the restaurant that makes everything. Team members will be able to adjust more quickly to client needs and market changes, find new ways to add value to clients, and need less oversight.
• Your gross and net profits will be higher. Better service to clients means they will likely sign new, and perhaps more expansive, contracts. This reduces your marketing and sales costs while increasing gross and net revenue. Additionally, your clients will tell their colleagues about you – colleagues who are most likely in your target markets. This will further reduce your sales and marketing costs while increasing your bottom-line revenue through new clients.
• You may discover new ways to serve your clients. As Jim Collins explains in his short but powerful Turning the Flywheel monograph, Apple’s niche expanded from Macs to iPhones without changing much of their operations but vastly increasing their target markets. Likewise, Amazon started as a book company…and now they own Whole Foods and a gazillion other non-book entities, and founder Jeff Bezos is the world’s wealthiest person.

Apple, Amazon, and a restaurant that adds live music during happy hour all have a core niche – and once the core operation effectively served their niche, they saw opportunities to dramatically increase revenue with the same core operations.

Don’t let ceilings slow you down

When it’s all said and done, your company is only limited by the choices its leaders make. Blasting through growth ceilings is possible through an ego-less, company-focused approach that establishes a niche, puts clients first, and builds the right team to service those clients. Gordon Bernhardt has done it three times – it’s why he’s a leader in the region around Washington, D.C. How many ceilings will you hit – and which ones will you blast through?

I took my father there after graduating from the university. After waiting over 20 minutes in a short line, we walked to the nearby Subway and quickly ordered two average sandwiches. Biederman’s has a great location, craft beer, and plenty of tables for homework and friends, but we wanted sandwiches to go.

While some small businesses might have regretted losing our business, Biederman’s knew that its niche markets are people doing homework and hanging out with friends. Two guys wanting a quick bite can go to Subway.

You don’t need everyone

According to a Summer 2020 poll of 34,000 consumers, Facebook and Walmart are among America’s least-trusted corporations. Clorox, Hershey, and Amazon have the most trust, with grocery stores, home-movie technology companies, and delivery companies not far behind. But from Clorox to Walmart, the companies have one thing in common: at least 51 percent of Americans trust them.

Walmart may not be “trusted,” but it is the world’s 19^th-largest company. Its stock is up by 25 percent since December and it hired 400,000 temporary workers between March and June. Likewise, Facebook stock is up by about 35 percent from a year ago, 2.7 billion people use the platform, and the company employs more than 52,000 people.

Facebook and Walmart are succeeding despite the critics. Like Biederman’s, they seek specific types of customers who see their brand value – and they’re happy to let everyone else go somewhere else.

Who are your customers?

There are over 330 million Americans. All of them eat food, drink water, and wear clothes. Most have computers or cell phones. But Walmart lets Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods have the wealthy grocery shoppers. Facebook lets LinkedIn have the white-collar worker market. And Biederman’s let Subway take a couple of customers.

Small business owners should emulate these companies by focusing tightly on core target markets and asking the right questions:

1. What does your target market care most about? Are buyers price-conscious, service-focused, or results-oriented?
2. What is your core brand differentiator? Walmart has practically everything for cheap while Facebook has built itself as the must-have for people to connect, businesses to sell, and political campaigns to get votes. Biederman’s appeal is hyper-local hangouts.
3. How are you attracting buyers? Facebook has 2.7 billion users that organizations want to reach. Walmart’s ads and stores with the best prices are omnipresent. Biederman’s is on Plymouth’s Main Street, just yards from the university campus.

Grow faster with niche focus

Your brand won’t appeal to everyone. Focusing on core markets breeds a number of excellent outcomes for small businesses:

1. Your marketing and branding campaigns will reach your target markets better. Instead of diffusing your message to reach too many disparate people, you will reach the buyers who are most likely to respond favorably to your message.
2. Your staff will be better-trained. Biederman’s isn’t trying for speed – its focus is quality, and that’s what it delivers. Your staff should be great at a few things to keep clients coming back rather than driving customers away by being mediocre or bad at many things.
3. Accomplishing Point 2 means that your staff will stay longer. People who are both skilled at their work and feel accomplished through taking care of clients are happier employees. Happy employees stay longer, which reduces the amount of money and other resources spent on finding, hiring, and training new staff.
4. You will have higher profits. Repeat customers require less effort to service, buy more stuff, and provide great word-of-mouth marketing.
5. Accomplish Numbers 1-4 above means your company will grow faster.

Core principle: Go after 51% (or less)

Diffusion is the death knell of many small businesses. Unlike Walmart, they try to impress all income demographics – and reach none. They try to reach everyone online instead of following Facebook’s example of letting LinkedIn have the white-collar social media market. And unlike Biederman’s, they try to reach people wanting a table for four and people just driving through town instead of picking one or the other.

Walmart and Facebook make billions each year by acknowledging that not everyone is going to want what they’re selling. Biederman’s has been around for nearly five decades by following the same principles — it lets people in a rush go to Subway. Small business owners should follow this core principle of success by going after only the right people, not all the people.