If you are a family owned and operated business, you are already aware of how the bigger companies have plenty of advantages, but what about the advantages that you yourself possess? There are plenty of different opportunities that small, family owned businesses have over their competition and one area where your business model can really pay off is through good sales and marketing. When it comes to sales and marketing, you’ll find that you have a great deal to offer.

If you think about sales and marketing, you might be surprised to realise that you have the same advantages a larger company does. In addition, you may have several more. Simply because of the way you are set up, you can do things a bigger company can’t. If they try, they’ll look silly or at the very least be inefficient. Take a look at a few things you can do to take advantage of your own special edge, and this should give you a good place to start.

Tell Everyone Where You Come from

If you come from a family operated business, you’ll find that you have a story. Just because you might be tired of hearing about it doesn’t mean that other people are. Write down in a few pages about how your family got started in this field and some of the problems that you have conquered along the way. You’ll find that people love hearing stories, especially if you can provide them on CD or DVD, so get creative.

So What Makes You Special?

Today, it is as common to hop jobs every few years as it used to be to stay in one place for your entire working life. Let’s face it, for the most part, “job security” has no meaning to anyone anymore. People today are very insecure about their jobs and doubt that the company has any loyalty them. So, take a moment to let people know how you take care of things. Do you usually promote from within, or always? Do you look out for your employees? Show everyone how different you are from those big, monolithic corporations that simply hire nameless, faceless bodies to get the job done (and just as easily replace them), and you’ll go a long way toward cementing both employee and customer loyalty.

Don’t Hide Your True Nature

You might see it as a disadvantage, but if you’re a family business, represent yourself as one. Be real and don’t pretend to be somebody you’re not. Put the fact that you are a family-owned business into your corporate slogan, logo, advertising, etc. Be proud of the fact that you’re a family-owned business. Let people know how long you’ve been in business, too. This establishes a relationship with your community and help them establish a picture of you that they can be familiar with and comfortable with.

Give and Take Credit Where it is Due

This is another area where today’s corporate world falls short. If someone has done especially amazing things to help you get where you are, say so. Make a point of recognising the people who have made your company so successful. Of course, you can put the spotlight on upper management, but be aware that the people that get the bulk of your work done are likely the lower level employees. Make sure those folks get noticed too. This will help your customers know that you care about the people that work for you, top to bottom.

If you worked hard to get your family oriented business where it is now, be proud of that. If that’s who you are, say it. What are you waiting for? Get the word out and make use of this fact; you can take advantage of it when so many others in your field most likely cant. So go on, be proud.