Without a doubt, Big Brother is the biggest reality TV show in Africa. The programme which is known for its very high viewership ratings first aired in the Netherlands in 1999 but several countries have created theirs to entertain billions of audiences. Big Brother Africa, a franchise of the reality TV show for the African continent began airing in 2003 while Big Brother Naija started in 2006. After the first season, it was suspended but later returned in 2017.
As a programme that airs in over 45 countries with over 300 million viewers which can be compared to America’s Super Bowl, Big Brother attracts the biggest brands with deep pockets that want to position themselves right in front of a very large audience. Brands that have the wherewithal to advertise on the live broadcast or sponsor the show always look forward to the next season because it presents them with a huge opportunity to create top-of-mind awareness for their products or services and expect a solid ROI.
According to findings, sponsorships could range from ₦50 million to ₦2 billion or even more based on the category. The target is definitely not small businesses with a tiny budget right? Well, a new season has commenced with Big Brother Titans (A combination of Big Brother Mzansi and Big Brother Naija) which kicked off on Sunday, January 15, 2023, with ten housemates each from Nigeria and South Africa who are competing to win $100,000. The headline sponsors are Flutterwave, a leading Nigerian fintech firm, Bamboo, one of the leading brokerage firms in Nigeria and LottoStar, an online gaming and lottery company in South Africa.
Although they might not be able to afford millions of naira to have their products featured on Big Brother, small businesses can still work with available resources and compete favourably with larger businesses. You do not have to break the bank in trying to do what you are not yet ready for.
Here are some ways that your small business can reach its audience, create awareness, and make sales without running into debt because you want to market on the same platform as the big-time spenders.
Focus on your target audience
This is one of the advantages that small ventures have over big firms. Small businesses can focus on their target audience or customers whereas their larger counterparts cannot because they need a massive number of sales to maintain their massive budgets so they end up targeting a general audience rather than a specific group of people. Big brands cannot always manage waste with this approach; while some people might act, many might not since the product or service does not strongly resonate with them.
Upgrade your customer service
As an entrepreneur operating a small business, you can improve your customer service and provide a great experience that meets your customers’ expectations. You have the luxury of personalizing or customizing your offers. This cannot be said for organizations that typically rely on automated services to meet the needs of their many clients and in cases where human interaction is required, these companies are usually short-staffed to handle the huge number of people who need to make purchases or enquiries.
Quick Response to Customer Feedback
Unlike big businesses, SMEs can quickly receive feedback from their customers and act on it. As the big names are showcasing their products on TV shows with high ratings such as Big Brother Titans, you should harness the efficiency and timeliness that your small business gives you in order to create a very strong and lasting relationship with your customers where they can trust you to listen to and act on their feedback.
Feedback is a constant regardless of business size but in the case of the big industry players, they receive so much feedback that they could give them a hard time categorizing and sorting them since they are from a large, general audience not just target consumers or users. Sorting out the feedback also delays the process of working on complaints to deliver the value that customers expect in return.
Acting on customer feedback improves customer perception of a business. People feel like their feelings matter and that they can always count on your brand to provide them with what they desire.
Develop a strong online presence
Even if you have a small number of followers compared to larger businesses, you can maximise the engagement aspect. Although they might have an enviable amount of social media followers, some big corporations struggle to keep up with replying to a comment, following hashtags, etc. This is something that small businesses can manage given the relatively small number of accounts that follow them.
You can be a step ahead of these large firms if you drive real engagement and create authentic content on your chosen social media platforms.
Bottom line
There are clearly some areas that benefit small businesses more than big companies. From the points mentioned above, we can see that being small is not a bad thing, it is up to you to use that small size to your advantage. Big Brother Titans or not, your small venture can connect with its target audience, create value and a memorable experience for customers while staying within budget.
