I recently conducted a telemarketing exercise targeting business owners in the province of Ontario. One key finding during this process was just how protective business owners have become when it comes to their trade secrets. Many business owners I spoke to wouldn’t elaborate about what made their value proposition unique, how their product or service was better than the competition or what customer acquisition issues they were facing.

In the age of 24 x 7 information access and always online businesses, entrepreneurs and business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to protect the intellectual property and innovation that distinguishes them from their competitors. There’s a rising level of concern regarding open disclosure and just how much of a trade secret should be revealed on a public web site. It’s a serious issue that small business owners are grappling with on a daily basis: finding the right balance of content on their web site so they can attract prospects and win new business without giving away too much information to competitors.

Let’s say you’ve developed a new manufacturing process that helps you reduce the cost of building custom automotive parts for your customers. Your value proposition is based on the cost efficiencies you can deliver to customers that need to drive down their operating costs. The problem is, you’re concerned about revealing too much about your process (which is currently awaiting a patent review) so you decide to keep your web site high level. This decision can potentially alter the buying process of an interested prospect: you might capture their attention, but your web site hasn’t done a good enough job convincing prospects that your “trade secrets” are valuable.

What can you do to avoid losing prospects while ensuring that your competitors are kept at arm’s length? BizAssist recommends that you take a close look at the content on your web site, and focus on areas that deliver strong benefit messages to customers yet offer very few trade secrets that can compromise your business.

Focus on Customer Experiences – One way to avoid delving too deeply into your product or service trade secrets is to build strong customer success stories that focus on the customer experience and the benefits your solution delivers. Place a great deal of emphasis on the customer’s business problem or opportunity, and keep your company information limited to the benefits you delivered. There’s no need to go into detail that discloses features or unique processes when you have a strong customer success story that promotes real-world benefits.

Put More Detailed Information Behind a Registration Form – If you do business in a complex or technical industry segment, often your prospect needs the kind of content that only a white paper or report can deliver. It’s often too risky to make this content available to just anyone, so offer that content only to prospects that are willing to register their name, company name and contact information. This will allow you to make informed decisions about who gets to have access to information that you don’t want to end up in competitive hands. Sure, you might lose a few prospects that are unwilling to submit personal information, but the serious buyers will be willing to provide that information.

Demonstrate Your Expertise – Instead of giving away your solution’s trade secrets, use your web site to establish your credibility in a specific industry segment. Your understanding of the business problems that buyers are facing will go a long way to generating demand for your solution. Instead of going into detail about your product or service, focus on your approach to an industry problem or pain point – not the innovations your solution offers. Informed buyers will make a valuable connection: if you can offer that much insight, perhaps your solution can address their needs, too.  

Trade secrets are an essential part of your company’s go-to-market strategy, but it’s wise to be cautious about how you disclose them on your web site. Don’t underestimate the damage you can do by revealing too much to the hungry eyes of savvy competitors who want to steal your market.