Beginning your journey as an entrepreneur can be challenging, but keeping the business thriving and afloat even more so. Particularly at the start, you will have to manage many areas of the business, from accounts and finance to those pesky admin tasks. It means perfecting the art of marketing and corporate compliance. It means keeping in contact with customers daily for their feedback and criticism and putting these comments into improvements.
This can become arduous and burn you out. Yet with the correct approach, one that works best for you, and an unbeatable mindset and perspective, you can identify ways to gradually grow your business.
Make sure you know your customers
By keeping communication open with your existing and potential customers, you can then adapt your products and services to best attract and engage with your target group. Through this, you can gain insight into what your customers really need and how best to persuade them to give your business a go. Constructive feedback can build your business into one that is most suited for your customers and increase your own awareness of what is in store at your local community and how you can benefit it.
Consider participating in community events, local conferences, and networking events to raise your business profile, get to know your local customers and learn more about what is happening in your area.
Building a consistent list of customer contact can also prove useful and this can be done through the use of newsletters and frequent updates to keep your business in the radar and update your customers on your progress, any new offers, and new opportunities.
You may even start a customer loyalty program to increase sales and offer initiatives to keep your customers coming back. This may even attract new customers with the right incentive.
Keep an eye on the competition
This has been said again and again but making sure you know your competition and what services they offer and in what way, is essential in coming up innovative business ideas to keep on top of the game.
This can be as simple as looking up local business who may offer similar businesses to you online or through local newspapers and explore their services. Pinpoint areas where they might have a similar strategy and find out how you can up the stakes – what can you do to attract more customers, how can you persuade these customers to choose your business instead of theirs?
Attend networking events, conferences, and social gatherings. Take these as chances to promote your business to potential customers and clients, as well as a great way to keep an eye on the potential competition. Moreover, these are the perfect places to gain more insight of your industry, to learn and improve from the advice of the leaders in your field who have gone through the same journey and can offer the dos and don’ts of approaching the business world. Lastly, attending these events will expose you to current trends in the industry that you can employ in your own business to garner more exposure and therefore, more customers.
Attending events related to your industry can also give you an idea of opportunities that you may be able to pursue to create advantages for your business.
Partnerships and collaborations may be the way
Networking events are also great places to meet like-minded individuals who may be pursuing similar areas as you and may hold similar interests. Building the right partnerships and initiating collaborations between companies and organizations can allow you to reach a larger demographic, perhaps even an audience you may have missed.
You can also secure funding and sponsorships through these partnerships, and this may not necessarily be simply with other similar organizations, but companies that may help you in other areas such as administration or finances. For example, searching for reliable organizations to help with credits and loans and have experience in working with entrepreneurs will help ease the challenges of financial management so you can focus more in other areas – you can read more here for possible avenues and advice.
Contact complementary companies that hold similar ideals and values as you and propose ideas to work together – you might even come up with something entirely new.
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly
Modern society is saturated with information through the increasing use of social media and search engines.
This means more and more people are using their phones and tablet to access information, perhaps even information about your company. It only takes a few seconds for a potential customer to click away from your website if it is not mobile-friendly if it is too clunky or messy on a phone screen. Therefore, take time to ensure your website is optimized for mobiles and tablets, and not merely pleasing when accessed through a desktop.
When including blog posts or news on your company website, utilize SEO. This means Search Engine Optimization, and there are various ways you can approach this. Techniques such as using short but snappy titles, structuring paragraphs that look best on mobile and using keywords to great effect can ensure your website appears on top of search engines when potential customers search for keywords related to your company.
Did you know that the use of voice search, as opposed to mobile searches, are rapidly increasing? Another way is to adopt SEO techniques to cater to the demographic whose use of voice searches are rapidly increasing in recent years. In comparison to mobile searches, this means using techniques such as using natural language to use as titles for your posts as opposed to the generic, keyword-driven SEO technique used for mobile searches.
Take advantage of social media
The prevalence of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can provide the perfect avenues to promote your business to potential customers you may otherwise not have reached. You can also use social media to gain insight into the buzz and reviews of existing customers, gain feedback and find out ways to improve your business. A good website and updated social media accounts can raise your business profile by giving your business an image of reliability, authority and in line with current trends.
Social Media
Social media is a powerful tool to promote your business to potential customers and gain valuable insight through ‘social listening’. Through social listening, you can find out what customers are saying about you, gain insight into their behavior, identify keywords and trends that appeal to your target market and improve your customer service. Social media can help you to build your business profile and attract new customers.
Through various techniques and taking advantage of the increasing use of online strategies, you can ensure that your business will thrive and attract a consistent stream of customers. By employing various strategies, from keeping yourself informed of the current industry climate to ensuring your website is in top shape for your mobile customers, you can help your business stay on top.
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