Month: May 2020

Every entrepreneur wants to be successful. However, with the ever-changing business environment, it is becoming harder to navigate your way up. 

Success demands more than having a good business plan or working with great investors. Most times, it is about being smart with what you have and listening to your business needs. 

So, are you struggling with your business growth? Thinking of even giving up on the dream? 

Don’t do it yet! Let us give you some simple strategies that can upswing your business and help you stay grounded on the vision.

1. Knowing Your Competition

Competitive research is the foundation of a good marketing strategy. It is impossible to stay on top if you cannot differentiate yourself and your product from the crowd. 

Conducting market research, soliciting customer feedback, and checking online communities will give you leverage over your competition. 

Analyze your competitor’s strengths and weaknesses, then use this info to better your product and services.

2. Listening to Your Customers

Do you feel like your business is crumbling down, yet you seem to be doing everything right? Well, it might be time you listened to your customers. 

Your customers are your greatest assets. Always remember that you are in business because of them. 

By listening to your customers, you are providing a window to manage customer experience, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. 

It is also a chance to improve your products and services and reduce churn rates. Don’t lose your customer or potential ones by being too rigid. 

3. Getting It Right With Your Staff

According to research done by Inc., 28% of employees quit their jobs within the first 90 days on the job? 

Yes, and you will have to spend an average of 6-9 months’ salary to recruit, train, and orient a new employee. 

If you are thinking of growth, these statistics should scare you. One of the reasons you could be stagnating is because you spend lots of money hiring a new employee or a replacement. 

To ensure you are retaining the best talent, you have to get it right from the beginning. You need to ensure anyone joining your team has an excellent experience. 

This exercise doesn’t need to be expensive. You can simplify the onboarding process to reduce costs by ensuring it is structured, practical, and focuses on the people. 

Don’t waste lots of cash on paperwork designing programs that are not people-centered  

4. Planning For Your Growth

Growth is good, but unplanned growth can be detrimental. Successful entrepreneurs plan for their growth. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting to go global, only that extensive research of the new market should be conducted before diving in for the new fish. 

It is vital that you look at your revenues, cost of expansion, and other factors that come with tackling huge markets. 

For instance, are you going to offer something new? If so, do you have the budget for creating a new product? Marketing and salaries? 

Ask yourself, do you understand the new market’s hot button? Are you ready for new laws, tax, etc.? If you do not have all these things figured out, do not press that button. 

You could lose all the hard-earned money. 

5. Keeping Tabs on Trends

We live in a world shaped by technology, almost everything and everyone today is dictated by technology and the new inventions. 

Sadly or luckily, these include your existing and potential customers. 

If the 4.57 billion active digital users are something to go with, then your business cannot live in isolation or keep up with the old trends. 

Inflexibility and lack of versatility will phase you out of the industry. If you are adamant with your old practices and lucky to keep the” technology laggards, you definitely need to forget about growth. 

As an entrepreneur, you must understand that the world is evolving rapidly, and you could be the next mover and shaker of the economy if you become creative and invent new products and services.

6. Knowing How to Save

No matter how great your business is, using up all the money is not wise. Remember, a penny saved is a penny earned. Entrepreneurship is never a smooth curve. 

There will be good and rainy days. The shift is majorly caused by changing market patterns and customer demands. Imagine what happens if you have nothing to get you through low seasons? 

You might end up closing the business. Ensure to save as much as you can. Saving also creates room for growth.

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, success in business demands that you are a lot of things. 

It requires that you know how to manage your cash flow, be great at planning, and more importantly, keep adapting to the trends and the consumer. 

Marketing your small business to stand out above the competition can be a complicated task. 

In itself, marketing can be a full-time job, and for some outsourcing, marketing needs to a third party can be beneficial and yield more significant results.

However, not all small businesses can afford the out of house expense that outsourcing marketing can come with, but making sure you have a budget for marketing is essential.

So in 2020, what are the best ways to market your small business?

Traditional Methods

Old, tried and tested but not always out of date. 

In fact, sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. How often have you asked to borrow a pen off a person, and it has been branded? 

Exactly, pens have an uncanny ability to make their way across the population in much the same way a juicy bit of gossip can.

It may be simple, but it can be undoubtedly effective. When it comes to putting your business in front of people affordably, the good old branded pen isn’t to be sniffed at.

The same applied for branded work clothing for yourself and/or employees, business cards, and local newspaper or radio adverts. Never underestimate the value of a good catchy jingle!

SEO

These days, many companies are being built purely for online consumers. Building a website and having it searchable for terms relating to your industry or sector is invaluable. 

Making sure your website is search engine optimized will mean that putting in the hard work to fully optimize for keywords, adding well thought out, and written informative pieces that add value to searches will pay dividends for many years to come. 

If you have the funds but not the expertise, then this is an area definitely worthy of your investment.

Social Media

Again, as with marketing, on the whole, being active on social media channels for your company can help boost your company’s visibility faster than many other methods of advertising.

Staying true to your ethos and sharing thoughts, posts, and keeping all activities related to your company will help to reach those who are looking for what you provide in a free and effective way. 

Managing multiple social channels can be time-consuming as curating the correct content to share. 

For this reason, social media management companies can take over this for you and make sure your accounts are reaching the people they need to.

Sponsorships

Not just for big companies and sports teams, sponsorships have their place for small businesses too. 

If you are a local business supporting your community, then look at sponsoring children’s sports teams, or local clubs to help get your company in front of those you need to reach.

The bonus is that you are helping out your local community while also helping to generate new business and attract customers to your company. 

It is a win-win situation, especially if the team you sponsor is at the top of their game!

Going global can be a big leap for any business. 

While it may take a lot of hard work, courage, and commitment to step into the international markets, you may get immense benefits with the decision. 

But, you should understand that the global market is constantly evolving and keeping pace is easier said than done. 

At the same time, you need to go the extra mile to grab the opportunities as quickly as possible else you may lose them forever. 

Here are some effective strategies you can rely on for identifying and capturing global opportunities for your business.

Explore complementary business models

First things first, you need to study the target market and existing businesses to identify the ones that complement yours. 

Essentially, consider the ones you could sell to or fulfill their needs with your offering. This approach will help you pinpoint the right areas of opportunity so that you don’t end up wasting efforts on the potential customers who will never convert. 

Follow the trends in the complementary markets too; as this will enable you to assess your risk factors. 

After all, you cannot expect growth by expanding in a market that is already facing a downturn. 

Understand the foreign policy

Perhaps the most critical aspect of breaking into a global market is to understand its foreign policy. 

If a specific market bears a heavy impact on its foreign policy, you must pay attention to the implications and how they would impact the sales you will make. 

And obviously, you will also need to find out whether the policy is liberal enough to get yourself established and accepted in that market easily. 

The local tariffs and duties can also affect the viability of your product or service in a new market.

Go the extra mile to grab chances

The real work begins when you actually enter the market. When it comes to establishing your presence in a new market, only an aggressive approach can win the game for you. 

Keep your eyes open and grab chances before anyone else does. Subscribing to alerts for Online Tenders is a smart idea because it can give you an early advantage. 

Also, separating the wheat from the chaff is important because you wouldn’t want to waste energy in the opportunities that don’t match your domain and geographical location.

Deliver superlative offerings 

Entering a global market and capturing relevant opportunities is only half the work done. 

The key to making your presence successful and sustainable lies in delivering superlative offerings. 

Secure a competitive advantage by providing the best quality in your products and customer services. 

It is also a good idea to play on price differentiation during the initial stage and gradually increase the price once you gain your footing. 

Excelling with your marketing initiatives is equally important for making it big as an international brand.

Global expansion should definitely be a top priority for businesses of all sizes and scales. 

Fortunately, making it big in a foreign market can be easier than you think, provided you take the right direction and approach. 

The e-commerce business model is a viable one and the COVID-19 crisis has made it a huge opportunity. 

While brick-and-mortar sellers are transitioning to this model, new entrepreneurs are also jumping on the bandwagon. 

But starting with an online venture involves a lot of work, right from having a website, marketing it, collaborating with suppliers, finding shipping and delivery partners, and more. 

Obviously, you can expect it to be an investment-intensive business, so arranging funds would be your priority. 

Considering the economic uncertainties, an online installment loan emerges as a feasible option. 

While this article tells you all you need to know about installment loans online, you would want to know how they can serve your needs. 

Here are some facts that highlight the feasibility of this borrowing option for setting up an e-commerce business. 

Installment loans online can give you a head start

The e-commerce space is highly competitive and getting a head start in the landscape can make all the difference. 

This is where online installment loans can help; whether you want to be one of the early adopters of new technologies for your online store, experiment with an innovative marketing strategy, or add new products in your catalog, you will need quick cash. 

And this is only possible with an online loan that gets approved within minutes and the money comes in your bank account within a few working days.

Repayment is easier than you expect

Whether you are extending your business model or starting from scratch, repayment should be on top of your mind while applying for a loan. 

Fortunately, it will never be a major concern with installment loans procured from a lending website. 

You can easily work on the loan terms with the lender and come up with a repayment plan that you are comfortable with. 

Needless to say, these loans are easy to pay back because you have to give small monthly installments over an extended period of time.

Bad credit is not a problem

One of the biggest concerns for entrepreneurs is a low credit score, which often stands in the way of approval of their loan applications. 

However, this is something you need not bother about with an online installment loan. 

Your application goes to multiple lenders, which means that they have a good probability of approval regardless of a low credit score issue. 

Also, these lenders see your repayment capacity rather than the credit score as the approval parameter. 

As long as you can show a regular income source or a store that is already generating revenues, you won’t have to worry much about getting your loan approved.

Apart from these benefits, online loans make sense right now because they are processed on the internet rather than requiring you to visit the lender personally. 

This system is highly relevant in the era of social distancing. 

You can apply for your home and get the money straight away in your bank account, which translates into an amazing opportunity to get started with your e-commerce venture right now.

When it comes to business costs, it can be very hard for new businesses to remain successful and to make money if there are so many expenses coming out of the profit. 

It’s important that regardless of your business and how long it’s been running, that you try and save money where you can. 

Here are the things you need for business but can save money on.

Outsource Rather Than Hire

There comes a point with most businesses where you’ll need to get extra hands to help with your business. 

Now that might be worthwhile getting when it’s really needed, but it’s worth considering outsourcing first. 

Outsourcing is a great way of getting that extra help if it’s not something that needs someone full-time and in the office or work environment to do it. It can be a lot cheaper and more cost-efficient to do. 

So, assess what extra work needs taking on and then figure out whether these tasks can be outsourced to companies or individuals who can do the work for a lot less.

There are endless benefits to outsourcing, and that’s why a lot of small businesses will do it in order to save money in the beginning. 

Outsourced IT support might encourage you to buy a cheap VPS in order to keep your website on a private server that’s secure and more efficient.

Online Advertising vs Traditional Advertising

Advertising is important for any business to do and so it’s a good idea to think about ways that you could make advertising cheaper for your company. Traditional advertising can be costly, and it’s even more so now. 

However, online advertising is surprisingly cheap, and when it comes to paid ads, they are likely to be more effective online than on television, radio, or in print.

Consider the budget that you have for advertising and spend it wisely. You need to know your audience for it to really be effective, but online paid adverts can definitely be beneficial to utilize.

Social Media Promotion

Social media is one of the biggest selling opportunities for businesses to take advantage of and they can also be great platforms to speak personally with your customers. 

However, scheduling content can be hard when you’re doing it manually on the hour or whenever you are due to post something. 

Instead, why not automate your posts and cheat time? It’s something your business likely needs, but it doesn’t need to cost the earth to do.

Go Paperless

And finally, when running a business, you can have a lot of stationery costs, which is standard for any business to have. 

However, the cost is likely to get bigger, the more staff you have. Instead, why not go paperless for the most part and save some money that way? 

A lot more businesses nowadays are operating digitally, and there’s not so much need for paper anymore in the workplace.

Saving money for your business is essential, so use these tips to help save you some money where possible.