The business environment has been getting increasingly competitive, with many internal and external factors challenging even the most robust businesses. At a time when there is so much uncertainty and so many changes, business owners must do everything they can to keep their businesses going and growing. To help with this, we are going to look at some of the best tips provided by entrepreneurs to help business owners grow their small businesses.
Boost Your Online Presence
If there is one thing you do for your business this year, ensure it is boosting its online presence. An online presence is an anchor for future growth and profitability in an increasingly digital world where your customers expect to find you online. Having a website is just the start and the asset gives your business credibility and tells customers you are a reliable partner. It also improves your online visibility and because it can be used to sell your products and services it can play a massive role in determining your revenue.
A website is not enough as you also need a strong eCommerce presence. The eCommerce space has been growing since the start of the pandemic and many people say they may never go to a store again considering how convenient online shopping has been for them. If you do not have an eCommerce presence, you are losing both money and potential customers.
Next, you should be on social media. This is rather obvious as almost everyone who owns a smartphone or computer has at least one social media account. Make yourself available where your customers are, and you increase your chances of acquiring new customers and ensuring business growth.
Stop Hard Selling, Start Educating
It might seem counterintuitive to tell businesses to stop hard selling, but there is a reason for this. If you have any electronic devices around you, you will see hundreds, if not thousands of ads per day. You might know to whom these ads belong, but you might not remember what the message was. This is because these advertisements focus on hard selling instead of educating. Without this educative aspect, you likely forget these ads exist as soon as they leave your line of sight.
This can also happen to you if you are always hard selling. Instead, focus on educating your customers on what they will get, why your product is better, how it solves a need, and so forth. People are likely to resonate with your ads and therefore your products if they address something specific or a specific need that a customer has.
Provide a Better Customer Experience
Every business owner knows that their business runs on customers; if they do not have anyone to sell to, they do not have a business. The two main types of customers businesses focus on are new customers and returning customers. A returning customer is much more valuable to a business than a new customer because the business does not incur additional acquisition costs to sell to them the second, third or fourth time. However, the business has to spend a lot of time and money acquiring a new customers.
Seeing how important they are to a business, what can a business do to ensure returning customers and therefore increased revenue? Offer better customer experiences. Offering better customer experiences covers everything from the ease of use of the products and services you sell, the customer services to the price of the product or service compared to the value the customer gets. If the cost is low and the value is high, then a customer is likely to return.
Businesses must do everything they can to ensure better customer service, even if that includes sacrificing short-term profits. Businesses can do this to entice customers to come back, therefore, ensuring revenue and profits in the future. Cutting prices like this to improve customer experiences and therefore loyalty creates what is known as a virtuous cycle.
Cutting prices leads to more customers which increases revenue that can be reinvested to lower the price, further completing the loop. Lob has created this guide to help business owners and leaders better understand the virtuous cycle and you should check it out. Lob provides direct marketing and addresses verification services to help businesses enhance their offline marketing efforts. Lob ensures deliverability and data to help you streamline your direct marketing strategy while giving unprecedented marketing scale.
Create High-Quality but Simple Content
There is so much information available online that no one has the time to sit around and try to think of what you are trying to say. This often happens when businesses focus on releasing lots of content without thinking of its quality and simplicity. The best content is one a customer can read, enjoy, and understand without too much effort.
Additionally, this content should be high-quality. This means it should be helpful, relevant, valuable, and engaging. It should also directly address a need that a customer has or answer a question. Also, ensure the content is created following your brand’s voice and add some suggestions and tips for your customers to benefit from.
Invest in Your Employees
Business growth is mostly but not always about catering to your customer’s needs; you also need to care about and invest in your employees. Create and foster an environment where employees can collaborate, feel empowered, and exercise their creativity. By allowing your employees to learn and grow, you end up with happier employees and this will be felt by your customers. Additionally, you help your employees increase productivity which can help your business.
One last thing to remember is to empower your employees to deal with their mistakes. Doing this helps them learn from them and improves their performance while driving innovation. It also stops employees from feeling embarrassed or judged about their mistakes and makes them see these mistakes as learning experiences. Better morale and a positive work environment are often the results.
One thing you can be sure about as a small business owner is that your customers and employees will always be at the center of your business. Focusing on both is key to ensuring the continuing growth of your business and your profitability.
