By now, you must have settled in and looking forward to achieving your new business goals for the year.
Regardless of how last year or last quarter went, I’m sure there are areas you can still improve in your business. If you’ve not identified those areas yet, let me give you a few pointers on areas you need to focus on.
Regardless of how last year went, I’m sure there are areas you can still improve in your business.
If you’ve not identified those areas yet, let me give you a few pointers on areas you need to focus on.
Below are some expert tips to take your business to the next level.
Listen to Your Customers
As a business owner, reach out to your current customers. Please get to know their expectations from you this year.
Through surveys, polls and social listening, get to know your existing and potential customers’ needs. Then do your best to meet as many of those needs as possible this year.
It would be best if you focused on mobile to get this data and information from your customers. These days mobile is the most personal device we own.
A mobile phone is our most personal device. One of its main advantages is that it offers two-way communication. This makes mobile the best tool to reach your target audience. Use mobile to gather relevant data and information from an existing or potential buyer to shape your business decisions.
The user response on mobile is almost instant. So you will get immediate feedback if you conduct research, survey or mobile campaign. The open rate of SMS messages on mobile is higher compared to email.
You can also use mobile as part of your marketing effort to invite your loyal customers to sign up for your customer loyalty program.
The open rate of SMS messages on mobile is higher compared to email.
Mobile is easier to use in gaining feedback from your market compared with other devices. With mobile, you’re sure to target the right person with the right message at the right time.
Listen to predictions and analyses from industry leaders and analysts. Click To TweetDetermine the Best Marketing Channels for Your Brand
Find the best marketing channel (TV, print, and outdoor) to reach your ideal customers. Develop a marketing campaign that will attract old and new customers alike to you.
Once again, I must not fail to highlight mobile. If you’re still viewing mobile as another channel, I’m afraid you’re making a huge mistake.
Mobile is more than a channel. These days mobile has become our way of life. Mobile is how we communicate and spend ‘quality’ time with family and friends. It’s become our source of news, entertainment, and how we pay bills and transact business.
When we talk of customer experience, customer journey, multi-channel, omnichannel, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Cloud Computing, mobile plays a crucial role in all these.
You cannot do any of these without a mobile device.
It would help if you thought seriously about how best to take advantage of mobile in your sales funnel to enhance your chances for business success. Regardless of what channel you focus on, make sure it’s affordable.
Listen to Predictions and Analysis from Industry Leaders and Analysts
Look at the big picture. All competitive markets across the world are on the move. Lots of changes are taking place in business. Regardless of the type of business, customers drive these changes. So now’s the time to get closer to your customers.
Listen to news, predictions, and analysis from leaders in your industry. Use their forecasts as a guide only to plan your marketing strategy and overall business strategy for the year.
Use brief questions and surveys to get their opinion.
Everything is in your hands despite the data, predictions, and analysis. It’s left to decide whether you want to keep honouring the past by sticking to your old methods and models. Alternatively, compete for the future! How?
By knowing the requirements of a customer-led digital-centric market. Which is a better strategy? Your guess is as good as mine.
Spot Significant Trends
Through active listening, try to spot significant trends through the predictions and analysis of leaders in your industry. Use data from your sales, marketing, and other business areas. These trends will affect the way you conduct your company.
Give Your Business a Makeover
Does your logo, website, or other marketing collateral look outdated? Are your blog and other social media platforms stagnant? Are you still using the same obsolete business cards, brochures, and flyers from way back?
Give your brand a makeover. A brand makeover is not for the holiday season only. Improve the look and feel of your online business presence. Make your website mobile responsive to accommodate the growing smartphone market.
Be Accessible
Make yourself accessible to your employees, customers, and suppliers. Even if you’re always on the move, ensure the relevant people in your life can reach you when they need you.
Open up the lines of communication between yourself, your staff, and your clients to stay on top of your business.
Remember, nothing gets accomplished without constant communication. Let your customers know whom to contact and how to contact them if they need help.
The wish to make myself more accessible to my customers led me to opt for a pure-play business model.
So I’m always accessible to my clients via an online scheduling and online appointment system, phone, email and social media regardless of my physical location.
Learn to Innovate
Break free of the norm and be creative. Think of what your competitors are not yet providing that you can. The answer to this can help to improve your cash flow.
I use an online scheduling and online appointment system to innovate my business.
An online scheduling/appointment system helps me cut the need for physical meetings with clients. So far, this is one of the best innovations I’ve made in recent times. It has helped to improve my customer service.
There are other areas you can be innovative. For example, as a business professional, you can incorporate the latest tools into your content marketing, digital marketing, customer relationship management or entire marketing strategy.
Keep Testing and Modifying
Regardless of your business skill or business knowledge, keep testing, changing, and tweaking your product and services from time to time. Testing, adjusting and tweaking your products or services ensures that you’re not stagnant or left behind. You improve your chances of nurturing a successful business by finding areas for growth opportunities.
The primary tool in my business is my Mauco Enterprises website. That is why some of you have noticed that I’m constantly optimising my site to improve it.
I optimise the website for speed, mobile responsiveness, ease of use and navigation. I make changes based on data from my Google analytics and feedback from website visitors.
I want you to have an excellent experience on this website. I like the site to give you access to the correct information at the right time and in the right way.
Watch out for more delightful changes in the coming weeks/months.
Bonus Tip: Outsource Administrative and Marketing Tasks
How much time does your business take to run? How much time do you spend on administrative, accounting and marketing tasks? If you spend an unhealthy amount of time on these things, you should consider outsourcing some of these tasks. Outsourcing means hiring someone else to handle them for you. This way, you can focus on running your business instead of managing it.
Outsourcing allows you to hire employees who specialise in certain areas. For example, you can outsource customer service or accounting. You can also consider hiring a business advisor or a business consultant if you have the resources. The benefits of outsourcing include saving money and improving efficiency.
Focus on hiring great people and building a profitable business through a culture of accountability. Create a process for everything. Be transparent with your employees and let everyone focus on customer service. Above all else, let everyone have fun!
When considering hiring a marketing or SEO agency, you should be able to answer these questions: What kind of work do they specialise in? How long have they been in business? Do they offer ongoing support?
When looking for an SEO agency, ask yourself if you’re willing to pay more for better results. There are many different types of SEO agencies out there. Some focus on organic SEO, while others focus on paid advertising. A good SEO agency will help drive traffic to your website and improve your conversion rate.
An SEO company should provide a detailed proposal before starting work. This proposal is essential in knowing what keywords you want to rank for. The best SEO companies are also transparent about their fees. They will ensure that your site has a strong foundation before adding new content.
What Next?
In conclusion, setting goals and focusing on what you must accomplish this year is essential. You don’t want to end up like most businesses that fail to achieve their goals.
It would be best if you were on top of your business. Use these eight ways mentioned to place yourself ahead of your competitors.
Now is the right time to inspect your business/brand. What structures, culture, talent, processes, and technology do you have in place in this customer-centric business world to ensure the survival of your business or brand?
These are the questions that you need to answer. Answering these questions will help your business/brand this year and beyond.
