March 21, 2023
Starting a business takes courage and confidence, there is no denying that. It often starts with an idea, something that consumes you until you get to the stage where you can put a plan into action. You may spend days, weeks, even months nurturing that idea. Seeking out different resources and options, exploring new opportunities and paths to market. You end up getting to a stage where you have your business plan, and there is nothing stopping you.
Of course, at first you are driven on ambition and Adrenalin. But that can soon change as you start to be more concerned about competitors and how you can outperform them. This is a natural thought process to have, and while it should never be your sole focus, it is hard to stay in your own lane. So it might be time to try some alternative methods and make certain aspects of your business a priority to help you outperform your competitors and make your business a success. Here are some of the things to consider.
Social media is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get your business noticed in today's market. But, at the same time, your competitors also see the value in it. It might be time to start looking at how you can be different and unique on social media. Gone are the days where you can fill your feed with promotional posts and always talking about sales opportunities. You now need to keep your content interesting as people can switch off and not engage with your profile. Mix promotional posts with something more topical. Maybe share advice or articles that might be of interest alongside the sales side of things. You might also want to start being a little more personable online, such as sharing behind the scenes glimpses or the faces behind the business.
While you may want to put a lot of focus on social media and the content that you want to create, there is one denying that often you look at the figures in terms of followers, comments and likes. It is hard not to, and so there are now companies that will sell to you followers and enable you to use bots for things like likes, comments and shares. It can be tempting to look successful and get the quick fix, but nothing will be an engaged and organic audience that you have built up yourself. Take the time to engage, respond to comments and share decent content. It will increase naturally and you will be thankful for that.
Your website could be the main hub of your business. So many people have online businesses these days, so you need to ensure that your website also works for you. With more choice out there, your website needs to be responsive and quick loading. It might be tempting to have beautiful large images to attract people in visually, but then if it takes to long to load the web page, people will get bored and move on. Find the fine line between a beautifully present site, and something that will keep up with today's quickness and need for information instantly. You will also want to ensure that your website is informative and full of correct information. Making your company one to trust.
When you start your business, you tend to take on every role. After all, Stuart ups don’t always have the money behind them to hire staff or outsource. But as your business gets better, you might want to start thinking about the opportunities you could have if you placed a value on your time. Often outsourcing and seeking out options through websites like FullScale.io means that certain aspects of your business could be handled more consistently than you have the time to do. This means that you then have more time yourself to focus your energy on areas of the business where you can make a big difference.
These days there is always new buying trends forming, and one that seems to be a priority for many right now is to start supporting local and smaller businesses. Whether that is physically or through online websites. Local advertising can be as simple as posting in the local Facebook group, or even using the community events to advertise or even have a shop to sell products or services. Taking the time to work on your strategy for this could prove to be a great way to boost your customer base, and help outperform any competitors. The likelihood is you won’t have a direct competitor in your local vicinity, which means that you boost your customer base far easily, helping your business to outperform them.
Is your customer service regime a priority in your business? It really should be. The problem with ups ain’t your business, is that you can lose sight on the things that perhaps made your business stand out in the first place. Things like delivering on time, personal messages and responses to emails, and returning phone calls. Always ensure that you meet the customer's needs every time. This helps to keep up with things like repeat business from customers, and also allows you to take advantage of one thing money can't buy. Word of mouth advertising. You want your buyers to be talking about your business in a positive way.
You might want to try and do your best to keep those customers coming to you instead of looking elsewhere at your competitors. So why not create new and exciting offers to entice them in? There are a few areas you can focus on. First of all, focus on your current customer base. Could you offer referral fees for provisions customers sending new customers your way? Could you offer up discount codes for repeat purchases? When it comes to enticing new customers in, what could make your deal and offer stand out? Does it require discount or perhaps freebies thrown in to make the deal more interesting? Think outside of the box to help bring those customers your way and you will start to notice and increase in sales.
Customers want honesty when dealing with you, and by doing so it helps to build up trust. This is such an important aspect as once you have the trust of someone, it isn’t easy to lose them as a customer. Be genuine about your products, offer honest advice, and be upfront. You will find that this is valued above all anything else, and can help you to build strong long lasting relationships with your clients or customers.
Finally, could a business blog working alongside your website help attract more customers? In terms of online presence it can as it can be a Oher way of driving traffic to your website through search engines. Make sure your blog is informative and less of a sales pitch than other areas of your website. This helps to keep customers wanting to see more and is also a sales tool to utilise.
Let’s hope these tips help you to outperform competitors within your business area.
