The year 2020 was quite a ride. From its start, even beyond its end, it is marked with inflections. Our everyday lives have changed significantly. Businesses of various shapes and sizes felt its impact. But the most who felt its significance are the small businesses across the globe.
While the coronavirus pandemic has killed thousands of small businesses, it also ushered the birth and the success of quite many. While we witnessed beloved neighborhood classics closing down forever and others trying to survive day-to-day, new small businesses are sprouting.
Thus, here are some tips to helps your small business succeed and grow in 2021 and even beyond.
Success and Growth Points for Small Businesses in 2021
Plan & Create Your Business Goal Accordingly
As any entrepreneur knows, planning for your small business is crucial. Not only will it help you navigate difficult situations in the future, but it will also pave the way to better products or services. With a clear direction at hand, your business would not waste any time, effort, and money on something trivial.
In creating your business goals for 2021, you must make specific and measurable goals. It could be improving your social media marketing. You might want to consider applying the SMART method in defining the goals of your small business.
- Specific — Be certain of what your business wants to accomplish. Answer questions such as what, why, how, when, and where.
- Measurable — Make sure that there is somehow accuracy in measuring your goals. Metrics commonly used in social campaigns include engagement and reach.
- Attainable — Having attainable and realistic goals helps you see whether you have the right tools and skills.
- Relevant — When creating business goals, they must be in line with your company strategy. You do not want to be all over the place.
- Timely — The timeline you create in accomplishing your business goals must be realistic. Give yourself enough time to work on it.
Invest in SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the name of the game in today’s digital world. Without a digital presence, your business will lose a lot of potential customers. Even before the pandemic, modern consumers usually search on the internet for businesses that could attend to their needs.
With the outbreak of the coronavirus, amid social distancing and stay-at-home regulations, the business landscape saw a steady rise in e-commerce. Now, businesses should focus more than ever to make their products or services visible even on the internet community.
Build Social Media Presence
It is not enough that you have a working and mobile-friendly website. Apart from that, consider building a social media presence for your business. People spend at least three hours, on average, on social media every day. Given this data, your business should be seen where people are.
Delegate and Outsource
Many business owners agree that 24 hours a day is not enough to cover all the tasks at hand. One simple solution is to outsource these duties. Apart from giving you more time to focus more on the core of your business, outsourcing tasks is more cost-efficient, and you are ensured duties are handled excellently.
Improve Customer Service
With the changing needs of consumers, the old rule of supply and demand has turned upside down. Even recession-proof businesses are left struggling amid pandemic. The majority of service-based businesses find that they are no longer crucial in these changing times.
For most businesses, getting more customers is more important. However, we all know that loyal customers are worth ten times more than new ones. Give more value to your customers by providing omnichannel communication lines. Provide live chats on your website and opt for easy-to-remember 0800 numbers.
Respond as well to any social media queries.
Show Some Love to Your Employees
Your employees deserve to be showered with love as well, especially during these difficult times. Many workers, particularly those working in essential industries, are risking their lives just so your business operation could continue. Show your appreciation in various ways, including giving out incentives.
Embrace Change
Change is hard, as the title of the She & Him song goes. Although change is unsettling, it is part of life, and entrepreneurs should know that fact. Instead of going against the changing times, embrace new trends instead, and you will see your business prospering even more.
With the year 2021 now promising a new beginning, let us take this opportune time to rewrite the rules and aim for the best for our small business. With the lessons we learned from 2020, we are more ready than ever to create a more successful and growing business.