According to Richard Branson CEO and Founder of Virgin "A business's long history is meaningless if it doesn't provide the best-designed, most reliable products or services at competitive prices and back up those offerings with the finest customer service". In these fast-moving times, longevity is more the exception than the rule. According to a 2012 study by Richard N. Foster of Yale University, the average lifespan of a company listed in the Standard & Poor's 500 index has decreased to just 18 years, from 61 years in 1958.
Are you becoming complacent?
Almost no products are so good that they cannot be
constantly improved on. In the UK they have a great saying: “like painting the Forth Bridge in Britain"
which is an unending task. This is because the painters of this massive bridge
in Edinburgh were never done - once they had finished painting it, they then
were needed to immediately start again. The task came to an end in 2011,
because workers had switched to a new kind of paint. This is a great example
how your businesses product development should be a similarly endless quest for
improvement.
According to Bluecorona Small Business Statistics for
2016/2017
- 66%
of small business owners say that finding new customers is a top concern.
- 40%
of small business owners say that retaining customers is a priority.
- 43%
of SMBs says that improving customer experience and retention is their top
strategy to improve revenue growth.
- 30%
say that keeping up with technology advances is a major concern of small
business owners.
The term "future-proof" refers to the ability of
something to continue to be of value into the distant future; that the item
does not become obsolete. This information can be distilled into many
principles depending on industry group which can then be applied to many areas.
10 Ways to Future Proof your Small Digital Business
- Work
with millennials and change your thinking.
- Think
from your client's standpoint and create a positive product experience
from this viewpoint.
- Common
Q&A if you get the same questions try re-writing your website copy to
better answer common questions.
- Focus
on creating a long-term client not just a one-time sale.
- Read
about marketing trends and the directions on technology
- Eliminate
untrustworthy or toxic people from your life, this could be a lifelong
friend, family member, a dishonest bank that has cheated for so long it's
become common practice, or even your mortgage broker who breaches your
client trust and confidentiality.
- Monitor
What direction your top 5 closest competitors are doing and create an
average for your new direction if a new change is needed.
- Have
a upsell strategy built into your product purchase process.
- Train
your staff right from the start on exactly how to carry out the tasks they
are expected to complete.
- Cut
your costs, all businesses have expenses. Most businesses have expenses
that can be cut. Don't wait until you need to cut your operating costs to
start eliminating unnecessary services and expenses from your monthly burn
rate. Take a look into the expenses that don't equate to your basic bottom
line and axe them. Remember for every dollar you save it's then directly
reflected to your profit.
Small Business Digital Marketing that Converts
If you know anything about small business, then you know its
overall mission is to attract customers that are interested in your products
and services. You might have tried Google ads, or FB and social media marketing
to some success. The problem with many digital marketing methods is you pay
your money and cross your fingers that sales with convert. I have personally
tried almost every type of digital marketing you can think of and the only one
that sticks out for me is official email marketing. Email has been the only
marketing method that provides the ability to grow massive contacts databases
easily and responsibly. With email marketing you can send out thousands of
emails an hour and have a web-based dashboard manage and automate the entire
technical process. If I had to choose only one digital marketing platform to
build my business it would be email marketing.
Free Report - 5 Marketing Tips Every Small Business Should Know Click Here
By Rodney Gray - Article Source: EzineArticles.com/9681165
By Rodney Gray - Article Source: EzineArticles.com/9681165
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