According to recent studies, around 50% of small businesses will close within five years of opening. While there are many different reasons for these failures, if you were hoping to be in it for the long haul with your business, you must start laying the groundwork for a bright future today. Thankfully, there are various ways to do this, giving your company the longevity it deserves.
The most important challenge that you must tackle to achieve this goal is understanding what is standing in the way of your business success and using this knowledge to create a sustainable business model and plan. However, your business plan shouldn’t only deal with the ‘now’ (i.e. issues you’ll face in the coming days/weeks), but it should also help you find as many ways as possible to grow your business. After all, without growth, your company will fade into obscurity in far fewer than five years.
With that in mind, here are some simple ways you can start growing your business.
Invest in the latest technology.
No matter what kind of products you create, you can make the process much easier for yourself and your employees by utilising modern technology. After all, why spend hours working on a task that could be completed in a fraction of time with the right equipment in your arsenal? For example, if you use conveyor systems when manufacturing your products, you should invest in the latest tech from companies such as Robotunits. Not only will this make the process run much smoother, but their latest tech can also save you a great deal of time & money.
Bring in a financial expert.
When trying to build a brighter financial future for your business, you must have a good hold over your finances to begin with. If skills such as financial planning, budgeting and bookkeeping are not in your wheelhouse, it’s far better to hire (or outsource) an account to carry out these tasks for you than to handle it alone. This is because these skills often take a while to hone, and you don’t want to be making any mistakes that could cost you in the future.
Ensure your marketing campaign is hitting the right notes.
Your marketing campaign is the voice of your company – and is often the main source of new customers (aside from word-of-mouth promotion). As a result, your marketing strategy must be as close to flawless as you can get it. To achieve this goal, you should ensure that you update this strategy regularly, in keeping with current trends and consumer behaviours. You should also study how well each of your advertising campaigns performs (how many sales they generate) to figure out whether or not they are effective.
Get your name out there (for free).
Believe it or not, you don’t always have to spend a lot of money to raise your brand’s platform. In fact, there are plenty of ways in which you can generate free PR. For example, you can focus on growing a social media following or collaborate with other local brands.
