Our List of 13 Helpful Tips for Small Business Owners
1. Learn from your customers.
As you grow your business, listening to feedback from your customer base is crucial. It can be easy to weed out negative feedback, but the truth is, both positive and constructive criticism can bode well for your business.
Also, be sure you are encouraging your customers to communicate with you. Product reviews are a great way to garner feedback. Other ways to connect and receive feedback include social media and documenting customer support communication.
2. Prioritize customer support.
Prioritizing customer support gives your business the chance to turn unhappy customers into loyal ones. If you can be there in a pinch, you can relieve the issue and deliver your brand promise. In addition, high quality support can often lead to more brand awareness and brand loyalty and trust.
3. Stay focused on your niche.
When you begin a new business venture, it’s easy to get excited and want to tap into different markets. But, spreading yourself too thin can result in missed opportunities to capture an engaged audience.
- Optimize your products and services,
- Focus on organic SEO growth as it drives trust,
- Stay committed to your niche, so that you can stand out of the pact, and
- Reinvest into digital marketing. Sales trumps all.”
4. Deliver an experience your customers won’t forget.
Think of some of your favorite brands, what is it about them that keeps you loyal?
The customer experience. Customer experience has a domino effect. If you do it well, you will see a boost in positive brand awareness, traffic, and loyal customers to your online store.
5. Be time-efficient.
As a small business owner, you wear many hats. At some point in your journey you are the CEO. The Digital Marketing and Ecommerce Manager. The Logistics Manager. The list goes on.
As you grow your business, you must use your time efficiently. To help you do this, look to technology and automation.
6. Think omnichannel.
Omnichannel strategies are on the rise, and it’s no surprise. In 2020, customers are shopping in more places. To make sure you are building brand awareness and offering more flexible options for your customers to purchase your products, start developing an omnichannel strategy.
7. Don’t fear larger, more established competitors.
You’re fresh meat in a competitive market. That can feel pretty intimidating. Remember, you’re introducing new products into the market because there is a need for them. You have something that your competition lacks. A great way to get ahead of your competition is through technology – specifically your credit card processing solution.
8. Take an organized approach.
Keeping every part of your business organized will keep functions running smooth. Writing ideas down will help you brainstorm different options for your business, and keep your priorities in check.
Now, every idea you write down won’t come to life. You’ll need to figure out which ideas will give you the biggest bang for your buck. As small business owners quickly discover, you must learn how to create a reputable business with little budget.
Lastly, it’s important to stay organized, so you can focus on your team’s morale. With great morale, you’ll get more done and have more excitement and creativity to add to your brand.
9. Choose your battles wisely.
Just like your personal life, it’s important to choose your battles wisely. Starting a business and experiencing growing pains can be stressful. Focus on your most valuable assets and plans to stay steady on the path to success.
For those businesses that are already established, we recommend taking a closer look at the following:
- Email marketing. It sees the most direct results of any digital marketing activity. You already have customers that like you. They just need to be reminded to come back every once in a while.
- SEO. Hire an SEO agency. It’s a lot easier when your name has some weight behind it. Once your business has some authority, you can go after bigger keywords and rank for them more quickly.
- Consistent improvements. Keeping things fresh, in both design and content, will not only make you more attractive to Google, it will help you constantly refine the sales funnel on the site.”
10. Learn to be flexible.
“Learn to be flexible.” Why is this so important for small business owners? Being flexible allows you to be a better listener to your customer base, be adaptable to change, and always be ready to embrace what’s next. This will keep you ahead of the game.
Listen to the experts, listen to your customers…
- Product reviews — Make sure you are using product reviews and that you are doing them in a way that they are being seen.
11. Be true to your business.
Don’t follow the crowd. When you sought out to start your own business, you did so because there was something missing in the market. By staying true to your passion and purpose, you will be able to communicate your genuine and organic message to your customers.
- Your website is a marketing tool for your message. With a website, you have a place where people can look up your business, shop, and learn more about your business. If you’ve got products and aren’t online, you’ve got to have a website that tells your story.
- Ask your customers for feedback. Whether it’s about your product, customer service, or website, make it part of your strategy to ask for their feedback about how you’re doing.
- Marketing and email automation. Creating email sequences to welcome new customers to your business, send out abandoned cart emails, and provide weekly updates can really build your relationship with current and potential customers. And with marketing automation, a lot of the work is front-loaded, so it’s continually working for you and your business.”
12. Be the best at what you do.
For a couple of moments, forget about the competition, the state of the market, the small details in your logistics strategy.
Come back to your purpose and brand purpose. Your goal should always be to be the best at what you do.When you look at the big picture and ask yourself how to be the best at what you do, you will find that your priorities arrive much easier.
- Don’t be afraid to evolve and change. Just because something is working now doesn’t mean the industry trends aren’t shifting. One of the biggest problems I see occurring to small businesses is that they get left behind and realize it after it is too late.
- People are everything. It’s the employees of your company that matter the most, and ensuring you have a team that challenges you, thinks outside of the box, isn’t afraid to speak up, and most of all feels appreciated is a factor that can’t be measured.”
13. Think holistically.
Look at your business as a whole — how do you tie together your brand message and experience? How does it connect?
Three key tactics for small business owners to keep in mind:
- “Establish a consistent brand across all channels — Without this you weaken your business.
- Drink the Google Kool-Aid — Use the tools they provide to boost visibility .
- Consistently market — Establish a monthly budget and schedule, pay attention to marketing to all your potential customers.”
