Running a small business is much more of a marathon than a sprint, and to achieve success, you have to have your mind focused on the long run. The fact of the matter is that about 50% of businesses fail in the first five years and 2/3 of them in the first ten years. When you’re a small business working without the same capital as the giant corporations, you have to be more crafty to survive.
Technology has provided many tools that small-business owners can utilize to expand their brands and increase customer loyalty. With the right tech in place, you can elevate your company to new heights. Continue reading to learn more about how to make your small business more successful.
Be More Intentional With Your Marketing Strategy
Whether you’re just opening your business or you’ve been around for decades, you must attract new customers to thrive. New customers are one of the main keys to longevity.
Word of mouth has always been the best way to get new people interested in your products and services, but things have changed a little. Word of mouth still carries a ton of weight, but the ways word of mouth gets around are lightyears ahead of ways of the past.
Word may have traveled quickly back in the old days, but it travels at the speed of the internet today. Social media is the new hangout spot, and everybody shares everything! An entertaining, informative, or engaging post can go viral and gain the attention of millions in a matter of minutes. It’s not something you should count on, but it can happen. Regardless, you need to create a positive social media presence to generate the right type of word-of-mouth around your small business.
Being that you’re a small-business owner, you need to have a strong marketing presence right in your local area. New technology like geofence marketing allows you to target consumers based on the position of their phone’s GPS in relation to your business. With this software, you can send out ads and offers to people as they enter within a certain radius of your company.
Be More Advanced With Your Customer Service
Unfortunately, it’s not enough to create a culture where you serve customers with kindness, patience, and expertise. This is a fast-paced society and people want convenience and instant results. The more you can do to provide them with those things, the more likely your business will be to thrive.
A great way to improve the level of convenience for your customers is to make your self accessible at all times. Of course, you can’t just be on call 24/7, but your business can be.
Software developers such as Bright Pattern have created software that allows your business to communicate with people on multiple platforms. They offer what’s called an omnichannel contact center that allows people to get real-time assistance from your business on their tablets, smartphones, and laptops. They can even switch from device to device and maintain a seamless chat with the same customer service representative throughout the process.
Be More Active In Your Community
Small businesses have to make it known that they’re part of the community that they do business in. Show the people in your local area that your business cares about its community by getting involved in projects to better it. The more people in your area see your business involved in community projects, the more they will have a favorable view of you. It’s just good PR.
On top of being great PR, helping others always helps you. Involving your company in projects to improve the community will be a source of personal growth for you and your employees. The synergy and positive feeling that helping others gives you will trickle over into your customer service
Running a small business isn’t easy, but if you implement the right tools and strategies, it will grow. Be intentional with your marketing, enhance your customer service, and increase your community involvement. Do those things and your small business will become a community pillar.