Let’s be painfully honest. Entrepreneurs often lack the necessary funds for investing in research and analytics. Consequently, many fail to consistently market their message online, even though they realize the importance of a brand’s position in the search engines.
And, even though many business owners are in the same boat, that feels like a very lonely place on the vast sea of today’s Internet.
In the midst of unexpected change and troubling economic times, it would be easy to give up on your dreams, accept defeat and believe “that ship has sailed”.
Instead, here are 3 ways to help you position your business for growth – no matter your current budget.
FIRST: PREPARE TO SUCCEED
Cynthia Montgomery, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, developed an exercise that involves asking yourself questions that go something like this:
- What would happen if your business died?
- Would anyone miss it?
- Would the world be the same?
- How does this exercise help?
It may be a different way of looking at your business than usual – and that’s probably also its greatest benefit to you. If no one would notice that your business no longer existed, you’re obviously in need of some serious attention-attracting strategies.
Realize This Important Truth: Success happens when you understand that your business is not about you and it’s not about focusing on results. The results will take care of themselves when you are taking care of your people. And the way to take good care of the people who want and need what you offer, is through solid relationships.
To do this you must:
- Know your audience
- Know what they want and need
- Know where they spend their time
- Know how they spend their money
SECOND: INVEST WHERE IT TRULY MATTERS
We’ve already established the importance of building relationships. Thankfully, this does not demand a huge financial budget, but it does require time and energy and focus. If you don’t have enough of these to go around, consider investing in the experience of a trusted Online Business Management team.
Virtual assistants can be invaluable to business growth through building:
- Business relationships
- Business networking
- Business strategies
- Business branding
And, speaking of value, don’t overlook the importance of providing experiences that help your people connect with you – and with one another.
Build A Community: Developing a community mindset, leads to community spirit which can quickly result in a desirable level of loyalty that promotes your services and products organically, via “word-of-mouth” – ultimately, saving you time and money.
Building a brand vs. selling product needs to be what companies focus on.
THIRD: REMAIN POSITIVE AND FLEXIBLE
If you’ve never hosted a webinar or other online event – now is the time.
According to an article by Simon Kemp in January 2020, the number of people around the world using the internet has increased 7 percent (298 million new users) compared to January of 2019.
Digital's role in our lives has reached new heights, with more people spending more time doing more things online than ever before.
Make your message clear and consistent and focused on the wants and needs of your brand followers and you’ll be creating content of value.
Be willing to change up what you’ve been saying and how – and especially consider the effectiveness of where you are focusing your energy and efforts.
Focus On What You Know: Choose the social media platform where most of your audience ‘hangs out’ and build your business a strong presence there.
When things change (and they will) be able to change with them. If we’ve learned anything from the recent changes forced upon us during the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s that remaining flexible can be good for increasing creativity and producing untapped opportunities.
Whatever you do to stay relevant, be sure that you're staying true to your core values and the integrity you're known for. This is the time to build on what you do best and do it better than ever before.
Listen to Your Audience: What are people ‘signing up’ for? Create online events that focus around what your audience is telling you they want and need – and then promote these in such a way that your peeps cannot wait to attend.
ABOVE ALL: BE HONEST- BE REAL
If you want to grow and successfully maintain that growth, don’t hype up whatever you offer or anything you promote.