Starting a Small Business in the Digital Era
There has never been more accessibility for those wanting to start a business, yet it can be daunting trying to figure out where to start.
Having an idea and implementing that idea - these are two entirely different things. We see many people that have various ideas in their minds to start a new business, but they don't actually put these ideas into marketable use. The process of starting a new business can be overwhelming and difficult. There will be times when you will be ready to give up and leave everything due to the challenges you’re facing. To top it off, in this digital era, there is a lot of knowledge present on the internet, making it difficult for you to decide where to start from.
Yet, this digital era has completely transformed the way we do business. The mobile technology and the evolution of other technologies will continue to reshape the way businesses are carried out. Technology today is promoting work with out of office. The world is becoming a virtual marketplace. The trends in working from home have increased by 140% since the year 2010.
Gig Economic Analysis for Small Business
With the emergence of a gig economy, people are finding opportunities for earning out of the traditional 9 - 5 job. This concept of the gig economy and finding full-time talent might seem unachievable to navigate in small businesses, but not impossible. The gig economy provides many benefits for workers as well as small businesses in terms of increasing their productivity and flexibility.
The new labor market may have a great influence on small businesses. These small businesses can easily thrive in the industry if they recruit people to perform fewer tasks with more specialization, consider independent contractors, focus on less overhead as well as increase their virtual collaboration.
Research shows that around 534,000 small businesses are started every month, out of which only a few of them survive for the long term. 15% of the small businesses survive up to 15 or more years, and their success is dependent on investment, flexibility, and the right planning. Small businesses have more potential and will be more profitable due to the digital era.
Interpersonal Abilities To Overcome Communication Barriers
Interpersonal skills are vital for the business culture because it influences the individual's performance that, in turn, impacts their business output. Entrepreneurs must realize the importance of interpersonal abilities that help them in effectively tackling complex problems and performing critical thinking for managing their diverse business relationships. Skills such as effective communication, being confident and charismatic, and creatively solving complex problems are traits that help you in becoming a great leader.
Everyone likes to work with those people that possess positive interpersonal skills. You should be able to communicate as well as get along with your customers and clients effectively. When you are working towards the success of your startup, make sure to create an environment based on good communication, especially with the people you work with. This will make then feel respected and safe, and they will work towards improving your business’s performance.
Ethical Policies/Open Door Policies
Working towards implementing and making your idea successful isn't enough. You have to make your workplace environment friendly for your employees. And to do that, open-door policies are essential. The ethical (or open-door policy) is basically a quality management practice which serves to cater to and sustain employees through empowerment and morale.
Executing these policies will help you in cultivating an environment of mutual respect, collaboration, and higher performance among employees and management. Open door policies boost openness and transparency. Want to promote a cooperative environment for your small business? All you need to do is inculcate these policies and encourage your workers to communicate ideas and thoughts freely that will benefit your business.
Marketing through Automation
Marketing automation is an emerging idea, and automation is not only restricted to machines, but it is everywhere around you - the discounted coupons messages you receive, automatically generated emails, and so on. Automation has become a key to leadership in the business industry, and approximately 80% of companies are using marketing automation.
Automation is quite beneficial for companies today, and small business owners can integrate automation in every aspect of their startup from apprehending the leads to concluding daily sales to facilitating clients and evaluating the routine office tasks. This will help you in investing your time and energy towards achieving your goals that contribute towards your startup's progress.
Consumer Satisfaction And CRM Tactic
Another important factor for your startup is to work towards increasing your client's satisfaction levels. Customer satisfaction should be your ultimate aim, as it is the key to the growth of your business. When you can satisfy your customers through your services, they are more likely to return to your company.
One of the biggest challenges you will confront in your startup is attracting customers and creating brand awareness. This is no doubt a strenuous process, but once you get a client, make sure they don't leave without being completely satisfied. There are many CRM (customer relationship management) tools and techniques such as HubSpot Sales Hub, SalesNOW, Claritysoft, and many more that can help you in building good relationships with your clients. A good example is assignment assistance UK that offers a customer satisfaction guarantee to their client through their outstanding services.
Creative Tools That Boost Your Business Productivity
Here are some of the few effective tools that will help in increasing your business productivity and enhance the automation in your startup:
Hootsuite - This tool is one of the best and most used social media marketing tools for small businesses. This tool has been widely used because of its affordable and easy UI. What you can do with this tool is schedule 30 or more posts on social media, and it will help you to measure the run on investment and the impact it created among the audience. This will help you in growing your business by using online platforms.
Dropbox - You must be wondering how dropbox a storage app can help you with your business, right? It is an application for storing and sharing files, information, and backup the data. It will help you in collaborating with your workforce in an intuitive, beautiful way. This tool will help you work more visually than manually.
Google Analytics - Another effective tool for your startup is Google analytics. This will help you in optimizing, measuring, and analyzing the engagements of the users with your website. It is a seamless analysis tool made for your startup that will help you comprehend the number of viewers on your website and how you can work on increasing the traffic. You can learn more about managing startup expenses here.
MOZ - Being a small business, you can increase your traffic as well as integrate SEO on your website by using MOZ. SEO helps in making your online business user friendly and increase its visibility. This tool will help you in providing keyword suggestions, SERP features, SEO competition, saved lists, and accurate search volume data that aids in boosting your business.
Trends are constantly changing, and over time, more and more people are inclining towards starting their own business rather than working in 9-5 jobs. Hopefully this short and effective guide will be beneficial for you and growing your startup.
Claudia Jeffrey started her career as a freelancer. She has effectively dealt with many clients online and advised them regarding the investments for startups. Currently, she is employed as a junior finance advisor at Crowd Writer and trainer at Dissertation Assistance providing training to the coursework help UK team.