Surely, you’ve thought more than once about developing your own business but you are not sure where to start.
You think building a business is expensive and definitely not a one-man job. Technology today allows entrepreneurs to start their own businesses on a budget and their own until they have the possibility to expand.
Let’s go over a few key aspects every business developer needs to successfully launch a whole new business and actually succeed at it!
Think About Your Business Goals
First things first, answer the main question to establish a business development strategy: what are your goals this 2020?
Think about both, long term and short term. There are a few overall goals for a business and many short, temporary ones which show us the way to follow. Once you have a clear picture of these, then you can really start building a solid plan for your new coming company.
But knowing your goals is not enough. You should also know and understand the difference between business development and sales. Sales focus only on driving revenue while business development means building relationships to leverage revenue. See the difference?
Then, before moving on into the other business development tips, you want to make sure you’ve put into place all the key pieces of your new business:
Have You Gotten the Right Name in Place?
Ask yourself if you have a name customers will remember you by.
Pick a name that is not only memorable but also easy to spell and look for. The last thing you want to do is to keep telling your customers how they are supposed to spell your name.
Make sure to do your prior research to ensure your name is not out there already.
Strong, Memorable Logo
A solid name has to be followed by a strong amazing logo to leave a long-standing impact in the mind of your potential customers.
If you haven’t done it yet, design a stunning logo that represents your core values and tells a story about your business.
Optimized Business Website
Maximize your search engine exposure with a well rounded and optimized business website. People need a place to find online! You have to understand that your website is part of your customer’s journey through your brand.
Other Considerations
Add to your business base all core elements your brand should have. Think about newsletters, eCommerce, online booking, customer support, deliveries, and so on.
Focus On Customer’s Experience
Personal communications are very important in every small business development. Personalization can get solid client relationships and offer them a tailored experience.
Invest in data research to really get to know your client to give them the experience they are looking for. Smart customer data collection can create essential insights to get a clear picture of who your potential customers may be too. Adopt a data-driven model!
Clear Target Audience
It’s important that you visualize your goals through the eyes of your target audience.
To find out who this is, ask yourself who benefits more from your services or products? What makes them move forward into a purchase decision? And so on…These questions will get you closer to a global understanding of your target audience.
Smart Digital Transformation
Keep yourself on top of every digital trend to keep your business updated and relevant. New technologies allow every business developer to create more high-quality essentials for their business in less time.
Technologies are endless opportunities to transform your business. You can use online design templates to make fast designs on your own. There are several sites, apps, and software that allow regular entrepreneurs to design all their branding assets and their logos with easy to use design templates. This is no longer an exclusive task of graphic designers.
2020 is a Video Era
Video is quite an important asset to consider in your business plan. Why? Videos are today the most engaging content you can use to sell, inform, and promote.
But again, new technologies have made it really easy for everyone to create their own videos like business teasers, business presentations, social media videos, logo reveals, and more to make super engaging content.
Get Your Marketing Game On
Align your goals to your marketing efforts. Now that you have your target in place, it’s time to build a business marketing plan that can convert your target audience into actual customers.
Make a clear outline of your marketing goals.
Notice that a marketing plan should include your social media, email marketing, website design, and more. All your communication channels should point at the same goal.
Nurture Loyalty
Talk to your customers, ask questions, post poles. Get as much feedback as you can to keep your business into a continuous process of evolution. Show them their opinions are very valuable to you.
Failure and Success are Part of the Process
Developing a whole new business takes a lot of experimenting.
Trying and failing continuously to get the perfect formula that works for you. Trying new things, checking your result data, and then re-experimenting should be on your daily tasks.
Performance Analytics
Keep track of your inbound leads, new customers, conversion rates, traffic, and more. These are all things you can track from your website or social media. Use performance analytics to track your way into your overall goals.
A Few Last Words
Business development is all about building your brand into a solid business.
A business that is memorable and accessible for those who are your target audience. Make meaningful first impressions by following these 7 tips and start building today.
With clear business goals aligned, you can make a business plan that actually works. Personalization of your communications will eventually lead to customer retention. You will have not only given them a great brand experience, but also they will feel like an important part of your brand, and basically this is how to develop a business with 7 key bases.
Author’s Bio
Valeria Santalla is a multi-disciplinary marketer and content writer that loves to create branding assets for local business. She currently collaborates at Placeit, one of the largest logo makers and design template libraries on the internet.