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It’s January. The busy holiday season is over but your costs are much the same and you have a business to grow. The good news is that you don’t have to dig deep into your pockets to give your business an uplift. Find out how with our five business-boosting tips:
Listen
It’s never been easier to gather, assess and act on customer feedback. TrustPilot, TripAdvisor and Google Reviews are some tools businesses use to aggregate customer opinions.
Without obsessing over star ratings, reviews can help you understand how your business is perceived. Making changes to your business based on customer recommendations can boost the likelihood of a customer recommending you to a friend, also known as your Net Promoter Score – and this can lead to a business uplift.
Set the benchmark
Tracking which efforts improve your business’ bottom line is important for growth. Set your business ‘Key Performance Indicators’ (known as KPIs) to track your progress. KPIs could include customer retention rates, average transaction value, or cost per customer acquisition. Monitor which tactics are most effective and ditch those that aren’t.
Ask yourself which channels or tactics are bringing in new customers, or increasing repeat visits. Is it your Google Adwords campaign or an employee that’s bringing customers through the door? Use these insights to prioritize tactics for business growth.
Get social
Effective use of social media is an easy and cost-efficient way to reach your target audience - and it’s free. There’s a reason why 94 per cent of small businesses use social media as a marketing tool.
If you aren’t already on social media, learn which platforms your customers are most likely to use; ask them in person, or research online (this article provides an overview of which audiences are most prevalent on each social channel).
Then set up your social channels and invite your customers to follow you (put up a sign in store, and/or add your social profile links to your email signature). Post content regularly, taking note of which content generates the greatest response from followers.
Investing just a few dollars a week to promote specific content through Facebook can significantly increase your brand’s visibility. Check out Hootsuite’s social media tips for small businesses for guidance on what’s right for you.
Streamline operations
Streamlining operations can lead to financial gains. How can you increase your output in a more efficient way?
Improving equipment can be a great means of enhancing efficiency. For example, a pizza oven that cooks a pizza in 60 seconds, instead of five minutes will increase your output. This will be hugely valuable during busy periods.
Explore our leasing options to get equipment that will maximize your output without breaking the bank.
Collaborate
Small businesses can partner with other small businesses (if they are geographically close or have a complimentary business offering), creating new and distinct ecosystems. Why not take advantage of that? Collaboration isn’t just for musicians!
Cross-pollinate your customer bases through word of mouth, or loyalty and referral schemes. For example, a manufacturing business with a large parking lot could partner with a local restaurant and lease parking spaces in the evenings for favorable rates to the restaurant’s customers.
Collaboration can build a local business community, and boost customers and sales for businesses involved tool (and it won’t cost you a cent).
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