As you reflect on the advancements your business has made so far, are you pleased with the progress? Are you confident that it’s on a path toward long-term success and stability? Hopefully you can answer yes to these questions, but no matter its journey, growth is likely a goal as you plan for the future. Here are three ways you can drive your business to reach new heights in the coming year.
Build or Revamp Your Online Presence
If your business hasn’t faced the reality that having an online presence is essential to being found and accessible, odds are opportunities have been, and will continue to be, missed. The good news is that it’s not too late to get setup online, but this should be a top priority in 2020!
While social media accounts help to enhance online visibility and make important information readily accessible, having a website will give your business a place on the internet. A website can exhibit information as it sees fit, but also gain a better foothold against the competition to have a prominent presence in online searches. After all, the more likely a company is to appear on Google, the more likely it is to bring in customers. Creating and maintaining a website can be complicated, but there are plenty of affordable online resources that make it simple to do using templates. There’s no need to be an HTML expert—just start with a general website to establish the necessary presence. You can always make enhancements over time.
Kudos to those businesses that already have a website and strong online presence. Now let’s talk about the last time it was updated. As technology continues to change at a rapid pace, websites can quickly become outdated. Take some time to clean up the existing site and optimize the information that it holds. The same goes for social media accounts. Make sure bios are engaging and that all business information is up-to-date. To take it a step further, evaluate the active content strategy to determine which content is making a strong impact on the audience. This will help determine if your business should keep moving in its current direction or change things up.
Rethink Community Outreach
Although having an online presence is more important than ever, the power of word-of-mouth can be an essential part of your success. Always capitalize on opportunities to leverage this. An impactful way to do so is to take advantage of the opportunities to showcase your business presence within the communities it serves. Sponsoring a local event can be great if you have the resources, but if funds are limited consider offering to volunteer at the event. This can provide chances to network with other business owners and spread awareness of your business. As your network broadens, the reach of your business will extend to new places. It is also worthwhile to consider teaming up with another small business owner in the area. Even if both businesses sell different products or services, this could open new doors for advancement that would not be possible otherwise. In addition to broadening your customer base, meeting and working alongside new people will help you grow as a business owner by watching and learning from others who are also striving for success.
Reevaluate Your Customer Niches
In the early stages of a business, it is reassuring to pinpoint a niche audience that you can confidently market to and ultimately serve. As your business seeks to expand, it is inevitable that target markets will need to be reevaluated in order to broaden reach. For some businesses this may mean adding to a product line, and for others it may mean repositioning services for a different customer base. While there is great value in staying true to the roots of your business, it is important to be in-tune with ways to make changes to propel success even further. The new year may be a great time to perform an in-depth customer analysis and explore other potential consumers that may be underserved in your market. Taking a step back from day-to-day tasks to evaluate where your business fits in the greater scheme of things could ultimately lead to more meaningful opportunities.
Sometimes growth comes naturally, but there may be periods of time when you have to drive the growth of your business. Either way, preparing for growth will position your business for bigger and better opportunities. Make the year ahead one for the books, and one for record success.
If you’re interested in learning about other ways you can prepare your business for a prosperous new year, read how you can Build a Better Business Budget for 2020.
