All businesses want to be the best in their industry/niche, but with the sheer amount of competition to be found this is usually easier said than done. In order to be the best, you need to have a solid strategy that you plan on executing effectively – and this takes time. You won’t develop a reputation as the best overnight. To help you, here are 10 things your business must have.
- A Professional Website
A professional website is a must for any business. What makes a professional website? It should look pleasing to the eye, and fit in with your brand. Users should be able to access it easily, use it with no problems, and find everything they are looking for. It should be filled with relevant content and information, updated regularly. You don’t just create a website and then it’s done – you must continue to work on it when necessary. It should have attractive images. It should also be responsive on a number of mobile devices, as most people browse the web on tablets and phones these days.
The fact is, you can’t create your website yourself. You don’t have the time, and you likely don’t have the knowledge that a professional company has to do it right. Your website not only needs to look good, it needs to perform well. It needs to be both user and search engine friendly. The right company will be able to do all of this for you. It will cost you – you will need to allocate a large portion of your budget to it. Just know that it will pay off. It’s the first impression you’re giving visitors of your business, so make it count.
2. Appropriate Social Media Profiles
Along with your website comes appropriate social media profiles. You don’t need to have an account on every single platform. However, you should ensure you know where to find your audience, and have a good knowledge of the platforms they use the most. You can start out with one and then create more as you get into a routine. Doing this yourself at first can be a lot cheaper, but consistency is still very important, and this can be hard if you’re juggling multiple plates. Some people like to use programs like Hootsuite to help them schedule posts and get things done. Some hire social media managers. When the time is right, hiring a social media manager will be worth it in the long run!
3. A Well Thought Out Marketing Strategy
Your marketing strategy needs to be well thought out. Every aspect of it needs to be properly planned. Both online and offline strategies can be used in harmony, depending on what your goals are and where/how you operate.
First, you need to know who your audience is. You can do this by performing keyword research and similar things online. Once you know who is looking for you, and the way they are looking for it, you can get to work putting something together. Remember, it’s worth noting that you don’t tell people what they want, they tell you. It’s also a good idea to target your audience down to every last detail. Trying to target everybody will water down your results. This doesn’t mean you can’t target another market in the future. Just focus on one thing at a time for now.
4. A Business Phone System
When you invest in a business phone system, you make everything much easier and cheaper in the long run. You can get plans customized for your business and needs, and there are even engineers that can build features for you. A business phone is one of the next logical steps for a business that wants to expand and grow.
5. A Brand Voice
You will already know how important it is to have a strong brand. But what is your brand, exactly? It’s the colors you use, the fonts you use, the pictures, and everything else that identifies you as a business. It’s how people recognize and remember you. For example, people see a logo and know who it is without seeing the full name or product. However, if your brand doesn’t have a brand voice, it’s incomplete! This is an important step to making your brand memorable. Think about your product/service and how you want to come across. For instance, a women’s makeup company may have a ‘sassy’ brand voice. A men’s sportswear company may be more motivational and uplifting. This voice and personality needs to be used across all social media channels, marketing materials, emails, and anywhere else you communicate with your audience.
It’s all about the choice of words you use and how you come across to your customers. This personality and voice needs to be upheld whatever the situation may be! Not only does it further define and strengthen you as a brand, it enables your audience to relate to you more – you will build stronger customer relationships. Make sure absolutely everybody is aware of this brand voice and personality, and that they use it across all of your channels.
6. Employees Who Share Your Vision
Hiring employees isn’t something you should do halfheartedly. Some people will want a job with you for the money, while others are actually interested in what you do and want to do their best at it. Ideally, you will hire employees who share your vision. Employees should have an active interest in what you do. They should also bring something new to the table. You can’t be expected to know everything, so who can you bring in to help you grow and expand your business further? Don’t hire people just like you. Hire those with similar views, but with different perspectives and skillsets!
7. A USP
A USP is a ‘unique selling proposition’. Without this, you can get lost among the plethora of other businesses who are trying to do exactly what you’re doing. What makes you different? Why should somebody choose your product/service over another one? You need to define this in your business plan and then make sure you focus on it. Are you all organic? Do you support eco-friendly business? Perhaps you’re not the cheapest, but the best around at what you do. There are all kinds of different things you can choose to focus on, so figure out what your audience will respond to and how you want to be viewed.
8. Incredible Customer Service
Customer service is king. How will you resolve customer issues, ensuring that they feel they have had a victory with you each and every time? The fact is, you can’t please everyone. No matter how hard you try, you are likely going to get a few complaints and negative reviews. With the rise of social media, it’s now even easier for people to get wind of these complaints and reviews. But don’t panic! Providing you know how to handle them, you can ensure your reputation remains in tact, and that you keep a customer. Here’s what not to do when it comes to customer service:
- Get angry, sarcastic, or unprofessional with the customer.
- Ignore the customer, especially online.
- Delete negative comments/feedback.
- Take too long to reply to the customer or sort out their query.
What to do when it comes to customer service:
- Keep your brand voice intact, and be apologetic – even if you don’t feel like this was your fault.
- Go above and beyond to give the customer confidence in you again. Will you reimburse them and give them a discount code? Replace the product for free? How do you think they will feel most victorious?
- Reply straight away – remember, people are reading what you put. What’s on the internet stays on there forever, even if deleted!
Having a dedicated team of customer service professionals will help you. Amazing customer service is powerful, and the message will spread. Just be aware that it will spread further and wider if you have terrible customer service!
9. Goals
Having both short term and long term business goals is a huge factor in being the best. You could plan these out monthly, holding meetings to determine what your goals should be. In the long term, you might aim to make a million and become an internationally recognized name. In the short term, you might simply want to get 100 customers your first month, and get some good reviews online. The smaller goals will always help you to achieve the larger goals!
Setting your goals out officially will help you to achieve them. Keep them in mind – maybe write them on a board in the office or place them on your desk to look at every day!
10. A Plan
Finally, a plan. You must have a plan so you can see where you intend on going and how you intend on getting there, but what you’ll do if that doesn’t work. You can also secure investors this way.
Does your business have the above 10 things?
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