Main Pillars of Small Business Success

Five main pillars of a successful business are value creation, customer demand, transactions, value delivery and profitability. A business cannot run without these. Other important factors are market research and marketing.

Research & Marketing

• Market research involves surveying the market to know what people are interested in.
• Marketing is making them aware of the product that your business can offer, attracting their attention and making them interested in buying it.
• As discussed in my post Business Development – Clients and Competitors, try to find out what are the projects your competitors are targeting within your market segment, assess if you can develop an offering that can win those businesses from them.
• Since you are still new to the industry, competitors do not know you yet. Use that to visit your competitors’ showrooms, if any, anonymously, like any regular customer and collect valuable input to use in your research.
• Do not think this as unethical, after all, we all learn from watching.

Integrated Marketing Communication

• This is an effective way to achieve the best results for the company, in terms of investment in marketing activities.
• The idea is to coordinate the firm’s promotional efforts to achieve the best combined effects for the firm.
• As discussed in my post Awesome Under $5000 Business Ideas, small towns in the US have an emerging economy and are the biggest potential market for consumer goods and as well as eCommerce.
• The proof of their growth story is corroborated by most FMCG companies that are now earning a nearly similar proportion of revenues from both big and small markets.
• In the present scenario, small counties are emerging as hubs of entrepreneurial activity, beating larger cities and even metropolises in their growth rate.
• Promotion involves a number of tools we can use to increase demand for our products.
• The most well-known component of promotion is advertising, but advertising is not a stand-alone process. It is a part of integrated marketing communication process.

Market Economics

• A good understanding of the economic factors affecting your business makes you more competitive in handling day-to-day matters.
• If the operations are conducted though known focus functional areas in your company, such as finance, marketing, personnel and production etc., knowledge of capital investment serves as an integrating agent by coordinating the activities in these areas to a better outcome.
• Think of wish lists, related product recommendations, user reviews, and expanded product information.
• Tie that to a knowledgeable staff and a curated selection, and you’ve got an experience that can win.
• Small retailers are adopting technology that lets them bring the best of online information and tools directly to the real-world of stores for a mixed real and virtual experience.

Technology

• You would think that in this day and age everybody would know how important a website is for all businesses. Clearly that is not the case.
• Any business that does not have a website is missing out on one of the most powerful marketing tools available to them.
• There are actually still quite a few small businesses that do not have a website and without one this is exactly what they will remain.
• If you don’t have a website for your business, potential customers are going to assume that you are a small company that does not take their business seriously.
• Once you establish this reputation, it is going to be hard to make sales. I have always emphasised on the importance of having a good website for your company and I am going to continue doing so!
• Generally, small business owners do not pay much attention to getting a website for their business, or maintaining it.
• Remember that most clients and customers will assume that you have a website for your business, because, today most businesses do, and they did not become big without it.

Let the town know that you exist, by optimizing your online presence. 10% of the budget spent on advertising is better than remaining unknown to the world and not earning the extra 10%. Contact HyperEffects to chart out a tailor-made business marketing strategy for your company and see your business show up on television ads, press releases and on major channel partners. Get a website for your company, highlight offers, features, promotions and news on your website and in your email footers, invoices and letter signatures. Start social accounts with Twitter.com, Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com and post articles. Go where your audience is on the web.