3 Ways To Get Your Business Back On Track To Success

Slower trading times are perfect for reassessing the needs of your business. Lockdowns have made businesses realise there is no sure thing. The products or services that do well today may not be relevant tomorrow.

However, companies that respond to change quickly are most likely to survive and thrive. In this article, we look at three ways leaders can boost their marketing, keep learning, and know their competition.

Study Your Competition

As business owners, we are often so busy working in our business that we have little time to think about what your competitors might be doing.

However, there’s always something we can learn about your own business by studying competitors.

To learn all you can about your competition you first need to know who they are, what they excel at and where they need to improve.

There are many ways to find out what you need to know about your competition from searching the internet to visit websites and meeting with staff or suppliers.

Research

Make a list of what you need to learn about operators in your sector.

• What services do they offer?
• How do they market themselves?
• How much do they charge?
• What do they promise their customers?
• What are their USPs (Unique selling point)?

Business owners can never know too much about the competition; however, remember the focus is to use the intel to better your operations. Avoid obstacles and grab opportunities to improve efficiencies and sales.

Continuous Learning

When we’re flat out working within the business, further training and learning take a back seat. However, with online learning, more upskilling can be done in good time for a good price.

Collaboration tools use Zoom or other video conferencing software to make learning and sharing knowledge with colleagues and customers straightforward. Plus sharing something you’ve learned with a client gives them confidence in you and your expertise.

• What additional training might be useful for you or members of your team?
• What gaps do they have in their knowledge?
• In what areas would you like them to develop?

Industry Qualifications

Certifications or industry-related qualifications will continue to work for the business long after you’ve done the course.

Never let an opportunity pass to learn something new. Leaders have a thirst for knowledge, and sharing it encourages others to learn something new and pass it on.

Leaders also need peripheral training in areas like IT to understand apps and systems security. All businesses need to prove to customers they take online security seriously and also customer data. A lot has evolved in digital marketing, including copyright and privacy laws.

Boost Your Marketing

Most marketing is online. Digital marketing includes social media marketing (SMM), pay per click (PPC), email and SMS marketing, and content marketing. In fact, there are many more strategies, and you need to know you’re focusing on the strategies that deliver customers.

Observe your competitors and know where they’re reaching out to their targeted audience. Also, engage the experts to provide a broader marketing plan that can take you where your competitors have yet to go.

Engage Experts

Even startups need help with SEO and search engine marketing (SMM). If you’ve had some success so far with your digital marketing in-house, you won’t always have the time to wear so many hats in the business.

Your focus will need to switch from hands-on marketing and sales to the fulfilment of orders and other business areas—plan to boost your marketing using third-party service providers who can step in and prove their worth.

Summing Up

Lockdown presented a slowdown, which has been an opportunity for many busy leaders to take a moment to review and assess their business and that of their competitors.

Only good can come from taking the time to learn what is working and what needs improvement, and this is not just done in lockdowns. The best ideals come when you least expect them so take a breather whenever you can to work on the business.

Want to read more on business since Covid-19? See our 5 Trends and Shifts.