I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted an article on this site. Although not an excuse, I do run three websites, and it’s been a bit hectic, not just for me but for the world at large.
Today, I’m offering you this website’s first guest post, provided by Weblium, presenting you with 6 Essential Tips For Small Business to consider in today’s ever-changing economy.
Table of Contents
Let’s begin…
As Charles Darwin once said, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
A crisis is a moment of change. Those who are able to adapt quickly will be able to go through it and continue growing.
But what exactly should you do now? Read this article and find it out!
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE SEE MY AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFORMATION.
If you only contact your customers offline, you risk losing your business. Start attracting new customers online right now!
Naturally, you will need a website (of course; you can use social networks… However, due to its broad functionality, a website will help turn new visitors into buyers. Besides, it will play an essential role in increasing your online presence and building a positive image of your company).
The easiest and cheapest (and sometimes even free!) way to create a website is to use the website builder. If you want to make a simple, yet effective website for small business, then there is no need to use colossal site builders (the process of editing a website may be quite complicated, and prices can be much higher).
For these purposes, a small website builder that suits you the most (they have different features and offer exciting options for creating a website for small business) is enough.
For example, if you need a bunch of benefits for free, you can try Weblium website builder. Beautiful, modern and responsive templates tailored to different business niches and designs that correspond to the most current web design trends, a simple editor with advanced options for customizing template design (change blocks, the tiniest design elements as you like will make the process of creating a website as easy as pie.
You will definitely like the results because an advanced AI will ensure that you’ve made no mistakes in design. Try Weblium now!
When your website is ready, test various ways for interacting with customers and employees online, right from your home. This experience will help to scale the business to other regions and countries.
Until you go online, you can ask your landlord to lower the rental price. Make them focus on what is best for both of you. Try to convince them that lesser profits are better than nothing.
Also, you can get a discount for mobile and Internet services. Ask your provider’s competitors about the bonus features they offer small businesses. Let your provider know that you are ready to change suppliers so that they can give you a considerable discount.
In addition, you can try to pay your debts later. For example, you can get 45 days deferral instead of 30 days. Having cash for an extra 15 days can be critical to survival!
The crisis is also an excellent chance to analyze the staff. The ABC analysis of personnel will help determine whether all employees have sufficient competencies and whether top managers are ready for new management conditions.
Returning to the subject of creating a website, (usually, this is a significant expense), you can use Weblium website builder and not only create an effective site absolutely free, but also get several vital bonuses for your business: SEO-settings for your search promotion, SSL-certificate, domain, and hosting, responsive 24/7 customer service support, etc.
Think about which assets you can sell, lease, or mortgage if things get worse. Real estate, machinery, equipment – all this can be sold or used as collateral security, and the premises can also be rented out.
A good idea is to get the capital faster. For this, you can collect receivables earlier. You can offer your customers a discount on early payment. Try to lose as little as possible: start with a 1-2% discount if paid within ten days instead of the usual 30 days. Your customers are looking to cut costs too. A small financial incentive that gets you revenue quicker and saves them a little in the process can create a win-win situation.
Try to determine and use the most relevant features of your product/service.
Try to evaluate what additional bonuses you can offer your customers right now: discount stocks, “2+1”, product samples, other services – try everything that can interest your target audience and bring you income right now.
Look into ways to reduce the cost of your products without compromising their value.
Analyze and rethink the product line; perhaps you have a product/assortment that might now be in higher demand (maybe it is possible to modify the existing one a little).
Finally, when the world around is changing, it is sometimes wise to reorient the company’s activities. Think of what market niches your company can enter. For example, as an anti-crisis measure, a tailoring atelier may be reorganized into a clothing repair company. During the crisis, people buy fewer new things, but repair them more often!
During the crisis, there is a recession in the advertising market as well, so while ad spaces have not risen in price, spare no expense on attracting customers. Also, don’t forget about free marketing strategies: online mailing, social networks, and more.
Undoubtedly, it is good to review your advertising strategies by reformatting the media mix (information distribution channels), and it is reasonable to optimize their costs. But it is vital to continue doing the most important things, namely:
• Constantly tell your customers what you do, how you care about employees and consumers (security, services, social responsibility);
• Report on your new promotions, new custom-designed products and price offers;
• Tell where and how people can buy your products, how your company will deliver the items (including security measures);
• Not so obvious, but extremely important: get involved in helping those who have bigger troubles than you (doctors, older people, and those who have lost their income entirely). Your help does not have to be financial: you can create a new product or service that helps these people, take part in cooperation, or simply use organizational skills and other intangible assets to solve specific problems. It’s time for brands to be socially responsible and collaborative!
Now is the time to remind your customers why they have chosen you!
If your prices are low, remind them that low prices are even more critical during these times.
If your product is not the cheapest, but you offer the best product or excellent service, tell them once again about its exceptional value, as well as the fact that price is not always an essential factor in determining the total cost of owning a product or receiving a service.
Important: pay twice as much attention to your best consumers!
Call, write or send a greeting card to your best customers. Tell them that you value their loyalty. Ask them to warn you if they have any problems or doubts and let them know that you are ready to help them right away.
There are many other options out there. It’s amazing what you can come up with using a little ingenuity and imagination. Still, these 6 Essential Tips For Small Business are a great place to focus your efforts.
If you have a business and need to create a website or you’re looking to replace the one you already have, Give Weblium’s website builder a try. If you’re looking to start an online business and want to know where to start, check out my review of Wealthy Affiliate.
Once you have your business started, check out this article on How to be a successful entrepreneur — 9 lessons from the world’s top entrepreneurs.
Now, I’d love to hear from you. How is your business holding up in this current pandemic? Do you or have you used Weblium’s service? If so, please share your thoughts and insights. Do you have another tip that you think should be included in this article? Please, let us know by commenting below.
Thank you,
Scott Hinkle
Join my mailing list and receive my multi-day, step-by-step training course as a free bonus! It will introduce you to affiliate marketing, discuss selecting a niche, walk you through creating a website, talk about affiliate programs and more.
What a fantastic post. I recently started my online business, and this has helped me understand more about what I need to do to maintain my current client base, but also what I need to do to gain a new one.
I haven’t gotten a lot of traffic on my website yet, but I am hoping that will improve with a few of the changes I have made. I started to advertise Coupon codes to gain new traffic from Bing and Google. The coupons are put out there to give healthcare workers, and active/retired military a little discount to thank them for their service.
What I got from your post is that during these times, we must help those that want our products and services. Every little discount right now helps with the numbers of people not working due to Covid-19. I hope my coupon idea will help those making the decision that now is an excellent time to order my service at a discounted rate.
One of the biggest issues I have is advertising. What is the best way to advertise my service to new potential clients? I have a Facebook page designed for my K1 Visa Business, but what can I do to promote to a larger market? I just started my business, so I have a minimal budget to spend on advertising. What options are other there for possibly free advertising?
I hope to implement most of what you have posted about into my daily web-based business.
Kevin
Hello Kevin,
Thank you and congratulations on your new business!
Traffic takes time to build. As a new business, it will take a little time for the search engines to start trusting your site and giving you more weight in their search result rankings. The best tip I can give you for that is to keep producing quality, helpful content. That’s what’s going to get you the organic traffic.
Coupons are a great idea and I commend you for offering them to those on the front lines (both military and medical).
As for advertising, when it comes to free, social media is King! Join related groups on the various platforms. Don’t just advertise, try responding to other people’s questions and comments (if they line up with your offerings) with helpful information and sprinkle in a link to your solution, etc.
I hope this response helps you out.
Thank you,
Scott
Hello,
There are a large number of small businesses operating online that can do with some tangible help in these trying times. Many of them have a website, while some don’t. Your recommendation for small businesses to use Weblium’s website builder, which seems to be free is a way of helping folks become productive and share in online business opportunities. This is a good direction for prospective business folks!
DorcasW
Hello DorcasW,
Yes, there are many businesses suffering today. The need to be online is clear. As lockdowns are keeping people out of physical stores, online is where everyone is turning.
Weblium’s offering is a great place to build an online presence. For anyone that has their business idea fleshed out and a website design idea, it’s a perfect match.
Thank you for taking the time to comment,
Scott
Hey,
This is a nice article you have there. Your thoughts are indeed invaluable.
I totally agree with your point of holding onto existing customers, because customers are the backbone of any business. You must meet the demands they seek from your product/services, try to get feedback on the services/products you offer them, and above all, try to build a relationship that is based on trust with them.
If they trust you and the products you offer, they will definitely buy from you and refer others to you.
Hi,
Thank you. You’re absolutely right, trust is vital in today’s business landscape. If your customers don’t trust you, you might as well close up. Building those relationships is essential.
Thank you,
Scott
Hello Dear,
I wanted to offer a big thanks to you for sharing this insightful article on 6 Essential Tips for Small Business.
In this present time, as the world is experiencing this global pandemic, it is essential for one to take up some tips on how to improve business. I must say that the information listed here is also very cool and can yield great results.
Thanks for sharing
Hi there,
You are quite welcome. I’m also impressed by the tips offered up in this guest post. I hope it helps others survive and even prosper during these tough times.
Thank you,
Scott
Hello there,
Thank you for this very informative post on “Six Essential Tips for Small Business.” I particularly like your number one tip of going online. The world as we see it today is changing, and gradually, physical stores are phasing out, thus the need for any business to go online. Especially now, due to the COVID 19 pandemic causing a lockdown all over the world, hence the need for companies to go online cannot be overemphasized.
Thanks for sharing.
Hello,
You’re welcome. I agree that going online, especially with the events going on around the world, is vital to a company’s survival.
Thank you for taking the time to comment,
Scott