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5 Steps to Start and Grow Your Online Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Grow your online business|5 Steps to Start and Grow Your Online BusinessThe modern business world is becoming increasingly dependent on the digital market. It’s more efficient than the traditional market and allows businesses to connect to the entire world instantly. Large-scale and small-scale organizations invest heavily to create a strong online presence and utilize the internet’s vast potential. No doubt, the future of business lies in e-commerce.

However, when it comes to starting an online business, things can get quite challenging. The main reason behind this is the fierce competition in the digital market. You need to constantly stand out from the crowd and prove your business reliable. To do so, you’ll need to follow some technical digital marketing tactics and strategies, which can be complicated at times. However, if you follow a sequence of effective steps to build and grow your online business, your business will soon flourish. So, to help you with this purpose, here are five steps to start and grow your online business.

1. Make a Business Plan

Regardless of where you’re starting your business, making a business plan is the essential step. It helps you to make clever decisions regarding how to start and grow your business effectively. An effective business plan includes a lucrative business idea, market analysis, and brand development ideas. A lucrative business idea is crucial to start a business online. It will set you apart from millions of other businesses, giving you a competitive advantage. To come up with such an idea, conducting a market and competitor analysis is a good idea. You can develop innovative ideas from your competitors by observing the way they grow their business. A market analysis will also help you find effective strategies and online platforms for your business.

However, an online market analysis is nothing like a traditional analysis. You can use digital marketing tools that help analyze your competitors effectively. Otherwise, you won’t be able to gain much insight. Moreover, it’s crucial to use reliable and effective tools to carry out in-depth research. So, make sure to compare each tool with other available options to find the most suitable one. For this purpose, you can head over to DigitalSupermarket.com to find and compare all different digital tools.

2. Build a Website

A website will act as the main online presence for your business and brand. However, it’s essential to create an appealing and functional website. No matter how unique your business idea is, you won’t gain network traffic with a mediocre website. More importantly, search engines will show your website after the first search engine result page, further reducing the chances of gaining customers.

An essential aspect of modern and popular websites is simplicity. Effective websites only use videos and graphics when they are necessary. For example, it’s good to use graphics to make it easier for people to use the website. Otherwise, it only makes the website unappealing. You can also reduce the processes or clicks needed to buy something from your business to increase simplicity.

Moreover, you can make your website functional, which means building a website with easy navigation and zero errors. People don’t like to visit websites that make it hard for them to find what they’re looking for, nor do they like pages that give errors. More importantly, you can increase your website’s loading speed for faster accessibility.

3. Identify and Focus on Your Target Audience

To become a successful entrepreneur in the digital market, you must know your audience well and target them specifically. After all, not all types of people will be interested in your business. You don’t want to waste your time, money, and efforts on attracting such people. Moreover, identifying and targeting your specific audience will help you to cater to their needs effectively. You will be able to develop unique and effective digital marketing strategies to grow your business rapidly.

To identify your audience, you’ll first need to collect data on what type of people visit your website and interact with your business. For this purpose, you can request your website visitors to fill out surveys and pop-up quizzes. Moreover, you can also gain information about your customers through customer feedback, emails, and comments on your website. Once you have enough data, you can create buyer personas representing the type of people your business attracts. For example, suppose teenagers mostly visit your website. In that case, you can represent each visitor by a single teenager buyer persona. 90% of companies are known to have gained a deeper understanding of their customers through personas.

4. Utilize Social Media

The digital market is a highly competitive place. You can’t rely only on your website for a robust online presence. You can reinforce your online presence by bringing your business to a social media platform. Social media platforms are used by 57% of the global population, making them perfect to increase your business’s reach and grow rapidly. What’s best is that a social media platform makes your business more accessible to mobile users. More importantly, social media helps businesses to build a better relationship with their customers through social interactions, such as posts, likes, comments, and more.

To build an effective social media presence, you’ll first need to find the most suitable platform. For this purpose, you can carry out research to find what type of platform your target audience uses. Once you’ve created a social media presence, you need to interact with your customers frequently to increase their interest while providing them with quality content. You can even collaborate with other online businesses or influencers to increase the popularity of your business online.

5. Monitor Metrics

If you want to lead successful marketing campaigns and implement effective strategies, it’s essential to watch metrics. Metrics are essential to see where your business is headed and how it has been performing over time. Without the use of metrics, you may lead your business to failure without even realizing it, as you’ll be running your business blindly.
Some essential digital marketing metrics are website visitors, bounce rate, session duration, and interactions per visit.

Each metric gives you the necessary information required to keep your online business on the path to success. You can think of each metric as an indicator of your business’s health. Even if a single metric starts to indicate declining health, you can take immediate action and save your business from failing. Metrics are especially to be monitored when you implement a new strategy, to check whether it works or not. You can use digital marketing tools to analyze metrics.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, e-commerce is the future of business. Therefore, starting an online business is one of the best decisions a modern entrepreneur can make. The online market is indeed becoming increasingly competitive. However, follow the right methods of starting and growing your business. It won’t take long for you to gain a competitive advantage. So, make sure to follow the steps mentioned above for a smooth transition into the online business world.

Practical Ways To Promote the Health of Workers in a Manufacturing Industry

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Manufacturing Industry|Practical Ways To Promote the Health of Workers in a Manufacturing IndustryThe health and safety of workers are a top priority for any company. A healthy workforce can be more productive and less likely to call in sick, which will result in lower costs associated with recruiting and training new employees. Here are some practical strategies that you can use to promote the health of your manufacturing workforce.

Promote a Culture That Values Health

If a company does not value the health of its employees, it probably won’t make any efforts to promote it. Instead, companies can enable healthy workers by fostering a culture that respects and views good habits necessary for productivity.

Another way that companies can support employee health is to provide training opportunities that encourage exercise or schedule walking meetings instead of sitting ones. Lastly, companies can promote healthy habits by providing free or low-cost food options that are healthier, like fruits and vegetables.

Promote Safety Standards of Metals and Machinery Used

More advanced machines are safer, but new employees may not know how to use them properly. Promoting safety is through education and training programs on-site that teach people safe working habits. These pieces of training should focus on the specific hazards in each workplace, including proper storage of tools or techniques for using certain kinds of machinery.

Prioritize Annual Medicals

As some of your employees may be working on physical tasks, it is essential to stay healthy and fit. Therefore, make sure you prioritize annual medicals and any regular checkups needed for those who work in the factory or plant every day.

Whether a walk-in checkup or an occupational health program, these services should be at the forefront for your employees.
The physical and mental well-being of workers in the manufacturing industry can have a significant impact on their lives and how they perform while working. Therefore, make sure you invest enough time into having them take care of their bodies and minds, as well as the work environment.

Provide the Right Working Gear and Equipment

Manufacturing is a very demanding industry. Workers in different manufacturing sectors like the aluminum anodizing process must work long hours and often must do heavy lifting or operate dangerous electronic equipment. They also face inclement weather, poor lighting, noise levels that exceed safety standards, and working conditions that are not ergonomically correct.

Because of these factors, workers in the manufacturing industry need to have good working gear and equipment. It will help them protect their bodies, increase productivity, and prevent injuries in the workplace. Not only will this save money in healthcare costs, but it can also increase productivity by giving workers safe and comfy working conditions instead of ones where their health is compromised daily.

Lead by Example

Managers need to set an example. If you are wearing safety glasses and gloves, your team members will follow suit. Be sure that employees see you walking around the plant floor with a hard hat on. The best way to promote health in an industrial setting is by leading by example.

When workers feel their supervisor cares about them, they are more likely to work safely. In addition, they will want their coworkers and managers to be proud of them rather than chastising them for a mistake that you could have prevented with better gear or equipment.

Conclusion

A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The primary purpose was to highlight the importance of promoting health and safety in manufacturing plants. It’s not about the workers necessarily being healthier, but rather having a workplace that doesn’t make them sick or hurt them while they are at work.

4 Ideas to Renovate Your Restaurant on a Budget

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article | 4 Ideas to Renovate Your Restaurant on a BudgetSo it’s time to renovate your restaurant and your creative juices are flowing steadily. Where to start? From bar stools to wall art, there are ways to change the entire look of your dining room and entrance without breaking the bank. Use these four ideas to renovate your restaurant on a budget.

Murals and Wall Art

Murals and wall art may be among the least expensive ways to renovate your restaurant. You may want to invest in updating your interior walls with interior paint beforehand. Or, you may just want to invest in wall art and murals as your new paint job.

There are several ways that you can do this. A mural as your new interior paint could be so striking that it catches the attention of the entire city. Put out an inexpensive ad when it is done and showcase the artist that did it.

Put the mural in a place that captures attention as soon as people walk in the door. They will be impressed before they even see the menu.

Black is the New Black

If you eat out a lot at places other than your restaurant, you may find that some of the finest places have a lot of black motifs and coloring. Black is the new black. It can be done elegantly. Black walls with dark woods and trims can bring a mood to the place that give your dining room a level of seriousness.

You don’t need to paint a morbid picture here. Black bar stools against a chrome bar with a few plants will give your restaurant a sleek and elegant look.

Speaking of Plants…

If you don’t have a large budget for renovating, bringing some landscaping inside the restaurant is a wonderful way to spruce it up. You can incorporate fresh plants on every table, or in key corners of the restaurant.

A way to do this on a budget is to incorporate large sections of planters that will have one landscape idea. One example of this is by having a long planter with modern grass that could serve as a stress reliever for your diners. A living wall of plants is not only a way to update our space, but also a fascinating conversation piece for your diners. In addition to being beautiful pieces of décor, living walls and planters will also help the air quality of your restaurant.

Layered Lighting

A unique way to manage your lighting in a manner that is en pointe with today’s trends is layered lighting. So you may want to start with ceiling lighting that is track lighting or recessed in the ceiling. Add a layer in the space by hanging wall sconces that are a few inches below that.

You can do the same with a small lamp at each table, accompanied by a candle or two that is a few inches shorter than the lamps. The concept of layered lighting is to provide adequate lighting that creates mood, but also enough lighting for your guests to see what they need to see.

Get Creative

When you are renovating or updating your restaurant, you don’t have to spend a lot of money. A wall mural or new landscaping can change the entire face of your dining room in a very affordable way. New bar stools may be the only thing you need to change the entire look. Get creative, and you will see the expense doesn’t have to be extravagant.

How to Start Your Post-pandemic Financial Spring Cleaning

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Post-pandemic finances|How to Start Your Post-pandemic Financial Spring CleaningAcross the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought nothing but economic volatility, social unrest, and widespread unemployment. The financial challenges have significantly affected the personal finances of millions of people. As vaccines continue to roll out and things are somehow returning to normal for some countries, many are still financially recovering from the recent economic shock.

Despite the many hurdles caused by COVID-19, the financial uncertainty has inspired people to save more and slow down their usual spending habits. Many turn to banks to open savings accounts and earn bigger interests. This gave them a strong financial foundation for their future and stability regardless of the economic situation.

But as businesses are starting to reopen, experts say that people will be spending money to compensate for the lost time during the lockdown. These include things they haven’t done for a while, such as traveling, shopping, and dining out. Whatever adventure you’re planning for these days, it’s still important to have a good hold on your money. To help you in your post-pandemic spending, here are ways to be more financially secure.

Step back before moving forward

Before starting your financial spring cleaning, take time to evaluate how the pandemic affected your family and finances. Think about the financial adjustments you’ve made during the pandemic and decide whether you want to retain or let go of those new habits.

For example, many have to give up gym memberships in exchange for free workout tutorials on YouTube. Would you reapply for a membership or continue working out from home? If you can reap the same results without spending more, you might as well pocket your money.

The same rule applies to those who frequently order fast food meals or dine in at restaurants. Did you learn how to cook a variety of dishes during the pandemic? Will you still order or go out to eat? Or would you rather keep the money?

At the same time, don’t forget to reassess your new spending habits during the pandemic. These habits may include the use of food delivery applications, the knack for online shopping, and other activities that cost you more money. Take time to identify all these behaviors and determine which ones are worth keeping and which ones to let go of.

Stop making comparisons

Did your friend already book a vacation outside the country for the summer? Did you see your neighbor’s Facebook post about their recent kitchen remodeling? Whatever everyone’s doing right now, the last thing you want is to let yourself get drowned from envy. In other words, don’t let comparisons eat you away and your money.

Making comparisons is a slippery slope and won’t do anything good. Doing so will make you start noticing the things you lack and be less grateful for what you currently have.

Social media is the fastest way to get that comparison bug. Instead of minding your own business, you’re wasting time on the newsfeed checking your friend’s latest gadget purchase, the new item from your favorite shoe brand, or a super cool room decor. A few minutes more, and you get a twisted feeling in your gut that makes you feel jealous and miserable at the same time. How wonderful would life get if you had all those things?

Marketing advertisements are designed to make you realize the things you don’t have and make you spend money. Ads show up on your feed because of your previous purchases, search history, and the pages you follow. While it sounds scary, you should be bothered about how these things are making you waste money! To avoid impulsive purchases, limit your time on social media or take a long break.

Delay your purchases

You probably spend a lot of time at home for several months, and you’re now itching to visit a salon, buy a new set of pants, or go out with your favorite people. For many, the end of the pandemic means more time to splurge and make up for the lost time.

Delayed gratification was very common during the lockdown – people learned to delay their purchases to save more money and live a simpler lifestyle. But as things go back to normal, continuing to delay the gratification will help you stop your shopping urges. Give yourself at least one or two days before buying. This will give you enough time to decide if the item is something you really need and worth the money.

Amid the sadness, uncertainty, and global unrest, managing your finances may seem tough. But this only takes minimal effort to reap significant money-saving outcomes, which can put you in a better financial position in the years to come. As the pandemic slowly subsides, use the opportunity to reevaluate your spending habits to live a comfortable life, no matter the situation.

7 Growth strategies to improve your bottom line

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Growth Strategy|7 Growth strategies to improve your bottom lineIn business, it’s all about profit and loss. The numbers are important.

A top line and bottom line is a form of that financial analysis. These names are quite easy to form an idea of their understanding for anyone. The top must mean something positive and the bottom must be some bad news. This presumption is not half wrong.

The top line refers to business growth. It’s a measure of a company’s ability to market and sell its products against its competitors. More revenue means that the company has more to spend on advertising, marketing and new product development.

The bottom line, on the other hand, is a company’s net income, displayed at the bottom, hence the name. It is an important indicator of overall conditions in the company’s target markets. However, mainly businesses want to improve these numbers. And by that they mean, they want to decrease the bottom line which is referencing the operational and overhead costs for the business.

Growing revenues and reducing overhead expenses is the simplest way to improve the bottom line. But a lot can be included in this one statement.

Here are some strategies that can help:

1. Adjust Pricing

A customer wants the cheapest product they can find at peak quality and businesses need revenue. There is always a place for compromise.

Re-evaluate your pricing strategy. If sales are high but revenue is low then increase the prices of products where it is fair to both the business and the consumer. If sales are low then try to analyse the reasons that can be changed and decrease the pricing where there is room.

Analyze the price margins and evaluate if the current prices are truly covering the costs of the overhead. Do periodic research on both, the product and business competitors, to keep the pricing optimum with change.

Make sure you are aware of any fees you are paying for using different payment platforms, as these should be forming part of your pricing structure. If you are unaware of the actual cost of the fees, this can eat into your profits. Use a Paypal fee calculator if you accept payments via Paypal to help you set your pricing.

2. Market Smarter, Not Harder

There are various digital marketing services today that help regulate better marketing strategies for the business. Incorporate them.

This is one way that businesses can increase both the top line and bottom line at the same time. Focus on acquiring only the best customers through social media campaigns, and stop spending money on low-value customers. Do some research, think about who is most likely to benefit from your product or service, and then consider how to reach out to that group of people. Market to those customers that will surely invest in the business, not the masses.

Segmented marketing campaigns have a better chance at bringing in customers to the business rather than untargeted trials. Marketing should always be targeted towards people who are most likely to buy the product or services and generate more sales at less cost.

3. Create Conversions

Once the digital marketing campaigns are drawing traffic to the website, the next main thing to do is to regulate the conversion rates for bottom-line growth. Not all the investment should be done on getting traffic to the page, if there is no conversion then the visits are wasted.

Make the landing pages easy to understand and engaging and cover the same points as the campaign that brought the visitor there. Ensure some or the other form of data or commitment from the visitors so that better campaigns can be channelled to them again.

Do not focus alone on getting traffic on the page, after a point those efforts should be shifted towards conversion. Know the shift, and accordingly, change.

4. Upselling and Cross-selling

Cross-selling and upselling are surely very time-consuming practices but they bring significant improvement to the bottom line. Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question, while cross-selling invites customers to buy related or complementary items.

While finalizing a deal with a new customer, suggest other products or services that the company offers that would go well with what they’ve purchased. Upselling is a little harder to do without seeming greedy so make sure to keep the main goal of providing the best value to the customers clear in mind. Customers should never feel like they’re being sold to.

Cross-selling options are a great way to bring the customer’s attention towards other products that usually complement the one in question. Showing statistics like “usually brought together” or “x% of viewers of this product also looked at this” helps convince them of the purchase subtly and also gives them a sense of community.

5. Tighten Credit terms

Credit terms are simply the time limits businesses set for the customers to pay for their merchandise or services received. These are important because cash flow is very important for a business to sustain. Longer credit terms mean the business will have to wait longer for the cash inflows.

This is why the credit terms of the business should be designed to improve cash flow. Having multiple delinquent client accounts is a sign that a company’s credit terms are too loose. This can seriously affect the bottom line and create cash flow problems.

Try revising the general terms and charging late fees or interest on unpaid invoices. Many businesses try to give customers special discounts and coupon options if they choose prepaid options or pay within a specified period through affordable instalment plans. This provides the customer with an incentive to pay quickly which in turn improves cash flow.
can also encourage clients to reliably send in a check for services rendered.

6. Automation

Sure, robots aren’t taking over yet. There are various steps in business that need improvisation so automation isn’t going to replace manual labour. But that is not to say that automation doesn’t still have many benefits that should all be taken advantage of.

It brings efficient work, integrated systems, and better processes. It reduces errors, reduces delays in the business process, improves the speed of customer service processes and helps provide the rest of the team valuable time to focus on other strategic tasks.

Whatever can be automated or outsourced to a trusted service for less money than the cost of the company’s own time should be automated. Initially, an investment in the technologies that enable automation will look like another expense, but the benefits are cumulative and businesses who embrace workflow automation can see big results in their bottom line.

7. Employee Training

With budgetary restraints, most of the time the first thing to move to the bottom of the list, if not completely off it, is employee training. An underrated protocol that businesses usually overlook. But, it has many long-term benefits that go unnoticed due to ignorance.

Having trained professional employees who know what the scope of their jobs are and who are held accountable for their productivity can save companies thousands of dollars each year. Any employee is a part of the team and should be an enthusiastic brand representative, whether in office or not. A strong training program focuses on developing functional skills, improving company processes and streamlining strategic goals.

It assists in ensuring savvy customer service representatives and productive team members. This also helps businesses to understand and track the employees that excel from the ones that may be underperforming.

Conclusion:

Scheduling time to closely examine all company expenses and business costs can truly help realise where money can be better invested. Always calculating the return on investment for every action can truly make a difference in cutting costs and improving the bottom line.