Initially, small businesses come across loads of challenges, some of which are difficult to overcome. Based on the findings of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 20 percent of these businesses fail in a year or so. By the fourth year, 50 percent of startups fail and by the tenth year, the ratio increases to 80 percent.
The common problems of small businesses are the generation of leads, lack of customers, and creating an email list. That is why you need to take some time and understand the problems of your small business as well as the pain points. It will help you to rethink your business strategy for improving your company.
According to an article published on https://www.forbes.com, small enterprises need to watch out for the government protocols so that entrepreneurs can counter the increasing regulations on small enterprises in the country. Therefore, in this article, we will walk you through the key challenges of small businesses and their possible solutions.
Robert Trosten on searching for customers and its solution
Small businesses need to keep looking for customers to survive in this age of stiff competition. Even bigger brands such as Apple or for that matter McDonald’s do not stay relaxed but put their best foot forward to generate leads. Even well-known brands have marketing teams to work hard to find new customers and retain them, as well.
For small companies, things are more difficult because they are not popular names. There are numerous channels; therefore, you need to focus on it at the same time. Moreover, small businesses find it hard to prioritize and accordingly allot resources.
The solution: When it comes to looking for new customers, you need to understand who your audience is. You will need to market your brand and products to the right people.
Understand what your customers like, what they do, where they shop, how much money they spend, and things like that. You can expect to succeed in your business endeavors when you have created the buyer personas successfully. Then, you can create content based on what your targeted audience requires.
Boosting your brand awareness
Even the bigger brands like Starbucks, KFC, and others did not pop up out of anything. These businesses became a popular name with their hard work and effort. It took time for them to grow and it did not happen overnight. You can do so if you implement the right marketing strategies for your small business. Then, the hard work, pitfalls, and refusals happened behind the scenes. Then, you will find simple strategies to promote your business and build a good reputation fast if you know the rules of the game.
The solution: Public relations or PR is about spending money for a spot if you happen to have a news blog. You need to focus on your brand’s voice and finding your spot in the industry you operate. Make sure you do not goof up on your PR. Instead, Robert Trosten recommends using tactical tips and determining how to gain more exposure for your business, developing relationships, and working PR managers.
If you have seen the blockbuster series Game of Thrones, Joffrey, ruler of King’s Landing said, “Kill them all,” when there was a riot in the city. Now, that is bad PR. The same rule holds when it comes to your business. You need to learn how to improve your public relations concerning social media and inbound marketing. Do your PR right and you will see beneficial results. Yes, your business will have more customers with effective PR campaigns.
Robert Trosten talks about lead generation
The greatest challenge of small businesses is lead generation. You will need to gain more customers to keep the sales figures upward. Then, lead generation is about both quality and quantity. If you have a proper lead generation team, they should have the ability to turn your website visitors into loyal customers, thus keeping the sales funnel full.
The solution: You will need to optimize your web pages for leads. Make sure that your website navigation is easy to understand and the visitors take action. You need to have effective call-to-actions or CTAs so that visitors can inquire about your products, download an e-book and things like that.
Make sure you have the right tool in place so that it can auto-pull the form submissions and place these into your database. Is your landing page customized for generating leads and conversions? Make sure you have landing pages for all your campaigns.
When it comes to your blog, they should include a smart CTA for your readers to take some action.
You will need to prioritize the most popular web pages that drive maximum traffic to your website. It is usually the contact us, home, and even the about us page for that matter. Your blogs also drive considerable traffic to your site provided you have unique and useful content for your targeted audience.
You will need to make the most out of lead management software and applications for boosting sales for your startup.
Robert Trosten on developing an email list
Building your email list is not that tough. However, did you know that the email-marketing database deteriorates by 22.5 percent annually? It implies that you should augment your email list by approx one-fourth. Your marketing department should ensure that they find fresh email contacts and add them to the lists.
The solution: What you can do is develop opt-in email lists instead of renting or buying lists. As far as the opt-in email list is concerned, they comprise of subscribers who provide their email address willingly so that your business can send emails to these people. The best way to create an opt-in email list is by churning out quality blog content, thus making it simpler for people to subscribe. It will also help your business to boost its web presence, improve search authority, and build evangelists from the content you produce.
Final words
Now that you know about these small business challenges and their solutions, it will give you the confidence to set up your startup venture.
