Management

How to Help Your Business Thrive

businesWhen you run a business, you want it to be successful. With so much competition, it can be difficult to know what you need to do to help your business stand out. Whether your brand needs a boost or you are considering starting a new business, here are just a couple of tips and ideas to help your business thrive, from organization to social media presence, giveaways and tradeshows.

Organizational Tools

Organization plays a huge part in the success of many elements of your business. From ordering stock to managing employees, everyone needs to have great organizational and time management skills to keep things moving smoothly. There are a couple of specific principles and techniques that can be used when working on your organization skills within a business. These include:

Gantt Charts

A popular method used by project managers to track and schedule projects over a period of time, a Gantt Chart is a customizable and flexible option. It is a bar chart that allows you to manage different elements of a project using components such as time, tasks, status, and dependencies to make sure your project is completed on time and to a high standard. Furthermore, the process of creating and using Gantt charts is made even easier by using the numerous platforms and software types that are designed for businesses to use.

Lean Principles

Originally used in the manufacturing industry, lean principles are applicable in many different situations and settings, from the office to your kitchen. The aim is to reduce waste and improve value to customers by using five core principles. These are defining value, mapping the value stream, creating flow, establishing pull, and pursuing perfection. In your business, you can use these principles to help reduce different types of waste, such as excess products or wasted time, and improve your value to customers and your whole operation’s efficiency.

Marketing

Getting your business out into the world and onto the radar of potential customers or clients is essential to keep it growing. There are a lot of different marketing techniques to choose from, and some may be more suitable for your business than others.

Social Media

Social media marketing is one of the most popular forms of online marketing, as it is cost-effective, reaches huge audiences, and you can check the analytics to see the success of your posts. A huge majority of social media users follow businesses, so it is a good idea to keep your platforms updated with high-quality images and content, as well as competitions and giveaways.

Email

Another popular form of online marketing, email marketing, allows you to send materials, promotions, and updates directly to consenting customers. It is another cost-effective method of reaching a large audience that is already interested in your products or services, as you don’t have to worry about printing physical promotional materials or paying for them to be delivered in person.

Customer Relations

Interacting with customers and maintaining good relationships can help build your brand and client base. This can be done in a huge number of ways, from social media to following up leads, and can have a large impact on your business. Again, there is software to help you do this, and CRM is a very useful tool to use.

Tradeshows

Tradeshows, either in-person or virtual, are a great way of connecting with potential customers, educating them, demonstrating and promoting your products or services, and receiving leads. Depending on the type of tradeshow and your budget, you can use your location to your advantage with prime location booths or hold online seminars to inform people about your business.

Branded products

A combined marketing and customer relations tool, branded products can be used in a variety of different ways. Giving them as a ‘thank you’ to customers can help engage them and encourage return custom. They are also great marketing opportunities, as each time a customer uses them, they are displaying your logo to the people around them. You should choose items that are useful or too interesting to be gotten rid of, such as water bottles, fitness equipment, or tech products, as this makes customers more likely to hang onto them and use them again.

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