Top six questions asked before starting a business.
These are the burning questions our readers have asked before starting a business. This post is going to break them all down and answer them for you so grab a pen and paper and prepare to take some notes!
How do you come up with business ideas?
How do you advertise your business?
How do you get more customers?
What platforms work best for networking?
How do you keep your projects organized?
Where do you get Marketing ideas?
So, let's get straight to the point. How do I come up with business ideas?
Developing a business starts with just that, an idea, followed by tons of research regarding finding your niche, target audience, products that sell and creating a great marketing strategy to boost sales! The best way to come up with a business idea is to figure out your hobbies, passions and/or interests. If its tangible, you can sell it to other people who have similar interests. Most products you sell have to fill a pain-point for customers or come with an offer than absolutely cannot pass up on.
How do you advertise your business?
Word of mouth is best for service-based and product-based businesses and a great way to advertise! You can start with friends, family, colleagues etc. Great products get around and great service travels far! Another way to advertise your business is to develop an email list! Create campaigns and funnels to collect customer emails and phone numbers. This way you can get in contact with them and tell them about sales, inform them of new products or services even inspire them. A mail list is a great way to not only reel in new customers but also bring back customers that have bought or work with you before. Next on the list, is to grow your audience on social media using hashtags, informative posts, questionnaires, finding niche leaders and commenting/engaging on their posts. Creating reels that showcase your products or service, posting consistently and interacting with new and old followers. This tip works on Facebook and Instagram. You can also sell your products through third parties (ie, amazon, eBay, Esty, Facebook marketplace, Instagram and so many more. A few will charge a small fee to list products however, its nothing compared to the sales and massive reach you will gain! Lastly, my least favorite but still effective way to advertise your business is paid advertisement. You can pay to advertise your business, service, products on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. On these platforms they allow you to target potential customers using demographics, interests, age and gender. They will also estimate your reach based on how much you are willing to spend day-to-day. This is my least favorite way to advertise because it's a hit or miss unless you know your target audience down to the tee.
How do you get more customers?
This question really pertains to your target audience and your offer. If you don't know who you're selling to and your offer is absolute trash, you can kiss getting customers goodbye.
Finding your target audience is an art form and it takes a lot of trial and error to get it right. Your target audience is found by knowing where you want to sell your product/service the particular age group you think it best suits, their interests, their demographics and purchase habits. This is why i said its best to develop a business based on an interest of yours or passion. You know what you like, finding other people with similar interests won't be hard when searching for your target audience. Your offer must solve a pain-point, or your product/service must be a must-have. Here are a few tips, most Americans purchase patterns are that they will purchase something they want before they purchase something they need. How many times have you walked into target ladies and went down the makeup aisle or the self-care aisle and just filled your basket with things you didn't absolutely need? Fellas, how many times have a new pair of Jordan's or a new pair of Yeezy's come out and you didn't hesitate to add them to your cart. The one thing these products have in common however is they know who they are marketing to, and they have a world-known name. They don't solve a pain-point however people can't pass up on them.
What platforms work best for networking?
I will keep this one short and simple. Based on the platforms I have personally found helpful to grow my platform I am most active on Facebook and Behance. Facebook allows me to grow my business page, network with other small businesses and share my services. Behance allows me to share and build my portfolio with other web designers and UX/UI designers. Other platforms I have found helpful are TikTok and Instagram.
Moving on, how do you keep your projects organized?
I have built systems and created lag times between each project. I set each project up on a day-by-day basis. I also categorize how I will build each website based on each section. When there is a time constraint with my clients, I base the overlapping projects on priority, highest to lowest and I can decrease the lower priority projects sections that are scheduled for particular days and/or increase the number of sections scheduled for that project. The same would go for a higher priority project.
Lastly, where do you get marketing ideas?
I cannot stress enough that you must research your target audience! Once you build a repour with your target audience you will begin to discover what they interact most with. What your target audience would like to see more of and what habits they display with your content. I personally do my own research, using niche leaders' advice, researching what works best for businesses like mine. Another way I discover marketing ideas is recycling other ideas from niche leaders and content already being used which is common with most businesses. In closing I hope you all found this blog post extremely helpful; I hope I was able to answer each question effectively. Please subscribe for more!
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