As a small business owner, the collective voice of your customers is something you should be paying attention to. Of course, you want to pay attention to individual voices as well, but the big picture is even more important. Gone are the days when you don’t have time or resources to listen; there are so many ways to actually pay attention that there is no good excuse not to do so.
Over three years ago, Samsung indicated that in the near future, the company was interested in developing “transparent” displays that weren’t meant just for offices and those who were wealthy enough to afford them. In fact, they planned on targeting the mainstream consumer market.
You know you want it: more traffic. You want people to go to your website and browse it, whether they buy something or not. You assume that once it’s built, people will come, and you want more people to come. You might even obsess over the numbers, and that’s okay.
Regardless of whether you are considering starting your own website or have had one for a number of years, the mistakes that are about to be discussed will apply to you if you have not accomplished your actual purpose for having that business web site.
More and more companies are beginning to come around to the idea of transparency. Transparency, in fact, is becoming an industry standard for lots of reasons, namely because it results in happy customers and happy shareholders. Transparency is all about being accountable, honest and open with everyone about the good (and the bad) things that happen in your business.
You might not think that postage is costing you that much, but even if you only do one or two mail campaigns a year, that can still result in thousands of dollars in stamps. Now that “forever” stamps are up to almost fifty cents apiece, a single mailer takes a significant chunk out of your budget with no guarantee of any sort of return.
The vast, vast majority of people who are going to purchase from you care about the return policy. While many of them won’t ever use it, a Harris Poll said that over 90% of customers do factor in the return policies before purchasing something. This is especially important if you are selling intangible things, such as services, or a product that isn’t sold in stores – if they can’t hold something, they still want to know if and how it can be sent back.
Setting and sticking to a budget is one of the hardest things on the planet, and it’s especially hard for a business. After all, you need things! You need employees, new office chairs, a new computer and some new software that will increase workflow! How are you supposed to stick to a budget?
The truth is, however, that it’s absolutely necessary to stick to a budget if you want to see your business succeed, and while a budget might feel restricting, it gives you the permission to spend where you need to and say no where you don’t. Try it out – if you don’t like it after six months, you can always go back to not having one.
You might not be able to afford a full-time IT guy, and in many cases, you don’t need one. That’s what MSPs – managed service providers – are all about, after all. However, just because they are more affordable than an IT guy doesn’t mean you just want to pick one and go with it.
The rise of social media to communicate with customers has been a fairly recent trend, so it makes sense if you aren’t sure how to maximize its potential. Getting people to interact and care about your company can be a hard problem to solve. However, no matter what size or what niche your company is in, you can encourage engagement, connection and improve the overall feel of your company on social media with just a few simple tips – starting today.
