15 Tips To Consider For Business Growth

So you’ve started your business. Now what?

Aside from having a business plan (if you have one), there are few things we should consider as basics ahead of getting our business game on. These are listed below, in no particular order:

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1.           An easy way to be contacted, so you’re accessible – Have information on your social media profiles, or a webpage or even automated out of office on your email. Be accessible. An email or phone will suffice. Or just give out your social media and ask them to connect via direct message

2.           Have a visual identity – invest in a logo or some kind of visual identity for your business. Consider colours and also font choices and tone before you work on design. Request tips on design tips here

3.           A website or webpage – now this could be a landing page or a website. It may even be a social media page. For example, I used www.facebook.com/inspireurbiz as a page for a while before my actual website was ready. So consider this as an idea. You can personalise your Facebook business page

4.           A Facebook business page. What is it you want to promote? You need a Facebook Business Page for that .

5.           A LinkedIn business page. Stay connected via news and updates via company pages, influencers in your industry, other business owners and potential clients and staff members. You can view my company page, here. For tips on the benefits of using LinkedIn, read my article or work on LinkedIn in my group

6.           A social media scheduling tool. I would suggest Tweetdeck, Buffer, Hootsuite or Facebook Pages Manager to get you started.

(Listen to the audio of this here )

7.           A business email address (and domain name advised)

8.           Analytical tools – for monitoring purposes….you know I had to add this one in. You need to have tools to monitor your online and offline tactics. As a starter I would say, Google Analytics and Google Alerts

9.           A business phone – totally needed!! You don’t want people calling you outside of working hours, on your personal line

10.       Set up email for marketing purposes using Mailchimp, Salesforce, Dotmailer, Constant Contact etc. Email is a cost effective way to engage and communicate. We work on this and have free training videos for this, in my group.

11.       A Business bank account and an accountant or software to organise your receipts etc

12.       A Virtual Assistant if you can afford one

13.       An online diary or appointment management tool as an alternative to having someone manage your diary. So Calendly, V Cita, SimplyBook.me and Doodle are a few you could consider

14.       Research some useful tools to help you stay productive. Some useful tools might include, Zoho and Salesforce, Zapier, for customer relationship management. As a tool it is currently free for up to 10 team members. Contract Zen where you can store important documents, My Work Scheduler (hosted in Cloud and has a free trial) is great for freelancers and small businesses

15.       A Marketing plan. Consider your sales targets. How will you achieve them. And, what you need to plan and implement your marketing. Remember marketing, or lack of it, will have a direct impact on your leads and sales each month. So it’s important you get to grips with tactics and techniques, as well as invest in this area of your business, from early on! If you need help creating one, work with me.

16. A professional photo – or at least a headshot you are happy with. No head tilted, not pouting, not in a summer top off the shoulder or swimwear. A headshot! And if you don’t want a headshot, use a logo as an interim solution

About the author

Vee Roberts is the Author of the Brand and Marketing Planner a mother of 4 and a multi award winning Brand and Marketing Coach, Consultant, Trainer and Speaker who runs the Aski2M EVOLVE TO GROW Community. Connect with Vee on www.facebook.com/insight2marketing or via LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/insight2marketing

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