Avoid these 5 mistakes to grow a thriving business: succeed faster by making the right choices
You decided to take the leap and start your business. You are excited, nervous, afraid, anxious—but ready to begin this significant journey. After contemplating whether you should do this, or even if you can do this, you’re moving ahead. The product or service has been established and you’re ready to let everyone know that you are open for business. I get it. Before you jump in the deep end, here are five mistakes to avoid when you’re just starting out.
Not Knowing Who You Are as a Business
As part of the launch of your business, you know you need a name and a logo, but there’s more. Your name and logo identify your business, yet without a clear message, your customers don’t know who you are and why they should do business with you. Communicating your message goes beyond your logo: it’s in all of your touchpoints such as your website, the words you use to describe your products or service, and the process your customers will use to purchase from you or book your services. These elements ladder up to your brand. Your brand tells people why they should work with you, what makes you different, and why they should choose you over your competition. Without a defined clear message, it can become very difficult to grow your customer base and increase your revenue. It helps your customers get to know you, understand the quality of service you provide, establish trust in you, and, ultimately, having a strong brand message encourages them to do business with you.
Not Knowing Your Customer
When you launch your business, you have to determine how to set it up, find a space to operate from, order supplies, build your website, hire a team, and a laundry list of other things. Sure, you’ve established some sort of customer base, but do you have full knowledge of who your customer really is? When you’re starting, your customers are mostly people within your network and may extend out minimally. But you want to grow, which means connecting with people who may not know you at all. Without fully understanding who your customer is, what they like/dislike about your product or service, their problems and how your product or service helps to solve them, you will hit a plateau in the growth of your business. By having an ideal customer profile, you develop a deeper understanding of your customer, which empowers you to communicate in a way that speaks directly to them, attracts them to you, allows you build a relationship with them, and opens the door for you to grow your sales and expand your customer base.
Not Knowing Which Customer is Your Customer
You have an amazing business idea. You know once your product or service drops, everyone will want it. Your plan is to reach as many people as possible because your idea is just that good. Pause. You ever heard the saying, “everything ain’t for everybody”? That includes your business. I know, you want to reach the masses and make as much money as possible, but the reality is, not everyone will want what you’re selling. If your business is selling cupcakes, do you really want to sell to customers who don’t eat baked goods? You will spend a lot of time and money trying to convince that customer that your cupcakes are worth breaking their normal eating habits. They are not your customer and that’s ok. The sweet spot is finding YOUR customers. They are out there. There are customers who want what you have and will appreciate the way you deliver your product or services. You just have to spend time understanding who they are, find them, and connect with them. They are waiting on you. Don’t spend time and resources marketing to everyone. Focus on finding the ones who are looking for you.
Not Knowing the Problem You Solve for Your Customers
Every business is the solution for someone. It doesn’t matter how big or small the business idea is, it’s supposed to solve a problem for someone. It’s the perceived solution to their problem that encourages someone to purchase from you. If you’re selling cupcakes and a potential customer has a sweet tooth, they will buy from you because your cupcakes solve their desire for something sweet. If you’re not clear on who your customer is, and the problems they have, and how to solve them, it will be very difficult to grow your business. When you’re starting out, you may not have all the answers, but you do want to be able to answer who you are aiming to serve and the problems your business will solve for them. This clarity will enable you to launch and scale your business further and faster.
Not Having a Plan for How you Will Attract Customers
You have this amazing business idea and you’re preparing to tell the world about it, but do you have a plan? Or do you have a “if I build it, they will come” mentality? They won’t. People are booked and busy. Just because you are excited about your business idea doesn’t mean it is your customers’ priority. You have to create that excitement in your customers in order to attract them. You’ve spent a lot of time and energy refining your product or services, you’ve invested in creating your logo and website, you may have even leased a space, but how will you attract your customers? How will you tell everyone that you are open for business and ready to serve? Without a clear plan for how you will attract your customers it will be very difficult to grow your business. A defined, strategic marketing plan will help you do this. I’m not talking about posting flyers or making social media posts. I’m talking about an integrated plan that tells your customers how amazing you are and communicates how valuable you are to them across your website, social media, advertisements, news articles, etc. An integrated marketing plan targets your customers directly, reaches them where they are, and tells them who you are and why they need you. With a marketing strategy, you can go further faster without exhausting your resources. The marketing plan allows you to be clear, focused, and targeted so you can communicate your message to the right person at the right time in the right way.
You’ve overcome the hurdles to move forward with your business idea. By avoiding these five mistakes, you will launch your business more effectively, maximize your resources, and bring your product or service to the market faster.
Launching a new business can be both an exciting and a daunting endeavor. It's hard work, but you’re building something that can change the world. The path to turn a vision into reality can be filled with unknown variables, but with a keen understanding of the foundational principles necessary to launch, it can put you on the path for success.
To learn more about how we can help you build your vision, contact us today.