For any business to be successful, it must start with a clear understanding of consumers, internal and external strengths, the competitive market and a vision of how it can evolve in the future. By expanding your efforts to develop a successful roadmap for your start-up, your potential investors and consumers will have a clear understanding of your product or service and business objective.
Create a business plan
Once you have your idea, it is important to write it down in the form of a business plan. If you’re unsure how to create one, contact us for a detailed steps on executing the perfect business plan. The point of writing out your ideas is to get a better roadmap of what is involved with running a business. Developing a plan provides an easier way to tell your story to consumers and potential investors. Your business plan also helps to fund your business, direct your business as it grows and stay on track to reach milestones. Here are some key factors for creating a business plan:
- A business plan changes as your knowledge grows and your strategies become more concrete.
- Include your business risks and solutions. These should be pointed out before potential investors discover possible issues.
- Construct two sets of business plans, one internal and one external. This will be an effective tool to growing your team and your business.
Do your market research
The first step of a business journey begins with an idea that can solve a problem. Before you start focusing all your attention on the product, focus on the consumer. Think about who will be buying the product and why they will be buying your product in particular. What is their pain point? What can you solve for them? Focusing on research rather than development is a critical step in confirming that there is a market that needs your product or service. Search for relevant marketing research reports, find out what your potential consumers are looking for online, research your competitors and speak directly to potential consumers for their opinions and suggestions on your business idea. There are a variety of different market research analysis you can conduct, here are some examples:
- Market research for testing ideas: studying the current trends in the market will be useful to analyze laws, restrictions and helps you understand what is needed to achieve your idea.
- Market research for attracting investors: if you want to attract an investor, a solid creation of a business plan is needed. The data they should receive is recent, informative and accurate.
- Marketing research for searching for ideas: the main task here is to understand the issues and how to solve them. It needs to be a truly workable idea that is tested through studying the issues of potential consumers.
Perfect your elevator pitch and deck
The best elevator pitch should consist of two simple sentences. You need to explain your business to potential investors, customers and employees in a quick manner so they can easily understand and promote your services. Don’t overthink this part, be concise and compelling. Here are some tips for writing an effective elevator pitch:
- Be positive and simple
- Brief and to the point
- Explain your company’s vision and mission
- Share what sets you apart
- Encourage follow up questions
Practice your elevator pitch repeatedly until you are comfortable delivering it at any moment. The more you practice the easier it becomes. You also need to confirm that your elevator pitch aligns with your business plan. For more tips on developing your elevator pitch, visit our how to write a positioning statement for your brand post.
Along with your elevator pitch, you need a pitch deck which is engaging and visually appealing. Your deck should consist of:
- A cover slide with your name and logo
- Executive summary and timeline
- Problem and solution examples
- Customer acquisition strategy
- Growth plans
- Successful metrics
Your pitch deck evolves with your company, keep it relevant and up-to-date. Need some guidance on the execution, contact us for a consultation and we would love to help create your pitch deck!
Nail your marketing strategy
You could have the most ground-breaking and innovative product but what good is it if nobody knows about it? A solid marketing strategy provides you with the potential to grow your business and it is the most effective communication tool to provide value to your customer. It will help you build brand awareness, engage your customers and grow your business. Once your marketing strategy is developed, you need to market your business every day. Promote your services consistently to keep your brand in the public eye. Here are some strategies you should consider:
1. Social media: connecting and engaging with potential customers through social media is a great way to digitally advertise your brand and products. Social media is a powerful tool as you have the potential to reach a large number of people within seconds of posting your advertisement. It also reduces costs, provides you with the opportunity to tell your story and can build a custom audience. Here are some social media advertising statistics from Hootsuite:
- Worldwide, people spend an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day on social media.
- In a month, the average user will visit 7.5 social media platforms.
- People mainly use social media for staying in touch with friends and family, filling spare time, and reading the news.
2. Blogging: this can be a great way to share your product and generate interest. It boosts your SEO and positions your website to answer consumer questions. It also provides the opportunity to rank in search engines and helps increase organic search and growth. Here are some blogging statistics from Hubspot that you need to know:
- Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t.
- Blogs can result in a 434% increase in indexed pages and a 97% increase in indexed links.
- Companies with blogs product an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don’t blog.
3. Email marketing: this allows you to build relationships with leads and current and past customers. It is an opportunity to speak directly to them and is considered one of the most impactful marketing tools. It is also easy to measure and helps increase brand awareness. Here are some benefits of email marketing from Constant Contact:
- 306 billion emails are sent every day.
- Emails grow your business by 80%.
- 60% of consumers say they’ve made a purchase as the result of a marketing email they received.
4. Referrals: when someone uses your service or purchases your goods and has a positive experience, they are more likely to tell others about it. Referrals are some of the most valuable leads you can get. Here are some statistics from Social Media Today:
- 78% of B2B marketers say it generates leads of good or excellent quality.
- 60% of marketers say it generates a high volume of leads.
- 54% say referral marketing has a lower cost-per lead.
These tips for your start-up can be used as a guide to evaluate the direction and operating results of your company. Remember to keep it updated as your customers, business environment and plans change. Allee Creative is always here to help you get started or manage these key components in running a successful business, contact us today for additional details.
