Every successful company began with passion and a sense of purpose. Even well-known businesspeople like Richard Branson, Oprah, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett had humble beginnings.
By Tough Love
These entrepreneurs did not have millions of dollars to start building their empires. They came in at ground zero.
So, where do you start?
If you don’t know your passion yet, push yourself to find it. Think about what you did as a kid and what excited you or gave you a sense of freedom. People are happiest when they follow their passion; ultimately, work will fill a large part of their life, and we are best when it is something we care about deeply.
When you figure out what you want to do, here are some tips to help start your business from ground zero.
What problem are you solving?
You must sell something if you have a financial goal for the upcoming six or twelve months. Discover the most significant issues your audience deals with, then establish a relationship with them. Then make something that addresses their problem. Even though it’s easier said than done, this is crucial.
First, determine what audience is likely to use the product you are developing. Who are they, and how painful is the problem you are trying to solve? What is the likelihood of them spending money to solve it?
During this initial process, you may need to pivot the product slightly to ensure it solves the problem. Isolate the problem and narrow down the solution your product presents. You cannot solve fifty things at a time. Focus on one.
What is your USP?
Your unique selling proposition (USP) should showcase something nobody can offer.
The strongest USPs typically resemble witty copywriting. They persuade clients to buy a good or service and push them to find out more. But it takes more than just creative wordplay to do this in as few words as possible.
A USP should be memorable, tangible, and customer-focused. FedEx give a great example of how to structure a USP. FedEx: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
Understand what works and what doesn’t
Platforms such as Google Analytics can tell you everything on your website. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok all have their analytics packages for businesses. The metrics can tell you vital things about your performance.
Source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-get-actionable-data-from-google-analytics-in-10-minutes/
From the Google Analytics dashboard, you can see who visits different pages of your site, their demographics (age, gender, location), what content they like, what they click on, and much more. The data helps you determine what your audience wants to see to improve your digital channels incrementally.
Drive traffic
Being everywhere is the first step to getting visitors to your pages. However, you will also need to drive people to social pages and your website proactively. You can try several techniques depending on what will engage your target audience.
- Creating email lists and customer journeys. We’ll cover this in a bit more detail below.
- Engaging with your community to build brand recognition. Physical cards, flyers, and leaflets still have a place in advertising.
- Using your direct network, such as friends and family, to promote the business. Some of them could have high numbers of followers on social media.
- Cold calling still works in some markets, typically B2B, if you have a product that will solve a problem.
- Write guest posts for other related sites and blogs to increase referral traffic.
- Collaborate with other brands if you have complimentary products.
Once you start driving traffic to your pages, you can work on the content your visitors are presented with to develop deeper connections.
Stop putting up barriers
Although you are new to the market, making it as simple as possible to do business with you is critical. For example, instead of lengthy checkout processes, integrate with Google Pay, PayPal and other services your customer’s trust.
When customers are buying from you, don’t surprise them with shipping fees or delivery terms that are not clear during the product selection process. Customers are used to an Amazon-style e-commerce culture. Although you cannot imitate that exactly (we can’t all offer Prime), get as close as you can to that sort of experience.
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