With the impact of Brexit leaving UK markets uncertain, Donald Trump causing trade issues in the United States and the rest of the world battling automation, the dominance of Amazon and a new threat of ecommerce businesses taking over the world, it can be a challenge to take your business in the right direction. Weak currencies, lack of security and short-term contracts are leading some small businesses to go under, so it’s essential that you work hard to keep your business afloat. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best ways to take your business in the right direction this year; read on for our top tips, and you’ll soon be making millions!
- Buy out one of your competitors
Company buyouts can be time-consuming and stressful, but they’re a great way of reducing your competition and increasing your customer base overnight. Particularly useful for service businesses, buying out a competitor will allow you to position your business as an authority within your niche, and the combined power of two companies can help you to be more efficient and cut costs with repeat jobs (for example, you’ll only need one accountant and marketer).
- Expand in a new market
Overseas expansion is often brushed under the carpet for small and medium-sized businesses, because the cost involved in promoting your products in an entirely new country are often just too high. But the truth is, in order to stand out and secure the future of your business, you must invest in your business and take risks, and that’s exactly what you should be doing when you see the unstable futures of the United Kingdom’s and United States’ economies. Consider marketing in China to reach billions of potential customers, and you might just be on to a winner.
- Launch a new product
Product lines can become stale overtime, especially if you’re selling to repeat customers more than you are to new customers. Launching a new product, or refreshing one of your popular lines, is a great way to reinvigorate their image and build up hype for your company. You can coincide the launch of a new product with a marketing campaign, where you shoot videos and get people to talk about your products through influencer marketing. The more hype you create, the more people are going to want to check out the new products and buy one of their own!
- Up your pricing
When was the last time you took a step back and looked at your pricing structure? Some small businesses price themselves too low, and then find it hard to maintain clients who want to buy their products and services time and time again. Consider doing some market research to find out whether or not your pricing structure is in line with similar services offered elsewhere, and if you’re too cheap, put those prices up. Even if you’re not too cheap, you can still raise prices if you are offering a high quality product and service and have a unique selling point to boot.