The year 2023 was one of prosperity and growth! To keep up with the growing demand, competition, and digitized economy 2024 is expected to bring forth, it is critical entrepreneurs set effective New Year’s resolutions that will maximize success. In this blog, we will investigate the top 4 New Year’s resolutions that will allow any small business to prosper. Setting realistic, yet strikingly effective resolutions will permit the reflection and refocus of professional activities. Continue reading to discover 4 New Year’s resolutions that ensure 2024 is the year your business thrives.
Top 4 New Years Businesses Resolutions:
- Revamp Branding and Identity
Canada’s growing professional market provides more competition and overlap in business branding. Revamping professional branding will differentiate your business from its competitors, resulting in an increased number of consumers and profit. To modernize branding and identity, research the target market, such as the age, gender, interests, and occupations of your business. This will ensure the colours and designs of the branding appease the target market and make your business recognizable. However, be sure the revamped branding has at least a few similarities to the last branding, or it will be unrecognizable to customers.
- Create A Strong Online Presence
Diversifying the online platforms your business is active on creates a strong online presence, cultivating a welcoming community that supports the entrepreneur. Pushing content onto platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, will promote any business on a global level, and create a strong level of trust between the entrepreneur and the customers. Keep a consistent design and format on every post to make your content easily recognizable.
- Upgrade Or Create A New Website
Considering the society of 2024 is becoming increasingly digitized, small businesses must adapt to an online marketplace. Creating a website for your business allows its market to reach online customers who would otherwise be uninterested. Revamp your website by ensuring the website is appealing to the intended audience. Include specific, easy-to-follow headings, blogs, pictures, etc., that will maximize viewer participation.
- Host Professional In-Person Events
Having a strong online presence is great, but the occasional in-person event will create a memorable experience that separates your business from the rest. The event should be kept professional, with an objective that interests and introduces new customers. It is important to ensure the event is thoroughly planned out, to reduce the risk of customers being left unoccupied. The funds, activities, budget, number of expected customers, itinerary, and more should be thoroughly accounted for in advance for maximum success.
Every business that fulfills these foolproof resolutions will be bound to succeed in the coming year of 2024. Not only will these goals improve the overall quality of the business but will also increase consumer interaction and interest. Contact Graymatter, a professional marketing and media agency, to work with professionals who will guide you in all professional activities. Graymatter’s experts will not only help fulfill all business goals and resolutions but will exceed all expectations and commit to the overall success of your business. Make 2024 an unforgettable year of prosperity and growth for your business by contacting Graymatter today.
Its been over a year and the struggle is still real. If your small to mid-size business has made it this far – congratulations! If you have “pivoted” and are doing things a little or a lot different, congratulations to you as well. These times are tough and there are so many avenues to choose from (print, radio, TV, digital, social the list goes on), and knowing where to spend your marketing dollars is even tougher.
So, where do you start?
First and foremost, in our opinion, is your current customer base; make sure they are ok and do whatever you can to make them happy. Word of mouth is still one of the best ways to grow your business, a recommendation from someone who has already used or is using your service goes a long way. People buy from people. Relationship building is still incredibly important and so much more relevant in a world where we are not getting a lot of the human interaction and socialization we’re used to. Cold calls, yes, they are still a thing. Do your research – is there someone that knows this potential customer that you can get an introduction from, is there something you can genuinely help them with? Being genuine and letting that come through to your audience is key to success.
Website
Having a well written relevant website is more important than ever. Poor spelling and grammar can easily leave a negative impression of you to the reader – and we don’t want that. Next, make sure your site is properly laid out and easy to navigate, and don’t forget visually appealing. This is your chance to make a good first impression to a potential client, so make it count. Spend the money on a good website. Having a website, even if it’s a small one makes sure potential customers have your current information, know what your offer and helps improve your SEO so people can find you online. All we have right now is the internet so your presence needs to be strong.
We are inundated with so many visuals that our brains have adapted to picking up only what we need when we need it. It has been said that we have something like 3-5 seconds to catch a customer’s eye and if you think about yourself scrolling through any type of search it’s true (yes, even us too!).
Social Media
Here is the thing, you need a presence. You need to have the appropriate social media accounts set up so you can reach your audience and be where they are. Like Google, social media is one of the first places people go when they are researching a product or service – if you are not online, you will be overlooked.
Setting up your accounts as Business (instead of personal) profiles gives you access to additional features like having extra information in your profile and insights. You want to make it as easy as possible for people to get information about your business.
Having a social media presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn also helps you move up the ranks in all search engines. This is what helps push you to the first page on Google!
Even the clients that don’t want a presence on social media are beginning to understand the importance of having a presence online and getting their brand out in the digital world. If you are not going to post on an ongoing basis it’s still important to have a page with your name and contact information, although we would argue it’s equally important to engage with your audience.
An alternative to posting yourself is to hire a company that can accomplish this for you or helps you develop a strategy so that it isn’t so daunting for you to complete. There are a lot of tools out there (yes, some are FREE) that are meant to make your life easier, take advantage of them. This ranges from scheduling tools to content creation.
Social media is about building relationships with your audience, finding out what your customer and potential customer base like, what problems they have, and figuring out how you can solve them. It’s relationship building in the 21st century.
Print
At Graymatter we love print material. Creating beautiful brochures for print and of course (repurposing the content) for digital is one of the things we do best. Being part of a local magazine or newspaper is an additional marketing avenue to ensure you don’t miss any demographic. Not everyone uses the internet so it’s good to have touchpoints where it isn’t required. When creating any print material always push people to your website or ask your reader to follow you on social. Including a CTA (call to action) increases engagement.
As small to mid-size business owners we never really get a break, we eat sleep, and breath our business. If this pandemic has taught us anything it’s to savor the quiet moments, enjoy being with family (immediate household only) and friends (virtually) and that recharging your battery has never been more important. So, you have our permission – sleep a little more, squash those 3 am panic wake-ups about your business, and be kinder to yourself. We can control a lot more than we think. It’s more important to appreciate those we work with and make sure they are okay. They are the face of your business and care about the direction of the company. This past year and a half has been tough there is no doubt but hopefully its also been a time of reflection and figuring out what is important to you your family and your team.
