Start a business series – 3. Build your business.
Building a business requires action, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint. As you build your business, you will meet many challenges. Success will require patience, creativity, adaptability, and strategic thinking. For now, focus on executing your business plan, listening to, and learning from your customers, and building a brand you can be proud of.
Executing your business plan
In the validation stage we clarified your business mission, brand, and ideal customer. During your launch we established financial systems and internal management structures. It’s time to pull them together, execute your business plan, ensure they run smoothly, and add some strategic marketing.
During the build phase, marketing should focus on building brand awareness. How you build brand awareness depends greatly on your target market, product or service, and budget. Most businesses start locally, and everyone should include in-person networking as a part of their strategy if they can. For social media marketing, remember to use the hashtags your ideal customer follows and try to have a story weaving consistency through your posts to increase recognition and create connection.
The build phase is also an important time to ensure you have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) goals against which to measure your success.
Listening and learning – reviewing your success and failures
As a new business, you should spend more time listening to your customers than thinking about what to say to them. Ask for feedback after every sale, listen to reactions when you talk about your product or service to new people, and read the comments on your social media platforms. You may be surprised at what you learn or how much small changes can impact your bottom line.
Be polite and respectful in responding even when you disagree, and constantly reflect on your mission before you take action to change because of it. You might add a new colour based on customer requests or create a how-to guide responding to one detailed question. But don’t reinvent the wheel because one customer says they hate it or make a knee-jerk change to your branding because of one negative comment.
Feedback also comes from numbers. All social media platforms and websites have insights you can use to inform your next campaign. Depending on your goals and where you focussed your efforts, you might review how many imprints your post received, how many new followers it garnered, or how long people spent on your website once they arrived. Can you increase the style of posts that achieved your goals and decrease those that didn’t?
Build your business sustainably
Building your business sustainably means building with a sense of social responsibility and at a pace that allows you to maintain quality and stay aligned with your values.
Consumers vote with their dollars and support eco-friendly and socially responsible businesses wherever possible. This is good news for businesses because your actions to minimise your environmental footprint, ensure the safety of everyone in your supply chain and contribute to your local community will also increase your sales and brand loyalty.
As to your pace of growth – it always pays to walk before you run. Successful businesses take strategic steps towards growth, fortifying their systems, workforce, and infrastructure to prepare for it. It is not worth compromising quality or sanity for early expansion and a quick extra dollar.
Need a hand with your business plan, marketing strategy or sustainability actions? Sage Business Coach Raffy Sgori can help. Book a free discovery call now.