It is true that the past year has brought many challenges and learning opportunities for small business owners. As you step into the new year, it’s time to create new sets of goals that could help prepare your business for success and survival in 2022.
Starting a business during a pandemic and the economic and societal uncertainties that come with it has not been ideal. Despite that, your business has managed to make it this far! While you may have struggled meeting many of the resolutions you set for your business in the previous year, it’s not too late to get back on track and prepare for a better year ahead.
Setting new year’s resolutions can be a valuable help in determining your company’s long-term success. Take note that even the most successful entrepreneurs take this time of the year to evaluate their business’s strengths and weaknesses and recharge for a higher level of success in the future.
However, the challenge in creating business resolutions is knowing which ones are worth it. Not sure what goals should make their way onto your list? Here are some realistic resolutions that could make a large impact on your small business throughout the new year.
Update Your Business Plan
Perhaps some of your business operations have changed since you first created your business plan. Now is the perfect time to revisit it and make necessary adjustments to your finances, objectives, marketing ideas, and other aspects of your business. Updating your business plan allows you to reassess your goals and the strategies to reach them.
Once you identify which techniques worked best for your business over the last year and which did not, you can give your business plan a bit of a refresh. Your new business plan should pay close attention to strategies that need improvement and keep useful ones for later use.
Feel free to add new ideas and relevant projects that could help boost your value proposition and sales all year round.
Launch New Products
Many business owners take the new year as an opportunity to introduce new product lines into the market. This marketing strategy can benefit small companies looking to increase sales by expanding their customer base. Introducing new products or services helps your business get previously untapped customers into its pipeline.
As exciting as diversification sounds, one mistake in presenting new products to consumers can cause long-term damage to your business’s reputation. A successful product launch relies mainly on the proper pricing, distribution, and promotional strategies.
Be sure to conduct market research and understand every stage of the launch, such as development, internal and external testing, marketing, and even timing before you introduce a new product or service.
Keep Up With Current Trends
Your resolutions should describe where you want your business to go in the future. No one gets the future right very often as trends and technologies move forward, so it’s important to be aware of what’s evolving in your industry.
The pandemic, for example, has created a need for companies to rely more on digital tools to stay operational. In fact, the digital adoption that many business owners considered in 2020 continued in 2021, with the pandemic constantly affecting the global economy.
More industries are expected to utilize digital resources for brand awareness, customer acquisition, and e-commerce capabilities this year.
This can be the best time to leverage digital platforms and automation opportunities for your business processes to help navigate crisis conditions effectively by improving customers’ experience and employee productivity.
Building a web presence and optimizing your social channels is ideal if you experienced difficulties connecting with your customers, investors, and employees in the previous years due to reduced mobility.
Discover New Business Growth Opportunities
For a startup business, the local market provides a great place to explore opportunities to grow. Before you jump into a global expansion strategy, it pays to look right around your geographic location to determine what else you can contribute to the community.
For instance, you may consider hosting in-store events, participating in local community events, or collaborating with other local businesses to promote your products or services.
Your goal is to build a strong relationship between you and your local customers. Once they become your local brand advocates that will likely engage in word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, it will be easier to embark on global growth opportunities. Such results could positively impact your growth metrics and sales. You may also exploit other types of business opportunities in the future, such as:
- Business franchising;
- Buying an existing business;
- Crowdfunding;
- Considering new small business loans;
- Working with a distributor to increase market share;
- Creating international partnerships;
- Explore licensing programs, supply chain deals, and more.
Fine-Tune Your Customer Service
Many entrepreneurs probably already know this, but providing exceptional customer service sets your business up for better sales, repeat customers, and an outstanding brand reputation. In fact, customer service is considered more substantial than the price or quality of a product.
Consumers tend to choose brands that offer better customer service over companies that provide affordable and quality products but with poor after-sales assistance. It’s time to reconsider your customer service strategy, especially in today’s age.
Customer service interactions and company reviews are increasingly transparent, with WOM effects that can make or break your business’s reputation.
Remember to Relax
It might be challenging to run a business and visualize its progress when you’re swamped with work and burnt out. Consider creating a plan to prevent burnout before you dive headfirst into work this year.
The world is still deep in the midst of a health crisis, and at this point, a strong immune system remains the best weapon anyone can use against the lurking coronavirus disease. That’s why a good resolution for 2022 is to prioritize your overall health and wellbeing.
It’s well known that many startup owners like to work themselves to the bone. While that manifests a positive attitude, burnout can harm not just your health but also your business and even personal life in some ways.
It’s okay to take off your small-business-owner crown every once in a while to rest and have a great time with your loved ones. After all, practicing good health habits means you’ll have fewer sick days and get more tasks accomplished on time.
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