Small business

Unlike traditional offline means of marketing, the advent of digital marketing has made it possible for even small businesses to embrace marketing for their small ventures. While offline marketing cost fortunes, digital marketing gave them the ability to control the cost in various ways. 

The foremost challenge for any small business is establishing an online store. Building an eCommerce site is highly expensive hence for small business to embrace digital transformation here are some ways to go about it:

Social Media Presence

Social media just cannot be overlooked if an online presence is what you desire. Statista proposed report in 2019 suggests that “Among the key reasons why marketers find merit in using social networks in their campaigns are increased traffic, lead generation, and increasing fan loyalty.”

Social media rightly helps small businesses in bringing out their brand to a larger set of audiences. There are various channels to create your presence, however; you need to first determine your marketing objectives. 

Facebook:

Statista reports that “In India alone, the number of Facebook users are over 280 million”. Facebook has a large audience size in India alone. In the event “Fuel for India” they have expressed their intent towards supporting local business in establishing an online presence and selling over Facebook and WhatsApp. 

Twitter:

“This is amongst the top 3 social channels used by marketers”, reports Statista.

It is a great platform to drive engagement. However, it also depends on your niche and target audience.

Instagram:

Instagram evolved from an image-sharing platform to a channel that supports real-time video, short and long video formats, various filters and a lot more. Influencer marketing saw a surge in recent years and most vote for Instagram over other platforms. 

To create awareness for your brand or product you can start by creating accounting and get started with nano influencers that are promoting products related to your niche. This will ensure you gain the attention of the right audience.

YouTube:

YouTube is a search engine giant when it comes to videos. Start your own channel with a professional and consistent layout and thumbnails to provide information about your business in a compelling manner. Video marketing is set to spike in 2021 hence building your presence on YouTube is beneficial.

WhatsApp Business:

It basically provides businesses with an app to better communicate with their clients by offering alerts, help, and ultimately the alternative of running their business on their smartphones, on WhatsApp, rather than online elsewhere. In short, when the company owner or manager uses the WhatsApp Business app, the consumer may use the standard WhatsApp app.

Facebook Marketplace:

The Facebook Marketplace is a great way for a small business to get free exposure, build relationships with their customers, and make a little extra money. It's really amazing what a small group of powerful Facebook users can do to help your business grow.

The benefits for small businesses using the Facebook Marketplace to sell products or services are almost endless.

To get started:

1. Enter the marketplace by clicking on the shop icon.
2. Add photo of products
3. Add title
4. Add description
5. Price
6. Location & category

This will largely save your cost of creating an eCommerce site and then driving traffic to it. Here, you can benefit from a large audience of over 2 billion active users.

Ecommerce sites:

Another way is to register and build a store with eCommerce giants like Amazon or Flipkart. You can do this yourself or hire an expert or an agency to do it for you as you need to comply with various terms of these platforms and that’s quite complicated.

In final words, all the above mediums are meant to give you economic marketing options to benefit from online business.

Let me answer this question in the simplest way.

1. Understand why you need a logo.
2. Define your brand identity.
3. Find inspiration for your design.
4. Check out the competition.
5. Choose your design style.
6. Find the right type of logo.
7. Pay attention to color.
8. Pick the right typography.

Thanks and make your comments here.

More people shop online from the safety of home, some e-commerce categories are struggling. For some of them, the challenge is near-overwhelming demand. For others, sales have sharply dropped.

Consumer behavior and spending patterns changed dramatically as lockdowns took effect.

• Some apparel, specifically eveningwear, dressy children's clothing, suits, and dress pants
• Beauty items, especially lip color and hair color
• Electronics, after a sharp peak in April as consumers outfitted home offices
• Luxury goods
• Fashion And Apparel
• The Enhancement Of Online Grocery Stores
• Leading Hit On The Smartphone Delivery
• Digital Streaming
• A Successful Increase In Virus Protection Products
• The Stock For Online Medicines

These above points have helped you to understand some of the ways their changing behaviors are the reason you can continue to serve in a great way as you can.

Also Read: Covid-19 Impact On ECommerce Business [Market Study]

Covid-19 has influenced our lives and the way we do business significantly. During these times of instability and uncertainty, companies worldwide are adapting to this “new normal.” 

Here, at InData Labs, we’ve been doing the same as implementing new policies to support both our employees and the local community.

You can read more here: How InData Labs adapts to the new COVID-19 times – InData Labs 

It should be said that crisis moments also present opportunities:  more sophisticated and flexible use of technology, for example. No one knows precisely what will come, but for sure, we will witness more and more significant changes across all spheres of life. And the best advice here is just to be flexible and react to all these changes fast.

Nobody is born with entrepreneurial skills, Instead we learn everything once we get started but we do make a lot of mistakes on the way.So,If you are planning to open a small scale business, there are plenty of tips and tricks you might need to focus on. Small scale businesses are quite different from large corporations and big scale businesses.

Talking about small scale business, a lot of things have to be kept in mind like name, place , marketing, target audience , management etc. Without setting a proper goal, it all seems baseless and inappropriate. 

In 2019, the failure rate of start-ups was around 90%. Research concludes 21.5% of start-ups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year.

This undoubtedly concludes poor managerial skills and failed marketing techniques. So, to have a successful small business start-up or to make an ongoing small business more profitable and renowned, here are some tips and tricks.

1. Listen to your Customers.

Over the time, it has become really important to listen and understand what your customer needs and what they actually expect. Acting on both positive and negative feedback is the utmost responsibility of the owner.

1. Prioritize Customers

You should always prioritize your customers over anything else. It helps in attaining brand loyalty and customer retention.

1. Prioritize Quality 

Quality is something which attracts customers, never let your standard quality go away or get down for anything else. Focusing on better quality is the key to more customers and high profitability.

1. Go Omnichannel

Omni channel is not a surprise anymore, build an ecommerce store for your new customers through Amazon, Flipkart , Instagram etc.

Digital platforms can drive in more customers and creates brand awareness. It is a must have to build a strong back.

1. Don't fear established businesses

If you are planning to start a business, keep a mindset that your products are still needed in the society. This will let u go on in the market game.

You’re fresh meat in this  competitive market and you have something that your competition lacks.

1. Digital Marketing

Starting a business and organizing things can be very stressful. Focus on digital marketing which will lead you to steady but fruitful success creating name in the industry.

SEO, Email marketing , Consistent Blog posts on your official website can do the roles and be very helpful.

1. Don’t follow the crowd.

You started your business because you thought you could do so.Take time out to interact with your customers and go live and chat. Take an idea of who, where and what your customers are.

Build a website, ask for feedbacks and start marketing.

1. Flexibility 

Learn to be more flexible with your work field and build a website which is user friendly and mobile friendly. Technology today is the key to success.

1. Data Analysis 

Data analysis is a good to go thing and must be done in order to conduct a favourable or unfavourable approach at the end of the year . It helps understand your customers by analysing  it, you will be able to improve your job. This will boost your sales and brand name.

Trello, Slack and SEMrush are some of the tools which help with this.

1. Digital Transformation 

Digitally you need to be really strong and upfront for everything you do, new or old. Drink the Google Kool- Aid if you want your business to just be highlighted on the Google web browser, post a  consistent content on all digital platforms, prepare a decent budget for marketing.

Final Thoughts

These are some very useful tips to build a scalable business. Success just cannot be attained overnight. You need to work with full dedication to make that happen. Working with all your heart and soul can help you build a successful brand.

True that tide and tide waits for none; the importance of managing time is crucially important since ever. Time is that precious asset that cannot be purchased or rented by anybody and the value of time is precious and invaluable. Time that is once lost is lost forever so the entrepreneurs who walk ahead in the success lane of life, make sure to expertise the art of time management.

Entrepreneurship is that state of mind which entails many personal and professional traits that stand out. Entrepreneurs need to jump and juggle between tasks, hop on calls and remain extra careful with every decision they make. Hence for them multi is no more tasking & time management is a necessity.

Here’s a glimpse of the role of time management in entrepreneurial life:

There’s a difference between utilizing time & wasting it;
time management helps one to remain productive.

All work & no play is not good but too much of leisure activities cannot be justified.

An idle mind is a devil’s workshop & time-management makes helps the devil called idleness at bay.

The more one remains active, the lesser he or she tends to procrastinate and hence tasks do not get delayed.

Time management also increases quality of work and helps to avoid work-logs.

Timely activities help to keep away stress, frustration and last moment worries.

The popular author, writer and businessman Stephen R Covey said that ““The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” He also said that “"The key is in not spending time, but in investing it." The enduring mentor and entrepreneur Emanuel James Rohn, professionally known as Jim Rohn said that, “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time". Steve Jobs said that “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma”.

• Entrepreneurs break down the complicated activities into simple tasks. They utilize their energy and time to simplify the processes.
• They prioritize their tasks algorithmic-ally
• They begin with a simple task but ensure creating a long-term road map
• They pair up time management with proper planning and strategies

If you look around you at the most successful entrepreneurs across the world, you will see that there is a strong association of time management with their successful stories. The lazy ones who will laze around and procrastinate never become successful and the ones who achieve name & fame never give into the trap of idleness.

There are many different advantages to podcasting versus blogging, and these are explained here. Before starting, you need to compare the pros and cons of each.

But before we start comparing blog v/s podcast, we need to take a minute to explain what a podcast is and what you need to do to actually create one. In short, a podcast is simply an audio file that can be played on your computer, iPod, mobile device, or portable media player that has the ability to record audio and has its own browser-based interface.

Benefits of Blogs for small business:

• They can generate traffic and can be an effective marketing strategy for any company. They play a huge role in building backlinks and enhance your search engine optimization.
• Another benefit of blogs is that they are an excellent way to stay connected with current customers. Blogs are also a good way to build relationships with your customers. A good relationship will keep your customers coming back and that means your business will continue to grow.
• Blogs are usually maintained regularly so if you have a new product available then you are able to advertise through them before the products reach their customers. With a blog, you are able to send messages to your customers even before the product has been launched. This will increase the chances of your customers purchasing the product resulting in a higher conversion rate. This is especially beneficial for eCommerce startups.
• Doesn’t require a huge investment.

Benefits of Podcast for small business:

• If you're already blogging, podcasting can even help you with your writing, as you'll be able to offer your audience something they want to hear more often. One example would be information about products that they're looking for. This way, you'll have a regular stream of new content that they can listen to each and every day.
• Podcasts are gaining popularity. Up to 2019, 20 million listeners chose podcasts. It helps you reach out to a younger audience.
• They can be highly personalized as well as engaging.

The biggest downfall to blog v/s podcast is that it's much easier to start a blog than it is to build a podcast for single-owner startups. You can't just take a bunch of audio clips and record them into your own podcast; you need to take time to create a podcast from scratch. That said, you can also build your own podcast if you're willing to put in the work. Some of the most popular podcasts out there were created by amateurs with little or no programming experience.

Sales forecasting is the way to estimate the volume of sales for a particular period. Manufacturers and retailers create daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly sales projections. This analysis is based on the historical sales data of firms and the pipeline of sales representatives. 

More than just a revenue prediction is a sales projection. This is the act of finding marketing opportunities. The revenue projection determines the share of a business in a given future. Sales forecasts therefore illustrate the size of the plausible sale.

Following are the benefits of sales forecasting ;

• Sales Forecast influences the financial aspect of a business as these forecasts  determine the prices of stock
• It also affects the investment decisions of business owners
• Based on these informed projections, organizations plan and build their salesforce. 
• Facilitates the development sales quotas and sales goals 
• It helps to determine when to recruit, budget and how to handle the capital resource.   
• It also drives the performance of employees. 
• It helps cut down the excessive expenses  
• Makes cross-departmental alliance possible. 
• It encourages sales reps to work hard for the unified goals  
• Because of in-depth sales forecast analysis and report, all the employees in the sales department work responsibly in a timely manner. 
• It helps you make informed business decisions and makes the organization productive. 

Essential metrics that are used for sales forecasting

Here are several key sales metrics to assess the sales teams' success and progress towards the overall revenue targets. The assessments help to understand the loopholes throughout the sales process, recognise and motivate workers who have outperformed and who need a little push in achieving their objectives.

Quotas

Quotas are used as an effective motivational tool and help assess individual achievement and are calculated based on the skills of sales professionals, the product and the zone wherein they work. These tasks also include the organization's overall sales targets.

Attainment 

It is an important indicator to monitor the amount of deals concluded against the allocated quota. It should be supervised day-to-day to guarantee that the sales team consistently completes the sales deals during the quarter and that there is no last-minute hassle to reach the assigned sales targets. 

Pipeline Coverage 

The pipeline coverage indicates the gap you have to reach your revenue goal in your sales pipeline. The tracking of the number of pipelines you previously needed to reach your goal gives you a clear insight into how long your potential pipeline will need to fulfil in the future

Sales activity data

It is all about tracking all the interactions that your sales team has with the qualified leads such as emails, calls, marketing campaigns and more. It enables you to understand the effectiveness of your campaigns. 

Over to you

Accurate sales forecasts help manage inventory, recruit appropriate personnel, predict demands and manage investments throughout the year.

There are many benefits of VoIP but let's first discuss what VoIP is?

VoIP, also called Voice over Internet Protocol is basically a form of IP technology that converts voice over analog (VOC) signal to digital information that can then be transferred over the Internet using an Ethernet or VoIP-enabled computer or any other broadband-enabled device. The advantage of using this method is that it is cheaper than traditional data transmission over the internet. This method uses a high-quality analog signal to transmit voice or data. This analog signal is known as analog to digital conversion (ADC).

Some of the alternative means include SMS (Short Message Service), SMSF (Short Message Services For Finance), JMS (Java Messaging Service), and ICQ (Internet Connection - Instant messaging). All these methods are expensive and time-consuming. Also, they do not allow people to stay in touch with the people they are communicating with. This is because most of these services do not have a VoIP service. 

VoIP makes the usage of an analog signal much easier and faster. Using this method you will be able to connect and communicate over the internet in the same way you would use a conventional phone line.

With VoIP, you will have the option of choosing a plan from a number of different providers. You will only need to pay a single monthly payment and you can enjoy unlimited viewing and chatting. This type of service also allows you to make calls from your laptop or mobile phones.

All the benefits of a regular phone are there and this VoIP service will even provide you with the capability to surf the internet using a laptop. There are even some companies that provide a broadband connection with your existing phone line and it will give you the same quality of internet experience as if you were to use a DSL or cable connection.

Let us look at its other benefits:

1. Reduce calling cost: As mentioned above, VoIP uses Internet protocol to make calls. Communication is made based on packet switching over the internet rather than telephone lines. Traditional calling requires a phone line for communication between two parties. In the case of long-distance, it gets expensive but with IP calling becomes free whether domestic or international.
2. Mobility: Contacting people at distance using traditional calling systems is a hassle. Along with that, it does not provide mobility.  A dedicated line establishes a connection to your PC. With VoIP, there are no physical limitations.
3. Voice mailing features: Unlike traditional methods, it lets you send voicemail transcripts straight to your email. Furthermore, you can even forward it to other people.
4. Conference calls:  Placing conference calls using traditional lines requires you to pay additional charges. These services are included by most providers in VoIP.

To conclude, VoIP provides an efficient and affordable channel for streamlining business communication. 

Social networking sites provide business owners with numerous benefits, enabling them to meet their qualified prospects, gain their attention through engaging campaigns/deals and establish a lasting relationship with them. It also aids businesses to obtain customer insights, traffic and market intelligence.

Nowadays, many people would agree that Facebook and other social networking sites are crucial to the success of modern businesses. Facebook, the social media leader, was the first social network to reach over 1 billion registered accounts and currently have over 2.7 billion active monthly users worldwide. The statistics clearly reveal that using social media can be a winning strategy for small businesses.

But, in a market so densely populated how your brand posting will make a cut? Especially if you are a small business with budget constraints. The truth is, only 1 out of every 50 fans can actually see your social media campaigns/posts. But, let’s not lose sight of the opportunities and benefits of persistent efforts. 

Here are some strategies that businesses can follow to get traction on the medium; 

Know your audience

First and foremost, small business owners should be cognizant of how their fans are interacting with them. Some customers may be ribbing each other, yet others may be praising the small business owner. By understanding how fans are engaging with your page, you can better respond to their comments and suggestions. Additionally, by monitoring your "Fans" page regularly, you will be able to see if any customers have complained about a lack of response from you, or your product/service.

Deliver excellent customer service

Another strategy that small business owners should be aware of, is that when interacting with fans, be thoughtful and provide exceptional customer service. If you receive a comment that is negative, take note of the issue and address it quickly. Customers appreciate being treated in a polite manner by a business that truly cares. By providing great customer service, you can enhance word-of-mouth marketing which will only help you find new fans, and perhaps even customers that would not have otherwise attempted to do business with you! 

Make use of storytelling 

Utilize Facebook ad templates and pages to capitalize on the power of storytelling. They are designed to draw attention and to evoke responses through multiple CTA (Call-to-action) buttons. They provide imaginative flexibility, operate across devices and are designed to help you achieve your objectives.

Cultivate an interactive experience

It's also vital that small businesses create a social media presence that is not only interesting but also interactive. Most small business Facebook pages offer only a small amount of information, but this is not the way to retain customer loyalty. Small businesses should create blogs that are regularly updated. These blogs should offer information that is pertinent to the small business in question, yet to be entertaining as well. 

Create a “community page” and groups to gain more organic reach and followers. These two elements intimately connect you with your target audience where you can exchange information with high shareability value. With that keep updating your audience about new posts, products, announcements, opinions and polls through “stories”.

Link your webpage to your business page

If the business has an attractive webpage with plenty of content, it will be far easier to encourage customers to "Like" the page. The more often customers share information about your business on Facebook, the more successful they are likely to be. In addition to this, the "Likes" will also help the business to gain more exposure, which will lead to more customers.

Utilize Facebook’s product catalogue ads

This format is an ideal method for marketers to develop a rich navigation experience that encourages improved product discovery and engagement.  This is also the correct approach for dynamic retargeting,  you can connect an existing catalogue from another platform, for example - Amazon, Google, Asos etc. 

All things considered, 

Knowing the right strategies to implement on Facebook will benefit your small businesses in the long run. Utilize the data that you have on hand as you plan new promotions or advertisements. Monitor fan activity to gain insight into how your business is doing compared to competitors. 

Use the profile's tools to build relationships with customers. Above all, make it a habit to engage with customers through social media networks and you'll find that customers will reward your small business with repeat business and referrals.