Six Keys to Small Business Success. 1. Business Planning Clearly describe your business idea, your vision and mission. You have three ways to prepare your business plan: a.Prepare it yourself using Excel spreadsheets. b.Prepare it yourself with business plan software. c.Hire an experienced and excellent legal and business plan consultant to write the plan for you. The obvious best choice is to have your business plan prepared by an experienced and excellent business consultant so that it will have the right tone, content, structure and appearance to communicate competence. It will meet investor and lender standards, and you will structure a business model that will launch your business to success. 2. Corporate identity Establish your branding, logo, trademark, and trade name. You must choose a unique image that attracts customers and draws them to your product or service and to your website. Once you establish your image, you must protect it by registering it as a trademark, trade name, and/or copyrighting it. Your image is your marketing collateral: Logos, brochures, websites, newsletters, press releases, and other business communications that impact your customers’ impression of you. 3. Financial Projections and analysis. You need a five-year forecast, and financial statements. You need financial projections for five years, and you will establish milestones and benchmarks to gauge your progress. Your financial projections are your road map for the future. You must have complete Profit and Loss, Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet statements, and you must support your key assumptions. 4. Market research and analysis Define potential market and create marketing strategies. You must understand your industry is in terms of size, revenue, and number of players. Keeping up with trends is also important whether they are technological, cultural, or demographics. You must know and analyze your competition, both direct and indirect. You must know how they market their services/products, how they differentiate themselves, and what market share they command. You must identify and prioritize your target markets. 5. Marketing and business development Analyze your industry and your competition and gain market share. Creating a list of potential qualified prospects for your service or product is a necessary follow up to your target market analysis. You must create sales, marketing, and distribution strategies to offer your unique value proposition to the right people at the right price. 6. Web design and development Create the best image of your company on the internet will attract customers. Make the best use of online strategies to create brand awareness and call customers to action. Developing a first-rate company web site that will draw people, and they will return when you provide information or resources that are useful to them. An online business has a greater chance for success if your customers recognize your brand. You also need a systematic program for internet advertising which can generate significant business. By Jennifer Benson Source: AreaOfEntrepreneurs
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 15:41:06 +0000
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