What’s next for your business in the new year?

It’s been a tough ol’ 2021 but through all of the adversity, many businesses have managed to succeed despite the odds.

With Covid-19 posing challenges to our health, stock, deliveries, openings, and staffing; it’s certainly tested us in ways we’ve likely never experienced.

Yet with all of these challenges, many have persevered and have seen success in 2021 which is fantastic news; keep kicking ass.

So what comes next for you?

Well, the good news is, if you pivoted your digital strategy during Covid, you’re probably halfway there for next year too.

In a moment we’ll look at some key strategies for capitalising on your competition come January but the key is to not put it off!

There’s always someone willing to do the things you’re not and those people will get first-place winnings.

Here are a few ideas to get things moving:

Content Calendars

Like the adage goes: failure to plan is planning to fail.

Having a presence on social media is synonymous with a business now so rather than chase your tail each time you plan to post, have a plan.

If you can plan 50 weeks of content (whether that’s 1,2 or 3 pieces of content per week) it will shave a lot of time from your day. The same goes for content pieces like blogs and newsletters.

If you’re thinking bugger me there’s no chance I’ve got the time to sit and plan this stuff then here’s the great news – this sort of thing can be outsourced to a social media account manager for a reasonably inexpensive fee.

Here are some examples for planning content that will boost awareness, grow audiences, engage customers and bring new business:

• Social posts (short, mid and long-form)
• Blogs
• Articles
• White papers
• Newsletters
• Quarterly shareholder updates
• Video (How-To’s, Demo, Explainers etc)
• Webinars

Repositioning Your Brand

Write a list (a long list) of all the things you did successfully with your business in 2021 and all the things you think could be better.

It’s incredibly easy to let our criticisms slip by when we don’t have the time or energy to address them. But in order to grow your business and elevate the brand, we have to get active and start looking at how we can take those first steps to a more fruitful business.

I’m talking about everything from websites to staff training levels to the logo on a business card, it all plays a part in how your brand and business are perceived, so it begs attention.

Here are some key areas to think about:

Website

• Does it look good?
• Is it responsive?
• Check competitors
• Is it easy to use?
• Do you feel compelled to click through to a section?
• Is it getting you conversions?
• Does it reflect your brand values?
• Does it tell a story?
• Is there an identifiable tone of voice?

Social Media

• Does it look good?
• Is the content frequent and consistent?
• Have you tried paid marketing and does it work better on one platform than another?
• Check what best-in-class competitors are doing
• Is it bringing you customers?
• Is there continuity between socials and websites?

Customer Experience

• How do you keep in touch with your customers? (email, calls, texts, newsletters, social media)
• Check the stats; what performs well?
• Should you think about adopting another marketing route you’re not currently using?
• How would you like to feel if you were a customer of your business?
• Do you have a loyalty programme? Does it work?
• Do you get lots of reviews and testimonials? Are they positive?

See what I mean about the list?

There’s a lot to think about but if you can systematically look at these sorts of things and identify where you can improve, then you’re already steps ahead of the next person.

Next week we’ll be looking about how physical businesses can step their game up too, a lot of the digital stuff carries over of course but having a physical store or shop brings new challenges and different areas to master.

Thanks for reading, as always if you’ve had a little value then please Like, Share and Comment your thoughts on this too!