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Category: Business Blog

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Business Community: What are the Benefits?

business networking

Build a network of connections

Small businesses cannot survive on their own. In every business, most sales are done through word of mouth or referrals from people who have established trust in the business or the owner of the business. Building a network of connections results in getting leads that may turn into customers or that may send customers to a business. Being a part of a business community will help expand the reach and, with that, increase leads.

Learn Best Practices

Business community websites are filled with information that can be of importance to small businesses. Starting from how to start a business to the latest business trends, business communities are a great resource to gain knowledge about how to’s and where to’s for growing a business. Whether it be through forums, group discussions, or just postings on a profile timeline, there is always something to learn and gain knowledge from.

Stay Motivated

Being a part of a network will definitely help motivate a business owner. Entrepreneurs tend to lack motivation at times as they are responsible for all business tasks. At times they get overwhelmed with tasks and lose motivation, and at other times they may feel they have run out of ideas and lose motivation to continue. A good way to stay motivated is to find a professional business community and stay active there. Stay connected with business owners on the network, attend community networking events, stay visible by placing ads or taking up speaking engagements during events, and always offer to help. That will not only keep a business owner motivated, but it will also increase business visibility within the community.

Generate Leads

Business leads come from knowing people. Meeting people requires a community. Loos for business communities that have a virtual platform and that also run events. That way, one will get to meet people and then stay connected over the internet to send leads and referrals. One thing business owners have to remember, in a community, one has to give in order to take. Give leads, and others will send you leads. Give referrals to other business members, and others will send you referrals.

Enjoy Benefits

Business community websites usually offer benefits to their members. Benefits may vary from free services to discounts and offers to access to business resources and more. Make use of these benefits! Many businesses register at business community websites and forget about their accounts. It’s good to visit business community websites often to explore new benefits added to members.

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BEST FIT SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

social media

An Analysis of 3 Major Social Media Platforms 

There are different factors that determine which social media platform should be used for a business. However, depending on the business type and the target audience one may come up with a good social media marketing strategy. This strategy may incorporate a presence on all social media platforms. However, the focus will be on where your audience is.  A business may get thousands of likes on Facebook but may fail to develop engagement. This is an indicator that it is not the right platform to invest time in. However, it does not imply taking Facebook out of the equation. A business still needs to create visibility for its brand, but it will be a better investment to spend time on a platform that allows an active forum with its audience.

Twitter is an amazing tool for branding a business. However, with specific types of businesses, it may not create engagement.  It may create a lot of discussions about pop culture and breaking news, but for a business that sells products and/or services, it mostly helps in highlighting the brand.

As a business owner that caters to small businesses, I found that spending time on Instagram is worthwhile.  It is easy to interact and build hype for my business at the same time. Adding hashtags to posts on Instagram actually brings in an interested audience.

Experiment and test different methods like this to find out what works best for your business in order to build a strong Social Media marketing strategy.

[1]http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/

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IS YOUR BUSINESS EQUIPPED FOR GROWTH?

innovative business

In business life, the inception of a new idea potentially turns into a vision.  However, a vision does not bring growth to a business except if the business owner gets busy equipping their business for growth. A vision may direct a business, it may lead the path and be the foundation for objectives and goals, but it will require some equipping along the way to bring growth. Here are few steps that will equip a small business for growth:

  1. Register a business to give it an identity and status
  2. Organize the business idea by writing a business plan.  Even if it was a short 2 pages plan, the purpose is to help detail the idea, eliminate chaos that may result in delays, and bring it into existence.
  3. Write the vision and mission statements to define a purpose for the business.
  4. Detail the product/service. Give it a name, a price and a description.
  5. Package products/services to facilitate the process of sales and provide a value added bundle for the client.
  6. Prepare a presentation highlighting your products and services to display when meeting with clients.
  7. Prioritize marketing the business and treat it as an integral part of the budget. One of the main purposes of marketing is to increase visibility of your brand and cause people to talk about it.
  8. Marketing attracts leads and fans to your brand (and/or product/service), and these leads will spread the word about your business.
  9. Stay up to date with the latest trends.
  10. Make an effort to stay abreast with technologies.
  11. Be ready to answer questions about your business.
  12. Meet with clients in a professional environment.  Find an office rental provider that will equip the business for growth by providing quality services and benefits.

There are two concepts that are important to understand and that contribute to the growth of a business:

  1. Give first and that will open doors for others to give back.  Do not be afraid to provide free services. Identify a service that may turn into a hit and offer it for free at start.  Take facebook, Twitter and linkedIn as examples, the platforms have been offered free since their inception, and once they became popular the owners started finding ways to monetize them.
  2. A business does not grow without an investment.  Whether it be time investment or money investment, it has to be substantial.  A business grows gradually, but the time will come when a business has to run from a physical space that will allow it to grow.  Looking for an office to rent becomes a must, and through weighing the pros and cons the small business owner gets to choose the office solution that works best for their business.  Beware as the benefits that come with an office will definitely determine how much the business gets equipped for growth.
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