Rising From the Rubble: A Year of Growth
5 Ways to Help Rise From the Rubble
by Joshua DeMatteo
Over the past year, businesses have endured hardships that have proved to be anything but ordinary. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on unexpected challenges and led to difficult decisions and constant setbacks that made growth seem nearly impossible for businesses.
With the new year being in full swing, there is hope businesses will return to normal operation and growth. Getting back on their feet and adapting to the new normal, businesses are rebuilding, rebranding, and refocusing on what’s important. Here are 5 ways to help rise from the rubble:
Know Your Target Audience
Before gaining any new customers or seeing sales rise, there must be an understanding of your target audience. Ask yourself, who are you trying to reach?
Take the time to hear what potential customers are concerned about. Become engaged with their questions and problems to learn how your product/service can help. Also, make sure to take note of the ways they are looking for information and through what ways to they consume content.
The big picture is being able to connect with your target audience to best fit their needs. Line up your product/service offerings and business strategy to make your solutions stand out.
How To:
Coming back to the question “who are you trying to reach?”, you want to first find who you are currently serving. Being able to do this may look something like utilizing surveys such as Google Forms or SurveyMonkey to acquire information about current customers and gain insight on how to reach new audiences.
Make SEO a Top Priority
Since the digital world is at no time slowing down, getting ahead of your competition can be harder than ever. Consider having strong SEO, as it can be the push to get your business out in front.
SEO leads to more visibility to help you cut through the crowds of competition. Not only does strong SEO help with keeping your business relevant, but more importantly, it will lead to higher site visits. Having more traffic to your site means more potential for a conversion.
How to:
To be seen amongst a sea of competitors, its important to use these steps to boost SEO:
- Study your website: Take a deep look at your website to make sure there are no broken links, slowed down webpages, spelling or grammatical errors, and duplicate or missing content.
- Use keywords: Keywords. Keywords. Keywords. Repeat that over and over and do not forget it. Using relevant keywords is the primary driver in helping people find your business when searching online. It is what helps content on your site stand out and be recognized by a search engine.
- Who is searching and why: To be able to use keywords effectively you must first know the answer to the question, why is someone searching this? Once you know this, you are able to understand related phrases and use context of searches to drive higher site visits and conversions. It is also important to know who is searching, such as those audiences who may be local to your business. If so, you want to make sure to include geographic specific keywords in order to appear in those defined areas.
Listen to the Data
Listen. Your data is trying to tell you something! Paying attention to what your data is saying can be a vital step in raising the ceiling to your revenue. From helping you make decisions to guiding campaigns and tracking their success, the proof is in the data.
How To:
Analytic tools such as Google Analytics, SproutSocial, and Buzzsumo are key to gaining metrics on website, social media, and other places of interaction that your business has with your audience.
Focus on Your People
Focusing on everything external to try and increase metrics of all sorts can leave the most important and arguably most valuable factor in the dust, your people. Creating great work starts with creating a great work environment that promotes inclusivity, positivity, and a healthy space to inspire team members to do their best work.
How To:
Putting your people first starts much like getting to know your target audience, you want to understand their wants, needs, and any questions or concerns they may have. This can be done in three ways:
- Send out surveys: Using SurveyMonkey or Google Forms is a great way to get feedback on the work environment and on how team members are feeling.
- Actively use an open door policy: This can encourage people to talk with their leaders and help diminish any stigmas of workplace hierarchy.
- Employee mentorship: When onboarding new employees make sure to pair them with current employees to make them feel welcomed in their new environment.
Don’t Be Afraid to Reach Out
At the end of the day, it comes down to finding the best resources possible to help your business flourish. Connecting with those resources, whether within your business or outside, can prove to be beneficial to reaching those goals.
How to:
Find ways to bring teams closer together to be able to drive higher results and create a more collaborative workspace. Breakdown any barriers that may exist. Reach out to industry leaders and other trusted sources to create connections and gain expertise and/or advice on where your business is trying to get to.
Conclusion
As we begin the shift to the new normal, remember that people are at the center of everything you do. Focus on customer needs, fostering a happy work environment, and continue to place a heavy emphasis on all of those relationships. This approach will position your business as the best choice whether someone is first discovering you online, choosing to do business with/stay with you, or work with you in any capacity.
This material is generic in nature. Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should note date of publication and carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness, and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances.
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