Business Start-Ups
When it comes to Business Start Ups, I am not quite sure if it has become seriously easy to start a business or nigh on impossible, one thing is for sure though you will need every ounce of Internet savvy you can muster.
Let’s look at some of the most basic digital trends you will need should you decide to go for it and branch out on your own.
Websites
There is a question mark as to whether you actually need a website today, maybe just a Facebook or Instagram profile will do. However, a website will have some advantages (and disadvantages too). The key is Investment – do you keep costs at rock bottom or do you invest real money?
Obviously, it depends on what your business idea is, but crucially deciding on the best answer for your business idea could well make or break you.
If you are thinking of selling Widgets then you’ll need an eCommerce website and that suggests you might look at the lower cost end of www.shopify.com or the higher end of a creative digital agency to build you something in Magento, Netsuite or BigCommerce. What I can tell you is that most of these systems have become far more complex than they ever used to be. Also, you will need to have banking details and possibly articles of incorporation to hand if you want to create a truly awesome website.
However, for most businesses, and I am talking Tradesmen, Lawyers, Doctors etc a simple website with just a few pages and contact details is probably all that will be needed.
I have one further recommendation for you – a dumping ground – we should not withhold ourselves from the opportunity of being able to write what we want when we want it. What Social Media cannot do is mix stuff up… whereas even the simplest of Blogs can have Videos, embed Twitter posts, and reference Instagram, in short only a website you control can mix everything up.
A basic website need not cost the earth, a couple hundred pounds should be more than enough, but also having some sort of idea of what you want will help drastically.
Blogs
All too frequently we are asked to build a website and then asked – how can I ‘sell’ myself or my business – how can I get recognised.
Our answer all too frequently is – write about it.
99 times out of a hundred sales are made through Word Of Mouth, people recommend things to us all the time and we buy accordingly… this happens with increased frequency within larger and larger businesses, in fact, there’s every chance you are wanting to start your own business because you have some clients lined up that will employ you having heard about you from your previous work.
You are the expert in the field you have chosen, So why is there so much resistance to Blogs and writing articles that will actually help people? All that happens when you write a Blog is that your expertise and knowledge are shared and appreciated. You have no idea how it will be taken.
Whether selling shoes online or advising criminals how to escape prison if you write about your expertise will become known. or we could put this another way if nothing is written down, no one will know what you do.
Blogs are invaluable. And if you prefer not to have a website – then at least have a Blog or failing that at least have a ‘repository for your thoughts’, that could even be an Instagram account.
Strangely, at the time of writing this article Email is ‘hot’ and profitable. If you can contact the right group of people via email it will resonate and your new Business Start Up will factor in their thinking.
How can I make the case for email – think of a Brand – well they have a Newsletter and they spend thousands on their Email activities, so it must work.
Get into the habit of sending or maintaining an Email List early, it does two things, a) it organises your data for you, so you have a record of who your customers are and b) it will grow and over time it will become ever increasingly important.
Social Media
Having established that your Business Start-Up does not need a website, a simple Instagram account will do, there is literally nothing wrong with this mentality. All a website does anyway is provide a way for people to see what you are up to and how to contact you. However often have you just needed to contact someone and looked up something on the Internet.
Social Media is cheap on the purse, but seriously expensive on time, make no mistake – you’re probably wanting to gain followers, add videos and do things the cool way unless you are a natural marketeer this is all very hard work, but because it all revolves around you – it’s by and large free. Just get your phone out.
My only recommendation here is to be social, use your social media accounts for more than just pumping out product updates, use it for customer services, respond to people and join in conversations. It’s a lot more entertaining and it will broaden your appeal drastically.
My last consideration here, I truly hope the Business you are starting up is one that you know a thing or two about. My reason for bringing this up at this point of my Blog Post is that all too often clients don’t join in their Social Media conversation for the simple reason they don’t actually know the pros and cons of their services and products – you have to wonder sometimes.
Advertising
I actually wanted to call this section Advertising vs SEO – SEO is something anyone can do, mostly by doing all of the above as it happens. But there is no need to pay for SEO when you first start a business. All that will happen is that you will fork out a load of money for your website visitors to go from 10 a month to 20, or 30… SEO takes time and while double-digit growth is nice it will take time to reach the thousands.
Better to put some investment in immediate Traffic and for that to happen that means Google Ads (formerly Adwords).
Google Ads remains to this day the benchmark of all advertising especially digital, more so than Facebook, Instagram or any other kind and I will explain. Google Ads sets the ‘cost-per-conversion’. Decide what you want, an Enquiry or a Sale, what constitutes the moment where the ‘money’ comes off the Internet and into your Bank and then work out what it costs for that to happen.
With Google it could be anything from £10 per gardening job enquiry to £400 for an exclusive contract, it might be £3 per eCommerce sale or it might be £1000’s if you’re selling Business Office Space in Central London.
Whatever the amount is – it will be the benchmark from which all other digital advertising takes it’s mark. If you can achieve £10 per sale on Google Ads it might be £15 on Facebook Ads, £18 on Instagram, £24 on LinkedIn etc.
Your work then becomes working out how to advertise sensible across all platforms to make a profit.
Conclusion
Business Start-Ups need not be too complicated – sure you have to decide if you will be a Sole Trader or set up a Limited company or need VAT – there are a few legal steps required and then there are the financial hoops to jump, and you’ll need bit money in the bank and possible a business plan for that.
But when it comes to Digital – you’ll need an email address, some Social Media Profiles and possibly a Domain Name and website.
I would suggest a website gives some credibility to a new business, it shouldn’t do, but banks often ask for it, so getting a low-cost website is generally a good first step.
At NCompass we put business on the Internet and have done for years, however, the right tool for the right job is our most important guidance, we also strongly believe in building a digital presence that suits the size of the business from the start and that usually means keeping it small. As I was told at the beginning – get the sales in – even before you have your first business card printed.