startup ideas

Once you get your startup up and running, you will need to work just as hard to keep it afloat. Hard work doesn’t necessarily mean running up and down looking for finances to grow it. It simply means finding strategies that work with what you have. For instance, did you know that some of the best ways to improve your business are budget-friendly or even free? Yes, let us share some action steps or ideas that you can pick and implement without spending a lot of money.

Increase your business visibility through social media

Social media is everything these days. It is impossible to thrive using traditional forms of media solemnly. With over 3.6 billion social media users, the tools offer great opportunities for startups to tap into. To maximize on the different platforms, you will need to do some research to figure out what social media platforms your target audience uses. For example, more senior people are active on Facebook than Instagram. Once you choose your platform(s), make sure to post relevant content, and stay active. You can have someone dedicated to answer all questions or address complaints and concerns.

Motivate your team

Many startups spend a lot of money hiring and training new employees. If you are looking to grow your business, this is one cost that you should get rid of. Try to understand what motivates your employees to work smarter and more productively. While most employers think money is a great motivator, it is not the case. Some of the ways to motivate your employees without spending a dime include:

  • Creating a safe space like break rooms, gyms areas for them to distress, relax and bounce back from tough work demands
  • Entrusting them with more responsibilities like leading product pitches etc.
  • Incorporating the work at home policy or offering flexing leave schedules
  • Providing opportunities for growth, like training scholarships
  • Maintaining open communication

Improve your business tech 

Technology is everything in business these days. With the proper technology, you can meet diverse customer needs, fasten business operations, target audience segments effectively, and increase productivity and revenue. While you might not be able to hire full-time employees to handle your IT needs, you can outsource the services at a lower cost. Find a Managed IT services partner that has a reputation in providing real-time issue resolution to organizations on a budget. Remember, tech is supposed to make you far more efficient. So you need to work with a company that offers real-time solutions without delays that will hurt services.

Focus on Customer relations

Your customers are your greatest asset. It is your duty to keep them happy at all times. Keep in mind that it costs five times more to obtain a new customer than to retain an existing one. Getting it right with your customer saves you a lot of time and money. Some of the simple ways to foster relations include listening to them, offering solutions, addressing their complaints or concerns, providing extra perks, and having diverse payment plans backed with excellent customer service.

Maximize on Content marketing 

Did you know that companies with blogs have better marketing results than those without? Yes, it is estimated that any company with a business blog gets 55%more visitors, 97% more inbound links, and 434% more indexed pages. I am sure you are wondering how these translate to sales. Well, it might interest you to know that 47% of buyers view at least 3-5 pieces of content before buying. If these stats are anything to go by, you might want to start blogging. Ensure to put up creative, educational, and quality content. Learn about SEO techniques that can help increase your company’s visibility, command trust, and gain customers’ trust.

Adapt and stay on top of trends

To maintain startup agility, you need to be aware of what’s happening in the world around you. It is the only way you can spot crucial growth opportunities or revamp your business operations. Luckily you don’t need to step out of your day to day operations to find those opportunities. As an entrepreneur in the bootstrapping phase, you can:

  • Leverage on your local network
  • Conduct regular surveys with your target market
  • Subscribe to new sites that focus on your area

As you do all these, remember the goal should be to provide value to your customer? This means if you need to change or add certain things to your product to meet customer needs, you should do it!

Market your business consistently

Promoting a business consistently doesn’t’ mean dishing out money. Every entrepreneur should look at promotions as a way of giving something valuable to their customers. It could be providing solutions through the “how-to” content or giving offers to help them cut costs. Try to highlight available offers, coupons product features, and promotions in your email footers, invoices, and email signatures. Such techniques are not only free, but help grow your business.

Wrap up

There are many other great techniques to improve your startup, including using referrals, upgrading your sales funnel, and planning your finances, etc. You can use these strategies simultaneously or concurrently, depending on your needs and goals.

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.