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What are the few areas small business owners can improve?
Marketing is important to every business’s survival. When it’s into small business, looking at competitors could lead the way. Find out what they are doing to attract customers and learn from competitors. Get testimonials – which is one way in which small business’ can attract more customers by getting reviews from people who have already done the purchases. Small business’ can put their reviews in multiple places including their website if they have one, so potential customers are sure to see them. Social media marketing for small business can improve the presence on social platforms. Post fresh and new content regularly on your social media pages. Small business owners have to go out to where the customers are, instead of waiting for them to come to them. Have people sign up for your emails and WhatsApp messages. Automate whatever you can in your business, it is a necessity in today’s competitive environment. Automating monotonous tasks saves time, in the long run it will cut costs, as well as increase business efficiency. Monitor trends, because no business operates in a vacuum. Events and changes in the global landscape will have an effect on your business. Even things that don't seem relevant on the surface might have an impact on what you do, so consider all possibilities. Running a small business is hard work but one that is worth the effort.
How can you transform from bad customer experience to best customer experience?
A positive customer experience is crucial to the success of every business because a happy customer is one who is likely to become a loyal customer and can help boost your revenue. The way we think about customer experience has a profound impact on how we look at our business as a whole. The two primary touch points that create the customer experience are People and Product. A positive customer experience promotes loyalty, helps retain customers, and encourages brand advocacy. When customers have a negative experience, what may resonate most is helping them feel heard, reassured, and valued. Whether your customer is unhappy with your brand or is voicing a concern, it's important to listen to what they have to say, be empathetic to their situation and use that information to resolve the problem. You have to analyse customer satisfaction survey results and identify rate and reasons for customer blend. We may ask customers for product or feature requests. Showing customers you are listening and caring about how they feel, and stepping up to restore their confidence in your company can work wonders to transform negative impacts into loyalty moments that power your brand. Create an emotional connect with your customers in order to capture customer feedback in real time.
What are the factors which increase positive customer experience thus resulting in repeat sale and word of mouth publicity?
A positive customer experience is crucial to the success of the business because a happy customer is one who is likely to become a loyal customer and can help boost revenue. The best marketing money can’t buy a customer who will promote your business for you — one who's loyal to your company, promotes your business through word-of-mouth marketing, and advocates your brand, product or service. It is important to know exactly who your ideal customer is. Understanding this will help you create a customer service experience that best serves them and fits their particular needs. Consumers expect the best, and they expect an excellent value. So continuously provide quality products and make sure that your customer believes that the product/service is really worth the price. Availability of the product or service is another major factor so always make sure that the demand is met. This helps the business to be aware of any hiccups in the process that needs to be corrected for future. Create a clear and structured system for communicating with the customers and vice versa so that it's easy for them to reach the business, receive their feedback and subsequently respond. It's always important to be sensitive so be sure to evaluate the resources, support and provide service in a timely and relevant manner.
What is the additional benefit a business can reap by being Tech savvy compared to a traditional model?
Technology has made it easy in processing daily business activities and routine tasks. Utilizing technology to the full potential is crucial for sustaining in the Covid-19 scenario. They can find solutions that allow a business to gain significantly better exposure than in the past, particularly for small scale business. A tech savvy company can implement cost-effective approach to maximize the exposure of the business, instead of relying on the classic and traditional marketing methods. They can use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube, etc. to promote their business, products, and services. A tech savvy company can definitely use tech means to get in touch with the customers, to consider their feedback and improve their business. They can also automate monotonous and time consuming tasks to bring more productivity. A tech savvy company can also make use of the online payment platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm etc. for money transactions along with credit or debit card facility for payments. They can solve the mobility issues through video conferencing platforms and develop the businesses in any part of the globe to interact with one another.
What creates a “Wow” feeling and provides a "Top of the mind" brand recall in the minds of the customer?
Today’s consumers have a wealth of resources at their fingertips. They can access an infinite number of customer reviews, blog posts, and competitor websites. A consumer’s buying decision largely depends on the type of products that they need to buy.
The consumers “Wow” factor largely remains with brand recall, clubbed with extreme customer satisfaction, and user experience and also for many consumers, the pricing also remains a “Wow” factor. If businesses can get the little things right, like enhancing the convenience for the customer, good customer grievance redressal, personalized service, timely services etc. they can generate and maintain a "Wow" element.
Can you advise me with general branding and marketing that any small business can use as a starting point?
Questioned by
Ashish Solanki, Uttar Pradesh
Is important to be different. Have a brand name that is unique and stands out. Great small businesses always succeed because they do one important thing more than anyone else. They listen to their customers. They take feedback from them and have a personal approach. Small Businesses grow due to the great service and word of mouth marketing with their existing customers. This can definitely help you begin your journey.
Can you advice me on how to cut down my investment in marketing and advertising. Considering the situation the profit margin is very less. Can you shed light on easy and simple ways to market it to a large audience?
Questioned by
Fatema nasir, Maharashtra
There are 2 simple and effective ways to have low cost advertising.
1. Facebook gives you the opportunity to reach 10,000 people for as low as Rs 500. Consider Facebook ads
2. If you know exactly who your target customers are and where they live, reach them with fliers, posters and other type of collateral which you know they will read
We are planning to start organic/chemical free jaggery production and marketing by taking one of the govt. jaggery park on lease for 5 years. We need guidance on marketing and export opportunities available.
Questioned by
Basavaraj, Karnataka
The market for organic jaggery is extremely backward in India at present, with few active brands and low penetration even among urban consumers. You can consider offering your products through online channels and organic food retailers. Some of the major organic food retailers include Farm2Kitchen, Big Basket, Best Organic, etc. Based on your basic orientation you can then start building your marketing strategy. To develop the right marketing strategy you need to consider who your potential customers are, where you are going to offer the products and what price you want to sell at? Focussing on solely one product and a strategy based only on short-term profit maximisation may not be advisable. If one product fails, there must be other alternatives to survive on. Focus on the main Ps of marketing. The Product - pure and organic, Price - competitive but at the same time justified for the premium quality, Promotion - create awareness about the product through online channels, Place - where the product will be offered, Packaging - an attractive packaging showing the benefits of pure jaggery.Export in itself is a very wide concept and lot of preparation is required from your side before starting an export business. To start an export business, the following steps may be followed: Establishing an Organisation, Opening a Bank Account, Obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN), Obtaining Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) Number, Registration cum membership certificate (RCMC), Selection of product, Selection of Markets, Finding Buyers, Sampling, Pricing/Costing, Negotiation with Buyers, Covering Risks through ECGC. Please visit the following link for in depth procedure and support: https://bit.ly/3i1K7Gi
How do I develop order service business?
Questioned by
Rajkumar, Uttar Pradesh
For the growth of the business you need to market your services. For marketing to work for your business you may follow these activities, step by step. Find the time - you have to free up time to invest back into your business. Set a goal for how many hours you want to invest in the growth of your business. Invest the time - don’t fall into the trap of tackling projects that have been occupying your time and effort for a long time but have little impact on your business. This is valuable time that could change the course of your business. Make a plan - think about what you want marketing to do for your business, how will you get there? Don’t over engineer your plan - Start small and take notes on what is working and what is not. Relationships first - when you take your business online you will be able to introduce yourself to new customers and re-introduce yourself to existing customers. Make sure that when you start opening this new channel up for your business, you have a system in place to organize your customer information so that each transaction and order is attached to your customer’s profile. If you set this up from the beginning, you will have a wealth of information that will help you get to know your best customers better and to market more efficiently in the future. Keep marketing - your marketing efforts should become part your business model, something that is ongoing and consistent. This consistency will help drive a flow of new leads. Additionally, share recent projects/works on your website and on social media that highlight your customer as well as your great work to keep your customers engaged.
I am selling nanotechnology based eco-friendly disinfectant sanitizer and coating. This is the best technology but still I'm not able to make people aware and not getting customers consistently.
Questioned by
Nitesh Singh, Maharashtra
The problem that you have is that you are selling a product , in which, the consumer is unaware that they need this product. Hence you must educate the customer through multiple channels on why your product is better than the competition. Also you must offer a competitive price point, if the customer has to pay an increase in price, that must be justified. Focus on purely mass educating the customer over the next 3-6 months and you will start to see an increase in sales. Another suggested tactic to use is to offer your products for free on a trial basis to customers you deem as potential large ticket customers. Get them using the product and have them see the Unique Selling Proposition (USP)'s first hand.
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