When you’re just starting to build your business, you’d likely hear a lot of people giving advice on how to make it grow and prosper. Now there are a lot of factors that go into building a successful business, and it’s not always because of the right marketing plan. You’ll need to have a solid strategy and clear direction, in addition to products or services of good quality.

Let these strategies help you achieve the goal of building a successful business.

Start with a detailed plan

A plan keeps all your goals in perspective, hence, it should be as detailed and in-depth as you can make it. Set a target and establish measurable goals, and include any opportunities that you’ve identified. However, while a plan is essential to setting up a successful business, it’s also equally essential to be flexible enough to adjust to changes whenever necessary.

Understand your consumer base

Understanding your consumer base includes finding out where they are coming from and how they came to hear about your business. Simply by asking your customers, “How did you find out about us?”, you’ll be able to gather relevant data that you can use to plan out succeeding marketing strategies aimed at effectively attracting new customers. This empowers you, as it gives you control over what you can do in terms of customer acquisition.

Observe competing businesses

A solid and successful business is built upon the trust of customers. In order to ensure that customers keep coming back, you’ll need to offer them more than what competitors can. To do this, it’s necessary to observe how your industry competitors run their own respective businesses, and study how you they are able to satisfy the needs of their own customer base.

Evaluate the customer demographics that your competitors are serving, determine their advertising methods, inspect their product quality in terms of materials used and additional services offered, and get an understanding of their pricing. By keeping up with what your competitors in the business are doing, you’re also staying abreast of any new strategies that can help your business to grow bigger and more successful.

Be visible and network

Starting a business requires going out there and meeting people, both possible business partners and customers. This is what trade shows, industry events, and networking groups are for. Until you’ve established a name for your business, professional networking is a must. Not only will it give you the leverage to create your own word-of-mouth and set the ball rolling on promoting your entrepreneurial efforts, it would also allow you to tout the benefits of either using your products, or working with you in the future.

Make use of traditional and modern marketing methods

There are benefits to utilising traditional marketing methods and benefits to employing modern marketing methods, as well. Mix the best practices from both to come up with a marketing strategy that can expand your business radar and reach as many prospective customers as possible.

Using public relations to your advantage can also put word of your new business out there, and get more people to pay attention to your company and the products and services that you’re offering.

Stay updated

Similar to how a pulse oximetry sensor can give you accurate and up-to-date readings when correctly attached, so too will regularly monitoring the market for any new products and trends. Simply put, you’ll need to always anticipate the next big thing in order to stay abreast and relevant.

This can be done through regularly monitoring new products coming out in the market, as well as reading trade websites and magazines. A successful business can stay on top of new trends and adapt accordingly to the adjusting needs of your consumer base.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re just starting to launch your product or business. Refrain from over-analysing even the tiniest details, and start by focusing on a few simple steps in order to have a solid foundation on which to grow your company.

Further reading on building a successful business

• Top tips for making your small business a big success

The 9 point business success plan

If you have ever lain awake at night worrying about a customer who hasn’t paid up or a troublesome employee, then a 9-point plan devised by accountant and business adviser PKF could be just what you need.

PKF has produced some helpful tips on how to deal with cashflow problems, staff disputes, tax concerns or anything business-related that might otherwise keep you up at night:

1. Share the problem with others; a board member, partner, member of senior management or even a friend who can give impartial advice or support. Remember, a problem shared is a problem two people have.
2. Make a plan by breaking the problem down into smaller, more manageable parts that can be tackled more easily. This can make the problem appear less daunting.
3. Check your insurance policies, as many areas, including employment and the Inland Revenue, can be covered by some policies.
4. Take advice from others who may be more knowledgeable or experienced in the area causing you concern.
5. Be realistic and don’t set impossible deadlines or make promises or commitments that you won’t be able to keep. This will just make the problem worse.
6. Talk to the other party involved, whether it be the bank, the taxman or an employee. Let them know that you are working to resolve the problem, but, again, do not make any promises unless you are sure you can keep them.
7. Keep going until the problem is resolved.
8. If the problem is taking up a lot of your time, don’t let your business suffer. If possible delegate some of your daily tasks to give you time and space to focus on the problem in hand.
9. Learn from your mistakes and don’t let the same situation arise again. If necessary, introduce processes that will prevent similar situations occurring again.