If you are looking to launch your startup in 2020, there are some fundamental aspects of the business that you need to get honed before you start trading. It’s vital that you are able to hit the ground running and compete with your rivals from the get-go.
It doesn’t matter whether you are an accountant providing bespoke services to IT contractors, whether you are a crafter or whether you are a blogger, you need to formulate a business plan to help your venture succeed. Read on to discover these three fundamentals for all entrepreneurs.
Funding
There’s nothing more important to a new venture than its funding. You must make sure that you have a well-crafted business plan to ensure that you can create a brilliant pitch for any potential investors. The bank would be the usual and most traditional funding route to go down.
This can be a great way to secure a professional business loan. Alternatively, you could have a go at pitching to a business angel. These individuals are experts in their field and are looking to invest their personal money into new ventures that they deem as profitable.
You may have to give away some equity but you could end up with a leading expert and a bank of contacts to help your business thrive. Ensure that you know your gross from your net and be prepared to have your figures scrutinized. With some well-coiffed attire and a strong and enthusiastic pitch, you could secure investment for your new venture.
Marketing
It’s important to surpass your reputation in the marketing stakes. Get online and harness the power of social media to expose your brand to the world. Here you can communicate with potential customers, honing a company voice that is informal and chatty rather than corporate and stuffy.
Your website needs to exude your brand and have a global reach. Employ the service of a company like ignitedigital.com and instruct them to carry out an audit of your site. They can then employ their best SEO wizards to ensure that the keywords you use for your content make your website appear higher up the Google rankings than your rivals.
Customer Service
Ensure that the customer service you provide is exceptional. Employ a strategy of under-promising and over-delivering to inspire customer confidence. If you know that you can get an item to your customer in two days, state that you’ll get it on their doorstep in three.
This way, when your customer gets the item that they are so desperate for a day early, it will appear that you have gone the extra mile. This will make them more likely to leave a positive review, enhancing your reputation and making them buy more items from you in the future.
Being an entrepreneur can be tough, but it can also be exciting and one of the best things that you can ever do professionally. Don’t get too overwhelmed and follow this guide to help you hit the ground running with your new venture.
