8 Best Practices For A Successful Small Business
1. Design Strong Branding And Logo
2. Post Consistent And Engaging Social Content
3. Form Relationships With Businesses
and Community Members
4. Build A Simple (But Mobile-Friendly) Website
5. Write Informative Blog Posts
6. Know What Makes You Different
7. Display Excellent Customer Service
8. Create A Solid Plan of Action
Whether or not you’ve already started your small business, this guide was created to help along your path to success. The information you’re about to read is coming from our own experiences as business owners and is only advice. They’re not written in any particular order, more of just a brain dump. Your success is ultimately up to you, but we hope these small business tips can help guide you along the way.
Strong Branding And Logos Build Credibility
Let’s start with the big one (and arguably one of the most important) - branding. It’s more than just your logo. Branding is the way you choose to represent and advertise your products. This includes your logo, and the fonts and color scheme you’ll use throughout your marketing process. It’s reflected in all aspects of your business from your business cards and marketing materials to your customer service style. Your branding should reflect who you are as a business, what you stand for, what makes you stand out, your personality, etc.
Your logo is the graphic of your business and needs to be simple enough to scale down in size but also should stand out and clearly explain what your business is/does. It needs to explain your business and what you offer, quickly, easily, and to the point. Depending on your business plan, your logo might be seen before people even know who you are, so make sure to follow best practices when designing your logo.
If you don’t feel capable of creating your own branding and logo, outsource it! Check for graphic designers locally before outsourcing online on sites such as Fiverr or Upwork. It’s great to support local businesses. For a list of reasons why you should support small businesses, check out our recent blog here.
If you want to tackle this yourself, it’s important to do market research first. Take time to research your competition and learn what makes them successful. Don’t steal or copy their ideas, but take notes and use them in a way that could benefit you.
With a strong brand, your customers are more likely to remember your business and will be more likely to support you. Once they’ve put their trust in you, they will hopefully continue to be loyal to your brand.
Want our help creating your own branding? Reach out to us and we’ll discuss a plan!
Consistent And Engaging Social Content Helps Grow Your Business
It doesn’t fully matter what you post as long as it is appropriate and relevant to your business.you need to be consistent. You should aim to post at least once or twice a day but do so in a way that doesn’t come off as spammy.
The content you post should be engaging so that others will stop, read it, and interact with it instead of scrolling past your posts. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, post polls, or anything that would be easy for someone to interact with. Use the answers you get to strategically plan how your business will move forward.
When posting on social media, make sure you know your target audience and are speaking directly to it. Your target audience will be the group of people broken into specific demographics and behaviors. For example, small business owners between the ages of 18 and 40. Your target audience are basically your potential customers so make sure you’re writing what they want and need to hear.
We like to follow the 80/20 rule when posting on social media. The 80/20 rule is basically that we post 80% of “filler” content such as shop updates, family photos, facts, etc. The other 20% is used for promoting specific products. In our experience, our most active days are Thursdays and Fridays so we try to post our advertisements later in the week and the other content in the beginning. That way we ensure we’re getting the most reach for our most important posts.
Print out a calendar and start drafting out ideas for social posts. If you’re stuck, see what others are posting that’s performing well and make it your own. Be sure to use pencil in case you need to make changes. Having a plan in front of our eyes helps us stay on track and we don’t have to spend time each day trying to figure out what to post. We even have a list of social media post ideas, hashtags, etc to assist us in social content planning. We definitely recommend you trying to do the same.
Grow Your Circle By Networking With Small Business Owners And Other Community Members
Visit the small businesses in your area and introduce yourself! If you’re feeling extra kind, ask them if there is anything they need or if you can do anything to help them. I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to do something extravagant, but simply sharing their business would help them so much and you barely have to do anything! For our blog on ways to support small businesses without spending any money, click here.
You should also try to attend events in your area so you can meet the people who make up your community. Events are a great place to network and meet new people in your area. You never know who you’ll meet, plus it’s always really fun to get out of the house. Don’t forget to bring business cards just in case!
It’s important for businesses to have a strong support system so be sure to support others in any way you can so you can in turn receive the same support back.
Word of mouth travels far and quickly so keep that in mind. One person tells another person how much they loved your book and then that person reads it and shares it again and again. That’s why it’s good to have numbers.
A Simple (But Mobile-Friendly) Website Houses All Your Important Information For Others To View At Any Time
Not only will a website help you rank in Google so that others can find your business more easily, but it also is a great way for people to find answers to their questions. You can use your website to sell your products online, give people your contact information, show off your portfolio, introduce your team, write blog posts, etc. The possibilities are endless.
If you’ve been to our website, you know that we have a lot of information on there. We have an about page where you can learn about who we are as a business and as people. You can see what we have for sale in our shop or view our portfolio of recent design work. You can request graphic and web service information or contact us about wholesale orders. We also write a blog where you can read about small business tips, our personal lives, supporting businesses, etc.
That brings us to our next tip…
Writing Informative Blog Posts Can Help Increase Website Traffic
By writing blogs that answer the industry-specific questions your target audience may have, you have a better chance at new leads finding your website. Think about it. Have you ever Googled a question and found the answer on a random website you’ve never heard of before? A lot of the time those answers are embedded inside blog posts. The better keywords you use, the better your chance of ranking and therefore increasing your website traffic.
That’s exactly the purpose of this blog (and most of the other blogs we write). We did a simple search of “small business” and then used predictive text to figure out keyword options. We found that “small business tips” was very popular. To confirm its numbers, we used a keyword research tool to find the search volume. They held up so we also included other keywords in our titles and headings to help Google find this post. In time, we did decide to go a slightly different direction with the post, but we’re still using those keywords in our text so the blog still has the chance to rank.
Knowing What Makes You Different Is A Great Way To Market Your Business
People don’t support businesses solely because of their products. People support businesses for their messages because they like what they stand for.
For example, Girl Scout cookies. You know what I mean. You’re walking out of the grocery store minding your own business and then all of a sudden, a cute voice asks you if you would like to purchase any Girl Scout cookies. You don’t necessarily need them since you already bought too many snacks at the store, but how could you say no to supporting a little girl’s dreams?
You’d probably be more likely to support a pet shop that gives a percentage of each sale to your local animal shelter than a chain pet store, right? Exactly. You’re getting the things you want/need, but you’re also doing good and we all know it feels good to do good.
Providing Excellent Customer Service Is Simple But Effective Step In Gaining And Maintaining Customers
Small businesses really have an advantage when it comes to customer service so it’s best to make sure you’re utilizing these skills as a way to gain and maintain customers.
For all my online e-commerce businesses, you don’t get to see the customer face-to-face, but you still have a chance to leave a lasting impression. Here’s what we like to do:
Offer a discount card that doubles as a free art print in every purchase
Include a business card in the order so people remember who they purchased from and can easily post it with the products they order if they choose to share
Make sure everything is packaged nicely and safely to prevent breaking during shipping. (Unfortunately this still happens sometimes so be sure to take care of those claims if you are unlucky enough to receive one).
If you have a physical business location, make sure you put on your best smile while you’re as friendly and helpful as you’ve ever been no matter the customer. You know the drill. Talk to them. Get to know them.
I’m sure you’ve been somewhere you’re likely not to return to simply because the staff wasn’t friendly or helpful. Customer service is a huge influence on a person’s willingness to support you so make sure you’re doing your very best.
Planning Is Key In Saving Time And Being Successful
Listen. Take it from us on this one. You really do need to plan for everything even if you think you’ve got this. In 2021, we didn’t have much of a plan. We just did things as we went and that wasn’t the answer. Our plan was to wing it and go with the flow. It worked, but we didn’t get the results we wanted.
We didn’t receive the engagement because we rushed things most of the time. We didn’t get the sales we were hoping for because we didn’t sit down and plan out any new products until it was too late. We missed out on a lot because of our lack of planning and we don’t want that to happen to anyone else.
This year, we’re planning everything because we want to do things right. We’re planning social media posts two months out. We’re working on products we’re going to launch months down the road. We’re working on social media graphics we’ll need for important posts such as sales and launches. We’re drafting our blogs months in advance so we don’t have to rush to finish them. We’re keeping our eyes and ears peeled for events we could be a part of and planning accordingly for those. We make lists about anything and everything so we don’t forget any ideas we have. When we say we have lists, we have probably 10 random lists going at all times. Anyway, you get the point. Planning really is important to a small business. It will help you look more well put together and organized which makes others take you more seriously.
We’re not going to continue without a plan. We’re staying on top of things to make the workload less chaotic and stressful. We’re doing it the right way this time and we recommend you do the same.
Even if it’s simple, make a plan.
Conclusion
These are things we’ve learned in our two years of business that we think every business owner, whether present or future, should know. From as simple as planning to as complex as your branding guidelines, this blog is something we are so proud to share. We hope you found our advice helpful and come up with ways to put it to use. We are always here to help guide and answer questions you may have, so feel free to reach out if you ever need to.
Also as a special thank you for reading this blog, take 10% off your next order with promo code: “BLOG10”!