It can be challenging for businesses to survive in an already overcrowded marketplace. According to a study by Ormsby Street, small business survival rates are as high as 91% after one year of trading. However, after five years just four out of ten small businesses will still be trading. Huge budgets might take the lion’s share when it comes to brand visibility, but there’s still room for brands to build successful companies and withstand the test of time. Here are some top tips from our Luxury Lifestyle PR Team.
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Focus On Your USP
Every business has a unique selling point. It’s a matter of choosing which one adds the most value to your successful business. For example, recently in the equestrian world, we saw a well-known brand announce that they were closing their doors after several decades. In their official announcement, they blamed an overcrowded market, rising labour and raw material costs and the ‘need it now’ culture. However, we see quite the opposite. The bespoke premium brands we represent are thriving and surviving in this evolving world of consumer buying habits.
So, how come our clients are winning?
There are many different elements that go into making a business successful (definitely way too many to include in this blog). But clearly communicating your USP to your consumers is imperative. We ensure that, throughout our client’s social media marketing and PR, their key USP is repeated consistently. Repeated messaging done in a creative/funny/intelligent way (depending on your brand’s tone of voice) allows you to get your point across subtly.
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Build A Reputation For Delivering Great Customer Care
We cannot stress how critical good customer care is to the health of your successful business model. We don’t just mean from the sales side but also from how you communicate and interact with people across your social channels. Responding in a timely fashion to comments or messages is so important as it can help nurture existing customer relationships and build new ones. Ignoring remarks or not even noticing follows from significant influencers will not enhance your image online.
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Keep An Eye On Your Competitors
While we wouldn’t suggest copying your competitors (after all your USP is different from theirs, right?) We do, however, recommend keeping an eye on the competition. We watch our client’s competitors. Looking at success and failures among businesses can be valuable to your own marketing strategy and business plans.
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Cash Flow
If you’re not good with money, make sure you have someone who can help you budget and plan your cash flow. Being assertive when it comes to invoicing on time and ensuring that invoices are paid is crucial for any successful business to survive. Who you choose to do business with is your decision, so do your company and credit checks with new business enquiries to help reduce the chances of getting entangled with bad debtors. Having clear payment terms is also imperative.
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Invest Back Into Your Brand
To grow your brand successfully, you have to invest back into your company. Choosing areas to invest in can feel overwhelming (especially when you are on a tight budget). You need to prioritise on what gives your brand the greatest value and what sucks the life out of you, both money and time-wise. Our clients have chosen to invest in their brands by appointing us. This frees up their time to concentrate on selling instead of trying to be superhuman. Spreading yourself too thinly across too many areas also dilutes your impact. Our clients see us as an essential part of their team, and we feel the same.
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Evolve With Your Brand
You really loved those shoes five years ago and wore them to death – They live in the back of your wardrobe, and you haven’t worn them for the past two years.
What’s this got to do with my successful business? (I don’t sell shoes)
Well, just like your favourite pair of shoes, sometimes we just move on from not only fashion, but also business trends. Embrace change and be prepared to evolve, or even tweak, your business to fit with changing times and keep up with other country brands UK.
