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8 Ways to Increase Small Business Sales
Starting a business gives you the opportunity to earn a living by doing something you love. Whether you’re launching a side hustle or giving up your day job to expand your startup, maximizing sales is an important way of increasing your success.
When you’re competing against larger businesses or more established brands, however, increasing sales and revenue can be tricky. To optimize your performance and boost profitability, take a look at these eight ways to increase small business sales:
1. Focus on SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a critical way of increasing your online visibility. When potential customers search for related keywords online, your web pages need to be the first thing they see. Statistics show that 75% of users don’t look beyond the first page of search results when using Google, which highlights just how important it is to get your web pages on the first page of search results.
Although it can take time to push your content up the rankings, getting on to the first page of search results isn’t as challenging as you might think. In fact, the right SEO strategy can help you to make consistent gains and then maintain your place on the first page.
2. Optimize Your Conversion Rate
Many small business owners prioritize the volume of online traffic that’s going to their website. Although this can be a good metric to track, it doesn’t necessarily equate to sales or revenue. You could receive 100,000 hits from unique users but if they don’t make a purchase or even engage with you, it isn’t going to affect your bottom line.
To combat this, it’s important to check your conversion rate and increase it. By generating targeted traffic, for example, you can ensure that the users who are visiting your site are the people who are most likely to make an inquiry or purchase. As a result, you’ll see your sales figures soar and your revenue increase accordingly.
3. Establish Your Brand
No matter what size your business is, it’s vital to have a clearly defined brand. Ideally, your brand should be formed well before you begin trading but it’s never too late to refine your brand values and message. As your business changes, your brand should evolve too, so be sure to make this a top priority when you’re making any decisions about your future commercial strategy.
A brand is an effective way to differentiate your business from your competitors. By upholding certain brand values, such as trust or integrity, you can connect with your target audience and set your organization apart from others in the industry. By doing so, you’re giving people a reason to engage with you and, therefore, creating a way of maximizing sales.
4. Email Marketing
The low-cost methodologies and the impressive success rate associated with email marketing make it a must-use tool for every company. For small businesses, however, the opportunity to engage with your target audience and the access to budget-friendly tools make email marketing a lucrative marketing option.
However, don’t assume that email marketing is easy. Although you can achieve fantastic results with this form of digital marketing, it requires experience and expertise to get it right. By working with reputable marketers, like lnpmediagroup.com, you can benefit from a bespoke strategy that works for your business and your target audience. With guaranteed results, detailed reports, and savvy retargeting, working with LPN Media Group can be the fastest and most effective way to transform your digital marketing ROI and boost sales.
5. Introduce New Payment Methods
When customers want to make a purchase, make it as easy as possible for them to do so! Whether the transaction is taking place in-store or online, it’s vital that there are no disruptions or distractions that could limit the individual’s progress through the sales funnel.
If you want to increase sales in an in-store environment, upgrading your equipment to facilitate a wider range of payment options could be a good idea. Similarly, using point-of-sale (POS) systems to increase flexibility can be a viable way to capitalize on potential sales.
When you’re optimizing eCommerce sales, accepting a wide range of payment options can help to differentiate your business from others out there. As well as facilitating transactions using common methods, such as Visa, Mastercard or PayPal, you could expand the options to include cryptocurrencies if you want to ensure you capture every potential sale.
6. Deliver an Omnichannel Experience
Customer journeys rarely involve just one device or digital touchpoint, which is why omnichannel functionality is becoming increasingly important. If a user visits your website on a laptop, for example, and then revisits your site via their smartphone, they should benefit from the same seamless user experience (UX). Similarly, if a customer engages with you over the phone and then contacts you again via live chat, they should receive the same attentive service and be able to access the same assistance.
Operating across multiple channels isn’t quite the same as being ‘omnichannel’. To deliver a truly omnichannel experience, you’ll need to ensure that the customer journey remains seamless at every potential touchpoint. By integrated the digital tools and systems you use, you can ensure that every customer engages with your brand across a variety of devices and channels.
7. Get to Know Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is critical to success, so don’t overlook the importance of market research. When you have in-depth knowledge of your audience and you know their needs, wants, and pain points, you can cater to them more effectively. Not only will your products or services provide more value, but your branding and marketing will become more impactful too.
Conducting regular market research activities gives you the opportunity to gather more data relating to your target audience, which can be used to create innovative strategies and inform your product or service development.
Once you have collated enough data, you’ll be able to create comprehensive buyer personas that represent your different prospects. By differentiating between these personas and ensuring that you have marketing strategies designed to appeal to each group, you can significantly increase engagement and sales.
8. Deliver Great Customer Service
Small business owners often assume that they can’t compete with large, enterprise-sized organizations, but this isn’t the case. There are plenty of areas in which smaller businesses can outperform larger conglomerates - and customer service is one of them.
Statistics show that 67% of customers would pay more to receive a better customer service experience, which highlights just how in-demand great customer care is. As a small business, you have the resources and capability to deliver outstanding customer care, particularly compared to the impersonal interactions often associated with enterprise-level businesses.
By capitalizing on this and making customer care a core value of your brand, you can see your sales skyrocket.
Increase Sales and Grow Your Business
As your sales increase, you’ll have the opportunity to expand and grow your business. By using your additional profits to reinvest in your business, you can increase your product or service range, explore new markets or even capture a larger share of the market. Whatever your commercial goals are, increasing sales now can give you the springboard you need to achieve them.
Meet The Author:
As a woman making her way to the top of the corporate ladder, Ella Woodward has the expertise and business knowledge to guide readers through the latest developments in the fast-paced business, financial and investment spaces. She has the contacts, instincts and insight to discover the latest deals, trades and organisations that are worth your time. Being in constant demand, she’s made this blog as a resource for you to see a small selection of the work she’s done over the years.
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