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11 Key Business Assets & Strategies That Are Commonly Underused

Running a business is one of the most rewarding things you can do. But every business owner knows there are some struggles that come with starting a new business.

To create a successful business, you first need to have a great idea, service or product. But even the most innovative ideas fail when they aren’t properly marketed.

That’s why one of the most important things a business needs to do is stand out and find a way to share how exactly they are unique.

If you want your business to thrive in the modern era, utilizing its best assets to their full potential is essential. You probably think that you are already doing this. However, the harsh reality is that most companies are guilty of falling short in some very important areas.

A conscious effort to pinpoint your shortfallings will give you the best chance of rectifying the situation. Do better with the 11 key assets below, and your business will move from surviving to thriving.

1. Business Website

Virtually every business now has a website, but very few make the most of this valuable resource. It is your digital shop window, which is why a solid design should be at the top of your agenda. With the right copywriting work, it can gain engagement from prospective customers to boost brand awareness and sales.

Moreover, a strong SEO presence will give you a professional brand image that secures increased traffic and customers. 

A static, uninspired website will no longer suffice.

2. Employees

Running a successful business is far too much work for one pair of hands. As such, assembling a great team of employees is one of the most important challenges you’ll ever face. However, you also need to ensure that they continue to develop.

You can learn about LMS to take control of the situation. By ensuring that employees maintain relevant business skills, productivity will continue to soar.

Conversely, allowing them to become outdated will allow competitors to take advantage.

Read also: How to Use an LMS to Develop Soft Skills in The Workplace

3. Digital Presence

The best way to connect with consumers is through digital marketing.

Online direct marketing has completely changed the way we think about how businesses achieve success. If you’re not using your digital presence to your advantage you will be left behind.

However, knowing how to create a digital strategy that is both relevant and scalable can be difficult if you’re not super familiar with digital strategies of marketing.

If you feel like you don’t know where to turn, you can always take some courses about online marketing, or partner with a digital innovation agency. These companies are set up to help you create and manage your online brand.

Your digital brand should be clear and easy to find on all major social media platforms.

You should also have cohesive social media handles when possible, and know exactly what tone you want to take across these platforms.

Without a clear understanding of these principles, and the know-how to sustain your digital presence, you’ll seem inaccessible or behind the times to your customers.

When you don’t target your campaigns towards your customers, they will start to look elsewhere for solutions.

4. Premises

Office spaces, warehouses, and factories are just some of the workplace settings that your business may use. In reality, you might not need their full size on a 24/7 basis.

As such, ideas like co-sharing the office spaces by renting them out to another small business can make a world of difference. Further capital can be reclaimed through hiring out equipment and resources that are not used on a regular basis.

Allowing the assets to sit collecting dust would be a wasted opportunity.

Also read: 5 Benefits of Asset Management for Businesses

5. Customers

Winning new customers is hard work, not least because consumers take your words with a pinch of salt. Thankfully, if you already boast a loyal fanbase, this can be your greatest asset for winning new clients.

Check out how to run a successful affiliate program to use the power of recommendation to your advantage.

Alternatively, you can reach out to social influencers, who can have an even bigger impact. Their content will not go unnoticed.

When supported by testimonials, your brand’s trust ratings will soar.

Since customers have had to adapt to the global climate shift, the way that they engage with businesses has also shifted. Whereas most customers preferred to shop in-store, they were pushed to shop online and, as a result, call centers became more necessary to deal with the overflow of customer enquiries and feedback.

This method of customer contact, now shifted, will probably result in less people returning to physical stores for complaints that are simple to resolve. This means a high investment into skilled customer services agents that can work remotely, either online or via phone, will be crucial going forwards. 

6. Fleet Management

We all see how the likes of Deliveroo and Uber lead the way in utilizing peoples’ self-propelled work ethic to create a fleet of transport vehicles.

Using Amazon as a model, however, where you own your own fleet, is much more cost-effective in the long term and while you subsume the risk, you can ensure your profits are maximized as a result.

Using a fleet management platform means you can reduce your spend at the same time as improving your efficiency, which gives you more time to focus on product improvement and development. 

7. Social Media

Customers are using a variety of different contact methods to report back on their shopping experiences. As a result, now is the best time to up your social media game and start creating content, engaging with your audience and, most importantly of all, responding to customer enquiries.

While the rate of contacts ending in sales, as a ratio, is lower than an in-person shopping experience, you can really find out about how your audience is shaping up using social media analytical tools. These tools are powerful when it comes to improving engagement tactics and aiding in product development.

Since feedback is always required as part of any service or product creation cycle, this is a really good way to find out the answers you need while promoting your product/service at the same time.

8. Capital

When managing your business, you always look for ways to increase your revenue. But profit is a two-way street. As such, you should pay equal attention to your spending.

From price comparisons on insurances and energy rates, small savings soon add up. Habitual changes like losing lengthy team meetings can work wonders too. When your time and money is used to their full potential, the impacts on your entire business model are huge.

If nothing else, it removes a weight of stress when looking at your revenue.

Read also: 12 Bold Business Moves You Can Make Before The End of The Year

9. Competition

The next thing you need to do is examine your competition’s marketing. It won’t help your company to be blind to what others in your field are doing.

It may feel strange to closely analyze your competitors, but the truth is you need to see what customers are not getting from other services and messages, and then offer that.

Then you will be able to tap into a part of the market your competitors aren’t fulfilling.

You also want to examine how companies in your industry are presenting themselves so you can avoid doing something too similar to their strategy.

If your business and has a marketing strategy or campaign too similar to a rival’s, it can backfire. This can lead to negative or unwanted brand associations or give the impression that your business lacks originality.

10. Giving Back to the Community

You can easily identify ways to support your community, either geographically local to you or the community of followers you have online.

Whether you view selfless actions as a publicity maneuver or an act of kindness, there is no denying the exposure that they usually bring. Speak to your customers, find out what charities or activities they support, and see if there is a way you can give back.

On a wider level, you could look at the possibility of lowering your carbon footprint by improving manufacturing or switching out plastic packaging with an eco-friendly alternative, contributing to broader efforts to achieve net zero emissions.

11. Accessibility

Lastly, if you really want to have successful marketing, it’s essential to make communication with your brand easy to access. It should never feel like a chore for customers to find information or to get in contact with your company.

Clever marketing is fun, but at the the end of the day if design trumps your website’s usability, you’ve missed the mark. Find the balance between playful and fun marketing and the ability to easily provide information to your customers.

The faster your customers can access the information they want, the fewer barriers there are to a sale.

Clear information about your goods and services directly translates to dollars for your business. Whatever way you choose to market, make sure you haven’t lost sight of what the customer needs to know along the way.

In The End…

The best marketing uses a combination of these assets to target their customers and embrace their unique voice. Great marketing can help you take your business to new heights and let it grow to its fullest potential.

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