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Starting a business is no easy task. You've done your market research, drafted your business plan, registered your business, sourced supplies and products and plan production and distribution efforts. Now, you're wondering. What are the next steps?
Once you've created your product or service, it's now time to think about the steps to make before you start planning for your business launch. How do you execute and plan a successful business launch? What are the things that you must have first before doing so? We've gathered three essential things that you need to have before your business launch.
1. Brand Identity
Starting a business means you're going to have to create an identity for your company and the products you are selling. This is what your target market and customers are going to identify you with, and it's important to establish this identity through your products, marketing and tone of voice in the content you are putting out as well.
According to proofofbranding.com, "Consumer attention span is wearing thin. Really thin. With the barrier-to-entry lower than ever, our market is inundated with eager startups, sub-brands, and struggling legacy businesses all trying to make a name or keep a name for themselves. A strong brand identity is no longer a cool luxury, but crucial for businesses to differentiate themselves from crowded shelves and noisy categories."
You're going to need a strong brand identity to stand out, earn customers and keep those customers' attention on you for longer. We recommend creating a brand style guide that outlines all the rules and regulations to keep a consistent identity.
2. Social Media Platform
Let's be real, gone are the brick-and-mortar traditional business building tactics, because electronic commerce has taken over. If you are business and you don't have online presence, you might not actually exist at all. It's crucial to set up your online presence before your business launch because this is how you are going to attract customers for the most part and how people are going to be finding out about you.
According to this article from sturdybusiness.com, "To help you understand why businesses are moving online, let’s start with this crazy fact. In research, it’s found that 88% of American buyers use online search before completing their purchase.
That means even if someone makes an in-store purchase or purchases online, 9 out of 10 buyers search online about the product."
"It could be articles, reviews, videos, or any form of content that helps them decide depending on product nature. For instance, if a user is looking for gadgets, he prefers reading reviews and learning about specifications. And when it’s about decoration, he must be searching for designs on Pinterest. On the other hand, car buyers love to watch video content."
"In short, whatever a buyer is purchasing, the buyer wants to get familiar with those products first and look for the best depending on online suggestions."
There's no getting out of this one. We recommend establishing at least two main social media platforms to leverage your business on. Content creation is a crucial part in maintaining these platforms so plan ahead before your launch and create a content calendar for at least the next two months.
3. Marketing and Advertising Plans
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Third and last thing you need to have in place before your business launch, you're going to need a marketing strategy and advertisement plan in place. Whether you are focusing on online or offline marketing techniques, draft and outline a plan on how you are going to get your business out on the map to be able to get leads and attract customers.
According to lifemarketing.com, "Marketing helps you reach and connect with your target audience and ultimately is how you will grow your business in the long run. A well-planned digital marketing strategy will help your brand highlight your strengths and how better you are than your competitors. When presenting your brand online, it’s important that you don’t do something that doesn’t resonate with your target audience."
Coupled with your market research and analysis, build upon the information that you've gathered and outline a plan to get people to buy into whatever product or service you are selling. You should evaluate your goals and the "why" of your business and be able to identify what steps to take to outline how your path is going to look like to achieve those goals.
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