Did you know that 50% of businesses fail within the first five years? Every business starts out in an uphill battle. However, it’s important to know what a normal struggle is versus a sign that things need to change.
But what steps can you take towards a more profitable business, especially if your budget is already tight? Is there a way to grow your business beyond what you thought was possible, or even save it if it’s on the brink of failure?
Yes, you absolutely can do all of those things. Keep reading to find out how.
Tips for a More Profitable Business
Building a more profitable business will take time, effort, and yes, even some money. However, if you do enough research and educate yourself, you’ll be able to do most of the work yourself.
Let’s start with the basics.
1. Do Some Current Market Research
First, whether it was a year ago or 10 years ago when you first opened up shop, things have probably changed in your industry. The market research you did (hopefully) when creating a business plan is likely different now.
Start fresh by researching the specs of your industry and comparing and contrasting your company to some of the other local companies like yours.
How are they fairing? What are they doing differently than you?
If your new market research shows that everyone in your industry is failing, it might be time for a change. For example, don’t go down with the ship trying to sell VHS tapes in 2019!
2. Reassess Your Operating Procedures
Next, for a more profitable business, you may need to take a good hard look at how you do things. Perhaps your industry isn’t going out of style, but the way you run it is.
Once again, look at wildly successful companies that are like yours both in your area and all over America. How are they killing it in today’s market?
3. Have an Analytic Company Take a Look at Your Numbers
Another important tip for a more profitable business involves getting some expert financial help. Yes, this will cost you some money upfront, but it will benefit you greatly in the months and years to come.
Consulting with an analytic advisor might just be the kick in the pants you need to turn things around. What they find may be a warning that you’re destined to go under if things don’t change. It’ll be hard to hear, but it may save your company.
They’ll also take a look at your incoming and outgoing numbers and tell you where you can save money. They will also set you up with a monthly budget to help you stay on top of things.
You can see here what else an analytic company can do for you.
4. Start Networking with Other Businesses
Building a more profitable business also means learning how to affiliate with other businesses. Sign up with local networking agencies as well as online groups. These are relatively inexpensive to join and expose you to hundreds if not thousands of opportunities.
You can affiliate with companies by promoting each other’s businesses for free or a percentage of revenue based on referrals. There are countless options for how to build mutually beneficial business relationships.
5. Make Sure Your Website Is Pristine
Is your website up to date and user-friendly? Is it pretty? Is it full of SEO content?
If you answered no to any of those questions, you need to correct the situation immediately. In today’s digital age, your website is the face of your company. If your website stinks, so will you in the eyes of consumers.
6. Boost Your Social Media Following
Next, a great way to make a more profitable business is by creating more brand awareness through social media. You should have at least one social media account, we recommend starting with Facebook.
If you already have a personal profile, you can link your business profile to it. Then, you can request all of your personal followers to like and follow your business page. From there, you must learn how to post engaging and relevant material to build more followers.
7. Lock Down Your Local SEO
Speaking of SEO, do you have your local search engine optimization locked down?
When people use search engines to find products and services like yours, SEO is what determines how easily they find your company based on location and relevant content on your website.
At a minimum, make sure your website has your address and contact information, a blog with articles pertaining to your industry and what you do, and multiple forms of media (pictures, videos, articles, infographics, graphs, etc.).
8. Make Small Mark-Ups on Your Prices
If you’re in the retail industry, a small mark-up on your products may be a way to encourage a better profit margin. However, you must be careful not to get greedy here. Raising prices too drastically will cause a major fallout in your current clientele.
However, if your prices are so low that they’re putting you out of business, raise them to where they need to be and be prepared for the fallout but drive for new customers.
9. Learn How to Make Tough Decisions
Another important step toward a more profitable business is cutting away anything holding you back. It could be a product, an operating structure, employees, a business partner, etc.
However, if those things or people are killing your business, make the tough decision to cut them loose.
10. Explore New Marketing Strategies
Never stop learning to be better. Every time you employ a new sales, marketing, or business strategy, you learn. Even if fails terribly, you’ve learned an important lesson.
In terms of marketing, not all companies and industries call for the same type. You need to identify your target audience and find a way to market to them specifically. Here are some suggestions on marketing strategies:
- Organic and paid social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Landing page marketing
- Pay per click marketing
- Content marketing
- Local marketing (radio, TV, direct mail)
- Event marketing (host a tradeshow, charity run, etc.)
11. Set Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly Goals
Finally, almost all successful people have a singular thing in common – they set goals for themselves.
To make a more profitable business, set goals and make them happen. You need both short and long-term goals to keep things on the horizon yet be able to enjoy small victories. We recommend weekly, monthly, and yearly goals.
Write them down and put them in a place you’ll be forced to see them every day. Never forget what you’re driving for.
Need More Help?
Need more advice or help with building a more profitable business? If so, check out the rest of our articles for valuable information or use our website to find specific businesses that can help yours become more successful!