10 Steps to Improving Your Business in 2020

Your business is up and running. Everything is going smoothly, but you also know your company could be performing at a higher level. Certain projects might be taking too long to complete, or you could be struggling to effectively reach out to potential customers. 

The good news is there are many solutions available for improving the productivity and efficiency of your business. Instead of leaving your wheels spinning in the mud, it’s time to hit the freeway by following these 10 steps to enhance your business.

Step 1: Commit to a social media plan 

When it comes to marketing tactics, one of the most effective these days is social media. Yet a lot of companies still fail to utilize the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram effectively. To ensure you don’t follow that same path, it’s recommended you put together a strong social media plan. 

The basis for this type of plan is to make regular posts. Aside from daily posts, it’s important the content has value. While text posts can hit the mark in certain cases, it’s wise to focus on visual content like videos and GIFs. Scheduling posts can also help meet that daily quota, but also react to trending topics when possible. 

Step 2: Automate when possible

Automation can help your business save countless hours, boost productivity, and enhance your efficiency. Fortunately, there’s an assortment of tools available that can help you automate a wide range of tasks.

It’s not just those monotonous tasks you can automate, either. One example is a chatbot. This chatbot, which automates responses to enquiries, can supply instant 24-hour customer service. 

Step 3: Use metadata management 

In this day and age, the average business deals with a whole bunch of data. This can come from the likes of social feeds, customer feedback, logs, video, and audio. A successful business will, of course, utilize this data to make important business decisions.

There’s just one issue: without the right system in place, correlating all this data can be difficult. For instance, certain elements can be named differently despite having the same meaning – like “date of birth”, “birthday”, and “DOB”.

This is why a metadata management system can be incredibly helpful. You can use metadata to find assets, store data, ensure data accuracy across several reporting systems, and more. This assists with everything from gaining insights to meeting data governance. 

Step 4: Refine your website

Your website is the foundation for all of your marketing efforts. It’s the hub for your content and SEO efforts. It’s the destination customers are directed to via your other promotional efforts. As a result, it is imperative you maximize the quality of your website. Some points to keep in mind include: 

• Page load speed is rapid
• High-quality content that incorporates SEO methods
• A modern and responsive design
• Easy to navigate with a top-notch search function
• Showcase reviews from customers

Step 5: Use the right communication channels

If a business wants to function correctly, its communication channels have to be on point. You have to have strong internal communication software for a start, where employees – whether they’re in the office or working remotely – can discuss business-related topics with ease. 

Additionally, you have to incorporate ways for customers to get in touch with your business. It’s not good enough to simply have an email or contact form. You need to be active in responding to messages on social media, use modern platforms like WhatsApp, have a phone number, and provide a live chat function on your website. 

Step 6: Welcome feedback from employees

Yes, you need to closely analyze feedback given by your customers. Yet you also have to do the same when it comes to your employees. Make sure you create a work environment that welcomes open discussion. 

The more comments you receive about processes within your business, the more you can learn about what is – and isn’t – working. After all, the employees that use these processes on a day-to-day basis are going to have the best opinion about them. 

Step 7: Limit interruptions 

As anyone that procrastinates too much will tell you, interruptions can be a serious deterrent to work being done. To limit these interruptions as much as possible within your organization, a big step you can take is to manage meetings. Rather than those drawn out meetings that are standard in offices across the world, go for a more efficient meeting where you cover the basics in just 10 minutes. 

Also try and reduce distractions like constant notifications, chat messages, and email alerts between departments. 

Step 8: Look at the competition 

When you first started your business, you no doubt analyzed your future competition. You will have viewed their marketing efforts, how they setup their website, what they sold, and additional services they provided. You will have used this information to shape your own company. 

Well don’t stop in using this form of research. As your business changes, so does your competition. Always keep tabs on what they’re doing and react to it when you feel it’ll benefit your own operation. 

Step 9: Prioritize retention 

Gaining new customers is great, obviously. However, a lot of your efforts should be focused on retaining your current customers. Did you know that according to research, it can cost you five times as much to attract a new customer as opposed to retaining an existing one?

To retain customers, there are various paths to take. A referral program can work, as can a reward scheme for those who make a certain number of purchases. Also make sure you send them regular coupons and exclusive deals. 

Step 10: Go the extra mile with customer service

Customer service can take your business to the next level. If you provide service that goes above and beyond, this can go a long way to fulfilling the previous point in retaining customers. It’s also a sure-fire way of receiving glowing reviews that showcase your business in the best light. 

Excellent customer service isn’t easy, however. You have to ensure you respond immediately to messages. It’s also important to put the customer first, and always give them the benefit of the doubt during communications.