As mobile technology continues to dominate the Internet, online businesses are expected to thrive over the next few years. eMarketer estimates e-commerce sales will continue to average an annual growth rate of 10% until 2018 at the near term. By then global sales for online businesses would hit US$2.356 Trillion or an average of US$200 Billion new sales every year beginning 2014.
This optimistic growth forecast means the online business industry still presents opportunities for new players. As with all ventures, starting an online business will present challenges. But once you gain traction, business should move smoothly. The next challenge is taking your online business to the next level.
Here are 11 smart ways to consider for growing your online business:
1. Update your market research
Because information is readily accessible and available on the Internet, demand, tastes and consumer preferences are unpredictable and unstable. What is in vogue today could be passé tomorrow. The latest technological breakthrough could be obsolete in a few weeks.
Thus, it is very important for you to continually update your market research. Your target market could be undergoing changes in its demographic profile. And its consumption and behavioral patterns could be changing. Their concerns which you addressed when you launched your online business may no longer be valid.
2. Focus on high quality content marketing
Once you’ve firmed up your market research, focus on delivering high quality content marketing to them. The keyword is to personalize content. You materials must speak directly to your audience and provide actionable solutions to their concerns.
Your content must unequivocally state “Why” your online business is the best solution or only option to consider.
Content marketing is not only blogs and articles. You can use other media such as videos and podcasts. Video is an effective vehicle for delivering content as it can capture attention faster than blogs or still images.
3. Target realistic goals
Goal setting is an effective strategy for improving performance. It charts the course to where you want your business to go. But these goals must be realistic. If your online business generated $100,000 in annual revenues, it would not be realistic to identify next year’s revenue targets at $1,000,000.
Your goals must correspond with your ability to scale operations. You must consider sources of funding: internal cash flow generation, borrowings and current state of liquidity. You are also faced with the prospects of an ever-changing market. These should put your growth targets in their proper perspective.
Set small targets that are within your current capacity. For example, target a 10% increase in revenues. Then determine the corresponding adjustments to market acquisition, leads generation and sales conversion that will support this sales target.
4. Improve customer experience
Creating markets is one thing, retaining markets is another thing. Given the increase in competition, businesses are allocating more resources to market retention. You simply would not want your competition to capture your customer. In fact, customer service is already passé. The focus is now customer experience.
Customers will continue to patronize your product and service if they feel you genuinely care about their experience. You can do this a number of ways:
Increase the number of contact points to your e-commerce website. In addition to e-mail and phone, add chat support services and actively engage with customers in social media.Hire virtual assistants to run outbound services. This includes surveys conducted via phone or e-mail. According to OutsourceWorkers, hiring virtual assistants is 3 times more cost effective than regular full time employees.Establish a quick Turn Around Time or TAT on all queries and concerns. 24 hours or less is the gold standard in customer experience.5. Be active on social media
As an online business, your primary medium is the Internet. Your business should be highly visible in the virtual world. One of the best strategies is to be active on social media.
Of the more than three billion Internet users, two billion are on social media. As of its latest count, Facebook has 1.374 Billion daily users. That is more than half of the daily Internet population! eMarketer projects the number of social media users will increase to 2.55 Billion daily by 2017.
If these numbers are convincing, then you should begin to prioritize social media as an online marketing tool.
The first step is to identify the social media network for your business. Each social network houses a distinct community with diverse online behavioral patterns. Facebook is more informal. LinkedIn has a professional approach. Twitter works best with high activity.
