To start a new business – STARTUP Business, you should have a proper plan.
- Discussing Ideas
- Market Study
- Knowledge Sharing
- similar-minded Partners
- Funding Assistance
- Registrations & Legal Activities
- Operations Management
Steps to Help You Start a Startup
Starting a business involves planning, making key financial decisions, and completing a series of legal activities. Scroll down to learn about each step.
What Do You Need to Start a Business?
If you’ve never started a business, the first time can be a little scary. Especially because it takes a lot of hard work and planning. On top of this, only about half of all businesses survive five years or longer.1
Luckily, there are 9 basic strategies for startups you can follow to help get your company up and running:
1. Make a Business Plan
Once you have an idea, you’ll want to start building a business plan that describes your products and services in detail. It should include information on your industry, operations, finances and a market analysis.
Writing a business plan is also important for getting financing for your startup. Banks are more likely to give loans to companies that can clearly explain how they’re going to use the money and why they need it.
2. Establish a Location (Physical and Online)
Whether you need to establish a manufacturing facility, set up an office space or open a storefront, you’ll want to determine if leasing or buying a property is right for you. In many cases, you can get tax deductions for managing a commercial space, which is a benefit to owning your own place. You’ll also be able to rent it out to make extra income.
However, one reason startups lease in the beginning is so they can invest their money into other aspects of the company. Leasing can also be a cheaper way to get your startup in a prime location. Keep in mind that rent prices can spike unexpectedly, which can force you to spend more or move. You also won’t build any equity while you lease.
In today’s digital era, it’s important to set up an online presence and e-commerce platform. In fact, you’ll have trouble being successful without it. This is because customers are increasingly shopping online and using google to find out more information on your products. On top of this, websites offer advantages like:
- Keeping your store open 24 hours a day, on weekends and on holidays, which increases sales.
- Helping you reach customers around the world.
- Allowing customers to read reviews about your products, which can raise your brand’s credibility.
You can enhance your online presence even more by starting a blog. This can help you establish yourself as an expert in your field. You can also use search engine optimization (SEO) to increase your brand’s visibility on Google searches. And it’s always a good idea to post on social media platforms, where your audience visits frequently.
3. Develop a Marketing Plan
Every startup needs to spend different amounts of money and time on marketing. It’s an important expense, because it helps you:
- Establish a brand identity
- Stand out from competition
- Create customer relationships and build loyalty
- Increase visibility, which attracts new customers
- Strengthen your company’s reputation
Some startup marketing activities you should look into include:
- Using social media to engage customers and promote coupons or deals
- Giving rewards out for referrals, which brings in more business
- Offering free samples or demos in your store
- Sponsoring events to get your name out there in local communities
4. Build a Customer Base
In order for your startup business to have long-term success, you’ll want to build a customer base. These loyal customers can help with:
- Boosting your sales, because they’re willing to keep spending at your company
- Sending a message to new customers that your brand is trustworthy
- Gaining referrals, which saves you time and effort with finding new customers
Some ways you can attract and retain customers include:
- Regularly offering a great product or service
- Launching loyalty programs to keep them coming in
- Using affiliate marketing on social media, which involves paying influencers to promote products to your target audience
- Focusing on great customer service
- Using market research to understand your customers’ expectations better
- Asking for feedback directly from the customer
SEO Expert
One of the online world’s hottest professions at the moment, this business is a gold mine for the tech-savvy entrepreneurs. While everyone’s slightly obsessed with getting their sites SEO optimized, not many people can actually wrap their heads around this topic. If you decide to go into this field, you can think about offering link building, content creation, ecommerce SEO optimization, and similar one-off packages.
