As a small business (or even if you just about to start a business), even a minimal increase to your profits can make a big difference. There’s no need to implement sweeping changes — often, minor tweaks here and there are actually the most effective (not to mention the least disruptive). Whatever products or services your small business offers, applying these tips and advice will increase your profits.
1. Focus on Existing Customers
It is always less expensive to retain current customers than attract new ones. Talk to your clients to find out if they are happy with the offerings you provide and how you could improve. In addition, consider ways you could cross sell or upsell to increase customers’ lifetime value.
2. Cut Expenses
One of the best tips or advice for how to increase profits in a small business is simply cutting costs. Small businesses cannot afford to have full-time employees for every role. However, it is equally important to avoid sacrificing quality — which often happens when you assign employees duties outside their sphere of expertise. A better solution is to either hire part-time workers or outsource certain tasks.
3. Use Lead Magnets
You cannot rely on users to convert on their own, after doing nothing more than consuming content on your website. Instead, you need to use lead magnets. These work by asking prospects to provide you with their contact information in exchange for premium content. Once you have leads’ contact details, you can nurture them by sending additional content, information, and offers via email.
4. Follow Up with Leads Immediately
You are losing out on easy business opportunities and potential profits if you ignore new leads. But it’s more than that — you also need to follow up fast. For instance, responding to leads within 5 minutes makes them 21 times more likely to enter your pipeline. If such a fast response time is not possible due to limited resources, aim to at least answer queries within the hour.
5. Build Social Proof
It is critical to focus on tasks that you ordinarily may put on the back burner. Effectively working these seemingly small tasks can increase profits for your small business in little time. One such way is to work on developing social proof. Ask current customers for ratings and reviews, publish case studies, and reach out to influential bloggers as well as local or industry news publishers for mentions.
6. Turn Employees into Brand Advocates
Another way to harness the potential of social media is to use brand advocates. There may be no need to spend on social media influencers: you already have the advocates you need at your company. Most likely, no one is more passionate about what you do than your employees, especially when you’re a small business. Encouraging workers to share your content and talk about their experiences with your brand is an effective, low-cost marketing strategy. By improving your brand image, you’ll increase profits.
7. Use SEO
Social media alone is never enough; you also need to maintain a presence online with your website. Optimize every page of content with your buyer personas in mind to reach the top of the search results for relevant searches.
If you apply these tips and advice to increase profits at your small business, you will see results. It is also advised to check out our other resources and even speak with successful small business owners to learn more about how to take your small business to the next level.