Thanks to, or despite the pandemic, small business creation is booming. Last year saw a national average of 26% growth of small businesses, which is the highest percentage since as far back as 2005.

Many of these small businesses are thriving and now wondering how to expand. If you want to enjoy sustained growth and avoid the pitfalls of small business expansion, consider the following tips.

They will help you when expanding a business even in the ongoing challenges of a pandemic.

1. Know Your Customer Base

The first step to growing a business is understanding who your customers are and what needs they have that you can fulfill. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to develop an effective marketing strategy or choose the right location for your new store or office.

Get to know your customers on a personal level by surveying them, conducting focus groups, or simply talking to them one-on-one. Find out what they like and don’t like about your current products or services and ask what new products or services they’d like to see from you.

2. Do Your Homework

Once you know who your target market is, it’s time to do some research on them. Try to understand their buying habits, what motivates them, and where they like to shop or spend their leisure time. This will give you valuable insights into how best to reach them and what kind of message will resonate with them.

It will also help you determine whether there’s a need for your product or service in the areas you’re considering expanding to. You can do this research yourself or hire a market research firm to do it for you.

3. Create a Solid Business Plan

Before you start spending money on an expansion, it’s important to have a solid plan in place. This will help you stay focused and on track, and it will be something you can refer back to when things get tough.

Your business plan should include your goals for expansion, how you plan to achieve them, and what kind of budget you’re working with. It should also outline the risks involved and how you plan to mitigate them.

A note on defining your goals as this is very important. When doing this exercise, ask yourself what you hope to achieve by expanding. Do you want to grow your customer base, enter new markets, or improve your bottom line? Once you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, you can start making plans to make it happen.

4. Make Sure You Have the Right Team in Place

No business can expand successfully without the right team in place. This includes not only managers and executives but also front-line staff, such as customer service representatives and salespeople.

Before you start expanding, take a close look at your current team and identify any gaps. If you need to, make some changes and hire new people who have the skills and experience you need to help you reach your goals.

Today’s climate opens up the global talent pool to find the right team members. Start by taking advantage of employer of record services to get you on the right path to expanding to an international business.

5. Choose the Right Location

The location of your new store or office is critical to its success. Take the time to do your research and choose a location that’s convenient for your target market, and that offers good visibility and access.

If you’re expanding to a new city or town, make sure you have a good understanding of the local market. This includes things like the demographics of the area, the competition, and the economic conditions.

If your business is digital or online, you still need to choose a location for your office carefully. Consider things like the cost of living in the area, the availability of talent, and the quality of life.

6. Have a Marketing Plan in Place

No expansion is complete without a solid marketing plan. This is especially important if you’re expanding to a new location where people may not be familiar with your brand.

Your marketing plan should include elements such as advertising, public relations, and social media. It should also outline how you plan to reach your target market and what kind of budget you have to work with.

7. Lower Your Risks

There are always risks associated with expansion when running a business, but there are things you can do to minimize them. One way to do this is to start small and test the waters before making a major investment.

You can also try to partner with another company that’s already established in the area you’re expanding to. This can help you lower your costs and minimize your risks.

8. Be Prepared for the Unexpected

No matter how well you plan, there will always be some things that are out of your control. Especially if you’re considering international expansion or hiring international employees. This is why it’s important to have a contingency plan in place for things like natural disasters, political instability, or economic downturns.

Make sure you have the financial resources in place to weather any storms that come your way. This includes things like cash reserves and lines of credit.

9. Have a Plan for Continued Growth

Once you’ve successfully expanded your business, it’s important to continue developing your plans for expansion. This means setting new goals and making plans to reach them.

It’s also important to review your operations on a regular basis and make sure they’re efficient and effective. This includes things like your supply chain, marketing efforts, and financial processes.

10. Celebrate Your Successes

Don’t forget to celebrate your successes along the way. This will help keep you motivated and focused on your goals.

Enjoy Success When Expanding a Business

Expanding a business is a major undertaking, but it can be a very rewarding experience. By following these tips, you can increase your chances of success and make the most of the opportunity.

If you enjoyed these business tips, check out our other articles for more.

Feeling like there is no way to motivate employees at your company?

After so many COVID-19 related closures, some companies may be suffering from a lack of business efficiency. No one wants more work on their plate, but keeping a business open and functional is a priority. Instilling healthy and effective employee productivity can help balance the scales again.

Ready to try to instill optimal productivity?

Check out this guide to increase employee productivity.

1. Completing Tasks in a Timely Manner

When running a business, one of the keys to increasing employee productivity is to ensure that tasks are completed in a timely manner. This can be accomplished by proper time management and by setting realistic deadlines. When employees are given sufficient time to complete their tasks, they are more likely to be productive.

Make sure that deadlines are realistic. This will help prevent employees from feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

Employers should encourage employees to complete tasks on time. By doing so, employees will feel a sense of accomplishment. They will be more likely to complete the next tasks timely.

2. Encouraging Collaboration and Open Communication

It is important to encourage collaboration and open communication. When employees are able to collaborate, they can share ideas. They will also work together to find solutions.

Open communication also allows for transparency and understanding. This can help end conflict and improve workplace morale.

3. Increasing Employee Productivity by Automating Repetitive 

To increase employee productivity, managers should consider automating repetitive tasks. This will free up employees’ time so they can focus on more important tasks. There are many software programs available that can automate repetitive tasks, such as data entry and customer service.

There are Power Apps Consultants that improve business team performance resulting from less wasted time on manual processes. By automating these tasks, employees can work more efficiently and effectively. In turn, this will increase productivity and help the company reach its goals.

4. Taking Care of Your Physical and Mental Health

It’s no secret that when employees are happy and healthy, they’re more productive. There are many factors that contribute to an employee’s well-being. Their physical and mental health are two of the most important.

When employees take care of their physical health, they have more energy and stamina to get through the workday. They’re also less likely to get sick, which means they’ll miss less work. When they take care of their mental health, they’re better able to focus on their work and are less likely to experience burnout.

Working Smarter, Not Harder

There are many easy tips for increasing employee productivity. Try a few of these tips and see how they work for you and your team.

Be sure to view employee productivity as a journey, not a destination. And remember that it is not just about getting more work done. It’s about improving the quality of the work and the workplace.

For other articles on improving various aspects of your business, check out the rest of our site.

I’m sure your product is awesome — otherwise, you wouldn’t have selected it! But you need to make sure your audience knows why it’s so awesome, and you can do that through clear, compelling copy and great pictures of your product.

Focusing on your copy first, and the first place to start is on your product’s page title, or simply its title. Using an understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you can hack your product’s title and fill it to the brim with highly searched-for keywords.

The second most important part of your product listing may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s something you need to pay close attention to. You need a quality picture for your product listing.

No, I don’t mean a nice picture taken from your iPhone. I’m talking about professionally-shot photos of your product. How many times have you purchased a product on Amazon that didn’t have a photo? Probably not many times, if ever. People want to see what they’re paying for.

Take the time, pay someone a few bucks, and get a couple of professionally-taken product photos. Make sure the pictures showcase all the features or sides of a product.

Once you’ve got a strong, searchable product page title and several quality pictures for the listing, you’ll want to write up concise and error-free bullet points to showcase all the specific details of your product and a stellar product description.

And please, re-read the description and double-check the details — little errors can make a huge difference.

Simply listing the features and specs is too easy, so if you want your product to really sell, you’ll need to engage with your audience and get them to trust you through a product description that reveals a bit of your personality.

Your product description follows the bullet points and can sum up all the major features of your product while also painting a picture of how or where a customer might use this product. If I was writing a description for my travel backpack, I’d probably describe places that people could travel to easily while using my backpack, along with specific things they could pack inside for a beautiful hike in the mountains.

FBA business

If you’re looking for even more technical hacks for your product listing, Zonbase Amazon FBA software has extra tech-savvy tips for hacking your product’s URL.

As I mentioned earlier, this first product listing might entail more than a little trial and error, especially due to the never-ending possibilities when it comes to crafting creative copy.

But who has the time to figure out exactly what needs to be tweaked in your product description in order to make your sales soar?

Well, Zonbase.com got the time. With their unique analytical system, they run through split tests on your actual Amazon-listed products, ensuring the price, image, and text are all performing at the best sales levels possible.

If it’s not doing as well as it could, Zonbase team can help you optimize your product’s listing, which means more profits for you. And, you can test anything you want, comparing control to a variant.

This is all to say, don’t leave the product copy until the last minute — it’ll impact your sales much more than you think!

Businesses can’t afford to overlook the vital role that design plays in the success of their organization.

If your business understands the importance of great design, but you aren’t sure how to get there, you’ve found the right article. While there are many different UI UX design trends that you can implement, there are some main ones that stand out and will help you improve your business’s design in no time.

Curious to learn more? Keep reading to learn about some of the best UI UX design trends you should start using in 2022.

Implementing Dark Mode in UI UX Design

There’s no doubt that dark mode is one of the big UI/UX design trends that’s set to change website design in 2022. While it’s been around for a while now, it’s only recently that we’ve seen it become more mainstream with the likes of Apple and Google adopting it in their operating systems.

We expect to see dark mode become even more popular in the next year or two. This is because more and more designers start to adopt it in their work. So if you’re not already using dark mode, now is the time to experiment with it!

Optimization for More Screen Sizes and Pixels

The proliferation of mobile devices has led to a big shift in UI/UX design. Designers are now required to design for a multitude of screen sizes and pixels.

This has led to a focus on optimization for more screen sizes and pixels. As a result, we are seeing a trend towards more responsive and adaptive design. This means that UI and web design will be more fluid and flexible, able to adapt to the changing needs of users.

Minimizing Complexity

Another big UI UX design trend is minimizing complexity. This means making designs that are simpler and easier to use.

This is often done by reducing the number of elements in a design, or by making them more consistent and predictable. This trend is driven by the need for faster and more efficient design, as well as the increasing popularity of mobile devices and touch screens. interfaces.

3D and Animations

Animations can help to make a design more engaging and user-friendly. They can also help to add personality to a design and make it more memorable.

As more designers learn how to use animations effectively, we can expect to see more interesting and innovative designs in the future.

User Experience and Content Localization

In a globalized world, it’s more important than ever for businesses to be able to reach customers in their native language. This means that UI/UX designers need to be able to create a user experience design that can be easily translated into different languages.

Localization can be a challenge, but it’s becoming more and more important as the world gets smaller. Get in touch with a digital transformation agency for more information.

Keep Up With the Latest UI/UX Design Trends

As a result of the increasing popularity of mobile devices, the demand for responsive UI UX design has never been higher.

To keep up with the ever-changing landscape of design, it is important to be aware of the latest trends. By doing this, you can ensure that your designs are responsive and innovative.

For more articles like this, check out the rest of our website!

Did you know Australian brands aren’t great at customer experience? You need to build authentic customer relationships to improve customer retention.

Do you need some help connecting with clients? This guide will teach you how to build an emotional connection with clients. Listening to your clients, asking them questions, and following up will show you care.

Ready to learn more? Check out the tips below.

Listen to Your Clients

You need to develop excellent listening skills if you want to connect with your clients. Listening will send a message that you care about your customer’s needs. You can build lasting connections with customers.

Also, when you listen to your clients, you’ll gain insight into what they need from you. Someone might share an experience they had with your employee.

Use a Dedicated CRM

Do you have a large customer base? It will become challenging to continue maintaining a personal connection with each person.

It’s hard to manually keep track of customer details, so consider using customer relationship management software. This will help you stay connected with your clients.

A CRM software will track customer interactions, shopping habits, and data. You can send your customers offers or special coupons.

Teach Your Employees About Customer Service

You want workers to provide excellent service whenever they meet or interact with a client.

If someone doesn’t know how to provide quality service, you should instruct them. You can point out what they excel at and where they can improve.

Explain to your employee that the goal of your business is to support clients. Provide regular feedback to workers, so they understand whether they’re hitting the mark or not.

What’s Your Story?

Brands need to figure out an emotional and compelling story for their audience. This will help them connect with new and old customers alike.

Explain where your brand came from and why you pursued this journey. People desire authentic human stories.

People should be able to relate to your story. Most often, customers want to feel connected to a larger group. When someone sees themselves in a story you tell, they will become a loyal customer.

Tell an engaging story that people will understand or identify with. Connect with your audience in the story you tell about your company.

Create Trustworthy Testimonies

Video marketing is one way to build a connection with your customers.

Use a testimonial video and show how clients enjoyed your product or service. Video marketing will help you bring word-of-mouth to another level.

It’s challenging to fake something on video. People can read facial expressions and tell if someone’s authentic.

Communicate in a Personal Way

You should handwrite a note. This will tell your customers that you value them and see their time as unique and precious.

It will take time to write letters, but it’s well worth it. You will show you care.

Ask Customers Questions

When you meet with new customers, ask them questions. Find out about their goals and what they want to do with their life. Try asking some open questions. Show them how you can help them reach their goals.

You should show you care about your clients by engaging with them.
You can take another step by asking another question or providing some advice. Build trust, loyalty, and a sense of partnership.

Don’t Forget to Follow Up

You should follow up with your customers. Set up your social media platforms and connect with clients there. If your client doesn’t use social media, see if they would like to get added to your email newsletter.

Send out a newsletter with helpful information related to your industry or niche. You should also provide special coupons or never before seen information here.

Don’t forget to respond to comments or answer questions you receive.

Host Live Videos

Some businesses will use TikTok to communicate with a large audience. Try hosting some live chats with your clients. Look at connecting with them on Facebook Live or Instagram.

You should invite viewers to ask questions or submit comments.

You Need to Keep Your Promises

Building excellent customer relationships relies on establishing trust. Keep your promises at every stage. You should call your customer back if you told them you would. Be available when your hours are listed.

You should honor any price quotes and put things in writing. This will show your customers that you keep your word and stick to your commitments.

Building trust will help strengthen your bond with customers.

Start Giving Back to the Community

Some businesses will begin giving back to their community. This will show your customers and the wider community that you care. Try to sponsor local events or charities.

Learn what your customers care about and show you care as well.

Become an Industry Leader

A business should strive to become a reputable leader in its industry. Begin attending professional networking events. You could connect with other industry professionals and do interviews.

Look at providing regular video content to your followers. Excellent video content will show how you’re a leader in your particular niche. Click here if you need help with creating video marketing.

How to Build an Emotional Connection

Understand that people want to connect with a business’s story. You should spend time getting to know your clients. Did you find these tips helpful on how to build an emotional connection?

Need more helpful business tips like this guide? Check out our business and technology articles for more information.