Deciding to start up your own business is a bold move. Most people stick to the nine to five of employed work, building someone else’s dream for the sake of ease. Sure, following your own dreams is a little more difficult. There will be tougher challenges ahead. There won’t be anyone there with the sole role of telling you what to do. You’re going to have to practice self-restraint, make executive decisions of your own, take control. But the rewards that come with the responsibilities of business ownership and management are truly worth it. You don’t have to answer to anyone. You can develop your own ideas and go wherever they may take you. You get to choose your own working hours, who you want to work with a direct your own moral compass. As you can see, a business holds tonnes of potential for you as an individual. However, in order to be successful, there’s one group of people who you do need to prioritize: the consumer market. After all, they’re the people who will be using your services, purchasing your products and providing you with profit. So, to help you get started on the right foot, here are a few things to focus on when it comes to prioritizing your consumers throughout your business startup process.
Coming Up With a Concept
The good thing about business ownership is that you can develop your own ideas, chase your dreams, and focus on your passions. Sure, there may be people out there who share similar interests. But for ultimate success, it’s best to ensure that your business concept isn’t too niche or specific. After all, a group of ten or so customers isn't really going to provide you with enough profit to get by full time. So, bear the consumer market in mind when it comes to your business concept. Do your research. Find out what it is that people want, whether their needs are already catered to, whether you can provide something better than your competitors or offer a similar service or the same goods for a lower price. This is absolutely essential in securing success. After all, you can have a great product but if there’s no demand for it you’re not going to get anywhere particularly fast.
Understanding Your Target Market
Once you’ve found the gap in the market that you intend to fill, it’s time to get to truly understand your target market. This will mean conducting thorough and expansive market research. There are a few ways to go about this. Some are independent. Some will require the help of others with a little more experience and more contacts. First, take a look at current market analysis that is out there. Results of various studies of the consumer market can give you a roundabout idea of where people are spending most of their disposable income, what they are prioritizing and where and when they’re spending. Then you can bring things a little closer to home by conducting your own research specific to your brand. This can involve distributing surveys and questionnaires, conducting seminars and discussion groups, and sampling and receiving feedback. Alternatively, save yourself the time and effort by using a professional market research agency who will already have the details of numerous volunteers and contacts at hand. The results of this personalized in-depth research will help you to understand your target audience and mold various aspects of your business to their wants and needs.
Brick and Mortar vs. E-Commerce
Once you’ve established your target market, you can decide whether to prioritize your efforts on a brick and mortar store or E-commerce. Brick and mortar stores are the more traditional approach to business relationships and transactions. You rent out a tangible commercial property and interact with customers on a face to face basis. This is much better if your target audience are the elderly, who may not have access to the internet, or may not understand how to use it properly. For other companies targeted at other consumers, brick and mortar stores tend to be the territory of big name brands. Good quality store space in high traffic locations tends to be extremely costly. That’s before you add on overheads such as bills, furnishing, equipment such as tills, and staff to man the floor at all times. A great alternative that more people are opting for is E-commerce: setting up your store online. This is much cheaper and gives you wider exposure, as links, adverts, and social media pages can be shared worldwide. If you opt for E-commerce, you need to ensure that your page is stand out. Your customers are likely looking for something that is easily navigable, simple to use, but sticks by your brand aesthetic. Remember that their experience with your web page will form a part of their experience with your entire brand, altering their perception of your company, its goods, and its services. For more help with this, use UX design. This essentially stands for user experience design and can transform your site from zero to wow in hardly any time at all.
Enabling Easy Communication
Your customers and potential customers are likely to want to contact you at some point or another. This could be in regards to various things. Perhaps they want to know how long an item will take to ship to a certain place. They might want to request your store opening hours or location. Maybe they simply want to know whether you stock a certain item, when an existing item will be restocked, or when your next upgrade or collection will be released. Regardless of their query, you should be at hand to answer it. This will prevent lost sales through company negligence or lack of information. So, make sure that your contact details are in traditional phone books or phone directories. Then list your contact details online. This information can appear on your web page, social media feeds, or various other places. The more places you can list, the better, as more people will be able to access it. You can also use social media as a means of direct conversation online.
As you can see, your customers should be key throughout the process of setting up your business. Prioritise their wants and needs. After all, they’re the ones bringing in your profit.
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