Work & Finance

How to Grow your Small Business in 2014

Christmas chaos is now in the past making January the perfect time to plan your marketing strategy for the year ahead. Here are four tips to help you grow your small business in 2014.

How to Grow your Small Business in 2014

Make Your Website a Priority

Firstly, if you don’t yet have a website, there is no time like the present to build one. If you do have a website, making small improvements can make a big difference to your business. Your website is a direct reflection of your company and it should make your customers’ lives easier. If you want to grow your small business, it is essential that you update the content on your site consistently and update the design so that it is appealing to your target market. If you want to set your business apart from your competitors, create a high quality blog that will encourage regular visitors to your site.

Step Up your Social Presence

Building a social media presence from scratch can be daunting but doing so can provide you with a number of benefits such as increased traffic to your site, brand awareness and increased sales. Having a social media presence not only allows you to interact with potential customers on a platform that they visit every day but it also helps you to find out what your customer base is saying about your brand.

Use Graphics Based Performance Reviews

The latest technology can help you to boost the success of your business and stay one step ahead of your competitors. The latest software from companies like Cornerstone On Demand can help you to track performance and highlight those who are overachieving and underachieving within your company. Innovative software can also help you to see which areas of your business need to be improved in the coming year.

Manage Online Negative Reviews

Reputation management is a huge part of running a business and as online reviews are playing a bigger role than ever, it is essential that you develop a method of dealing with negative online reviews. Ignoring negative reviews could harm your business therefore it is vital that you respond to them accordingly. Improving customer service and dealing with customer complaints quickly and efficiently via social media channels could prevent negative reviews appearing online in the future.

Will 2014 be the year that you grow your small business? Follow the above tips to expand your marketing strategy in the coming year.