Tips on how to get your business back on track and geared for 2021.
As a business owner, you may be feeling a little lost since the way you have always done business has been compromised during this covid19 pandemic. To help you get back on track and start the year on a high note, we’ve compiled 8 simple steps you can follow to generate revenue in 2021:
Facebook Marketplace
Start selling on Facebook Marketplace. This is single-handedly the easiest way to start seeing new sales almost instantly and you don’t need to be tech-savvy at all. The process is so easy. You don’t need a Facebook page, just a personal Facebook account and you can take quick pictures of your products using a normal phone and upload them to Facebook marketplace through the Facebook App. Once logged in to Facebook, click on the Marketplace icon and begin by creating a new listing, it will prompt you through the process step by step. If your price is right, you’ll start getting messages from potential buyers that are in your area almost instantly. Remember to also download the Messenger app.
1. Open Marketplace to ‘create new listing’
2. Choose your listing type
3. Create your ad and include your payment page in the description
*APPLY FOR YOUR OWN PAYMENT PAGE LINK HERE
Get exposure through websites that already generate a lot of traffic
Every industry or product is different but you’ll know where your buyers are. Look at listing your products or services on Takealot, Gumtree, Bid or Buy, eBay and various others that can help you sell items quickly. Keep in mind that you may pay a small fee for your sales but that is worth it since they’re doing all the advertising to get traffic to your products.
Re-assess what brings in the most revenue
Do some number crunching and work out which of your products/services bring in the most revenue or profit. You may find that you can reduce production costs if you let go of the products that don’t bring in much or by only focusing on the ones that bring in the most by ordering parts in bulk.
Build an online store
If you’re used to selling in a physical store/ expo space, you’ll need to find ways to get the same exposure/foot traffic in your business. The best way forward is to build an online store that makes it easy for customers to get what they need without risking their health. An online store could bring you revenue for years to come and you may actually notice that through online you can reach way more customers since your presence can be national or even international. You can also link it up to your Facebook page to showcase your products on a Facebook Shop and they provide step-by-step instructions to help you through the process with ease.
Offer alternative delivery methods
According to a recent survey by Invesp, 65% of consumers already prefer to buy online and collect at a pickup point if they don’t want to incur shipping costs. Determine whether you could setup different locations for collecting your products. Pep or Postnet Couriers offer affordable delivery options where clients can pick up items almost anywhere in SA.
Remarket to existing customers
If you have collected customer data in the past, build a database and then re-market your business to them through
a) WhatsApp: Create a business profile that will allow you to blast messages to them in one go if the contacts are saved on your phone
b) Facebook: Create a post on your page and use Facebook advertising / “Boost Post” options to remarket to people who have contacted, liked or shared your items before.
c) Google Adwords: Use Display Ads to remarket to people who have clicked on your ads or visited your website in the past
d) Mailchimp: If you have a database of email addresses, add them to Mailchimp and send them newsletters.
Hire a marketing company
The learning curve of online marketing (pay per click advertising especially) is painful and can take you months or even years to master and you could end up wasting ad budget by doing it wrong. Leave it to the professionals who know what they’re doing and you’ll see results much faster. We recommend the services of www.muloo.co.za or www.thejc.co.za Once they have it setup for you, you can try and do it yourself but then you’ll have a baseline to work from and won’t have to go through the major learning curve of starting from scratch.
Consider doing something else for a while
If your business looks like it may be doomed for the year ahead considering we’ll probably have a third and perhaps even a 4th wave before this disaster is over, consider doing something else for a while. In the long run, it could help to have your eggs in more than one basket as any business has its seasonal slumps and downward curves so this could bring you an alternative revenue source for years to come. Do some real soul searching and follow your passions. This will motivate you to keep going through the tough times ahead. As Dory from Nemo always says: “Just keep swimming”. That’s all we can do really, right?
