Bamidele Ojo

How to turn your brand challenges into an opportunity with market research Ask any owner of a small business how hard it is to handle. Each of them will tell you the same thing: the challenges are enormous. A lot of dedication and commitment will be needed to establish your brand in the market, but creating your own business can be extremely satisfying. In this article, we are going to look into some of the most common challenges you will need to surmount in your business. These are discussed as follows: Little or No Presence Online You cannot deny the fact that today people look almost everything online. If your business does not have an online presence, you're one step behind the rest. Luckily, taking your business to the web is not as complicated or expensive as it used to be. Lack of Marketing Knowledge When you start your own business, you do not receive a manual that explains what to do and what not to do in marketing. While there are several sources where you can get information related to this topic, it is difficult to find the right time to read, especially if your calendar is full with other tasks for your business. While it is not nice to be juggling your time, you should prioritize marketing. Making people aware of your business is extremely important to make grow. Subscribe to a blog that gives you information relevant to you and gives you specific marketing tips for businesses like yours. Once you have performed a search and found interesting material use it! Create a marketing plan that includes your public, goals, competitors and platforms where you would like to promote yourself. Hire a marketing consultant to measure your results. If you do not have time to devote to marketing, then hire someone to do it for you. Look for an agency that is within your budget, understand your brand and motivate you to achieve your goals. Trying to do it alone It is a trap that many entrepreneurs fall into. While you may be able to do all the work alone for a while, eventually you will weaken, and that can hurt your business. We know it is not easy to delegate responsibilities or hire people to do important tasks, but as you grow older, you will need to do this for effective result. The money you will spend on paying wages will be almost the same as what you lose when trying to do everything alone. Although sometimes you may think you know more than all (and probably sometimes right), you do not panic to take the advice of others. Learn from others' experiences, their failures, and successes; it can help you complete your lack of experience. Forming an unbeatable teamwork If you are desperate to hire staff, it means that it is too late. As your business grows and evolves, people who work on your side will make all the difference. Be sure to hire skilled people, to motivate you, to provide their talent and fits in your company. Getting (and keeping) New Customers Getting new customers is always great for your business, but what makes a takeoff project is that those same customers are coming back. In fact, a returning customer tends to spend 67% more than a new customer. How can you achieve this? Give a competitive (and reasonable) price your products. Making analysis of market prices will give you an idea of how much you should charge. Even if you have a high-quality product, it is very nice to know that they care about you and your opinion once the purchase is made. Being kind and trustworthy are characteristics that should be part of your values as a company. Encourage your customers to come back by offering promotions, discounts, and coupons Balancing the Quality and Growth If your business is growing, it is important to put parameters that help you measure how to meet your demand without lowering quality. Develop a corporate culture that values quality as much as you do. Prioritizing this while you're building your team will help you avoid problems in the long term. Do the best you can but avoid too much focus on small things. If you have a working group in which you can trust, feel comfortable delegating tasks and to take care of other projects, such as expanding your product line or entering a new market. Challenges abound in building your brand but quality market research will help you surmount the challenges as they surface. So, do your homework correctly and you will stand a better chance in your chosen market.