Small businesses are experiencing rapid growth in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, as entrepreneurs used work-from-home directives as a catalyst for starting their own enterprise. The outlook for the small business in the UK is overwhelmingly positive, as SMEs now account for more than 60% of employment in the UK – and over half of GDP.
But the runaway success of SMEs in the UK is something of a double-edged sword; competition between smaller independent businesses is fiercer than ever, with competitors engaged in pitched battle across industries for their share of custom. In the modern age, a business cannot deem itself competitive without properly leveraging its online presence – but how should you approach this with regard to your business?
Social Media
First and foremost, social media is the most powerful weapon in your business’ arsenal. By crafting a presence across different platforms, you can at once: increase brand awareness, attracting more customers to your sales funnel; engage and service existing customers by being a direct form of contact; and craft unique offers-based campaigns that encourage engagement with your brand.
Social media marketing is not as simple as opening a Twitter and Instagram account in your name, though; you need a targeted strategy to ensure you are getting the most out of your efforts, including the creation of high-quality multimedia content such as videos. A small business loan can help you create a budget for your social media strategy, which will convert into tangible results beyond the simple increase in follower count.
Optimising Your Website
While social media should be your primary focus for outstripping competitors and increasing brand awareness in target demographics, you should still pay significant attention to your website. It will be an important stop for many in your sales funnel, being a location at which prospective customers expect to learn more about your business and products.
As such, your site should be optimised for the relevant and authoritative provision of information about your company and services. Not only will you satisfy consumers researching your business quicker, but you will also improve your site’s search engine rankings – giving you more traffic overall.
Competitor Research
Lastly, ‘knowing your enemy’ is a crucial part of mounting an effective competition in your industry. As such, performing in-depth competitor research can reveal important details about their specific offerings, and the demographics to which they are attempting to appeal. If a competitor has a larger market share than you, you may be able to find room to market your product to demographics they target less; alternatively, you could leverage different strategies to reach the same demographics more effectively.
