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Small Business Success: A Guide To Avoiding Financial Crisis

Small businesses need to have risk management and mitigation strategies as part of their business plan. Any number of factors can cause a financial emergency, as the COVID-19 pandemic has proven, and it can be challenging to keep a small business alive during these times. In today’s landscape, where some people say that a recession is already here, this is especially relevant. There is no set playbook to follow when times get rough since different companies across different industries carry their risks and rewards. 

However, there are certain business strategies that business owners can adopt to make sure that they can avoid financial crises. This requires meticulous planning and an understanding of how the market works. Here is our guide for small businesses to steer clear of financial emergencies. 

Always have a plan in place 

It is imperative to have a financial plan for your business because this helps you to understand your income and expenses. This will help you have a record of your investments, cash reserves, expenses and savings. With a plan like this in place, your business will have clearly defined goals which will allow you to invest your money wisely. This is the first step towards preparing yourself for the onslaught of an economic crisis. 

Go over your finances frequently

One of the best ways you can stay afloat during a financial crisis is by only covering your essential costs and not spending on extras. For this, it is necessary to list down your essential requirements as well as the budget you need for them. Sticking to a budget is a critical component of financial risk management for small businesses. It is all about trying to find the balance between staying within your budget and coming up with innovative ways to market your products and services. 

It is also critical to maintain your financial records so that you can reduce the chances of any financial mishap during times of crisis. Small habits such as organizing your records correctly and neatly, and making a note of who owes you money and how much you have borrowed from investors will be very helpful in the long run. Moreover, this will give you a thorough idea about your company’s financial standing, so you will be in a better position to access whether you will be able to make it through periods of recession.

Reduce overhead expenses

Overhead expenses might not seem like a lot initially, but they can add up to be one of the biggest reasons why your business consistently fails to stick to a budget. In times of financial crisis, it is important to reduce overhead expenses as much as possible. For example, hiring freelancers instead of full-time employees can be a way to reduce costs during troubled times. 

Always have an emergency fund

Any extra cash that your business makes should ideally be invested in some form of cash reserve which will act as an emergency fund during difficult times. Savings will carry forward your company during these times, which is why it is very important to always have enough emergency expenses. For example, consider saving any extra profit instead of reinvesting the amount or sharing it as a dividend among shareholders. 

Make sure your income channels are protected

By using unit economics, it is important to find out which income channels are the most important for your business. Once they are identified, you should strive to protect these channels and secure the profits generated by them. This might sound easy, but it would involve taking a lot of strategic business decisions, such as adjusting your business model, cutting down on products that do not generate enough revenue, or optimizing pricing models. 

Pay attention to your customers 

Many businesses tend to lose sight of their customers during times of financial distress, when other things may take precedence. Nevertheless, you must never take from your customers since they are the lifeline of every business. Do not compromise on the quality of your products and your services even during financial emergencies. You may want to save on costs by doing so, but this strategy could backfire and you may end up losing customers. This will lead to a drop in sales, which can be deadly for your business, especially during bad times. Losing your customers can have an irreparable impact on your business, which may take years to recover from. 

Consider debt management and new financing carefully

It can be a tempting idea to pay off your debts so that you can start on a clean slate. However, this can affect your cash reserves, which can leave you in a fix if you experience financial issues down the road. Instead of paying off all your debts, assess which ones you pay the highest interest for, and start by paying off those first. 

During a financial crisis, you may also want to consider newer financing options. Secured business loans, for example, can be one way to go about this, since these have a longer repayment period. This will help your business particularly if you face seasonal cash flow issues. Having an established line of credit will help you sail through these tough times. 

However, before taking on additional debt, it is important to first assess the overall costs and payment amounts so that this does not result in debt mounting and simply covers up a serious systemic financial problem. 

In Conclusion

When times are rough, it is very important to make strategically sound financial decisions. The slightest error in judgment could bring your business to the verge of bankruptcy. At these times, it is important to rely on instincts, but more focus should be given to financial trends, your company’s numbers and other relevant data. 

While you cannot control the course of the economy, what you can control is how your business runs. Tough financial situations will bring lots of challenges to your company, but the only way out is to deal with them the smart way through an efficient business strategy and a growth mindset.

Boost Your Small Business Growth: Leverage Software for a Successful Marketing Strategy

Did you know that 45% of small businesses fail within the first five years? One of the primary reasons for this is a lack of an effective marketing strategy.

So, you want to create a marketing strategy that sets your small business up for success? With the right software tools and resources, you can streamline your marketing efforts and get more out of your investment. 

In this article, we’ll explore tips and best practices for developing a winning marketing plan with the help of business management software.

Software for Different Types of Small Businesses

Small businesses face many challenges today. They need all available tools for success.

Let’s say you are running an eCommerce store; why not have it all set for you? Use Shopify and take advantage of the themes and plugins available to customize your store and make it unique.

Or maybe you are a coach needing help scheduling sessions and processing invoices. Paperbell does this for you, and you can focus on crafting powerful coaching questions to give your clients much-needed insight and help them grow on every level.

Realtors could use some help with managing the listings, as there’s no need to do things manually nowadays. With software like Zillow, your listing gets updated everywhere online after you update it at the source. It saves you time and headaches, doesn’t it?

Now let’s check out some amazing tools that will smooth your marketing journey and allow you to get the best results and achieve growth faster! 

Marketing Planning Tools

The foundation for a suitable marketing strategy lies in planning. In your marketing plan, you identify your target audience and the best channel to reach them. Marketing planning software is of great help here to ensure you will save resources on effective strategies.

But first things first, what exactly is marketing planning software? These software or online applications help small businesses plan, execute and track their marketing strategies. And these tools can vary greatly. For example, they can be simple spreadsheets or advanced software.

Selecting a user-friendly, budget-friendly tool is crucial. Some companies provide free trials or basic functions. Others need a subscription or a one-time fee. It’s also important to consider if the software integrates with other platforms like social media or email marketing software.

Content Marketing Software

Delving into the marketing world, one must recognize the significance of content. Essentially, content encompasses everything crafted to captivate and engage your target audience, including blog articles, videos, social media posts, and email newsletters.

Content marketing software serves as a valuable tool that amplifies your efficiency with features such as templates and scheduling. By leveraging these options and more, you can achieve far better results than manual methods would allow.

One of the key advantages of employing content marketing software is the remarkable boost in efficiency. This is achieved through an array of tools, such as blog editors, social media schedulers, and email marketing utilities. 

It also enables you to allocate tasks, establish deadlines, and collaborate seamlessly with team members. Utilizing these features effectively and maintaining clear insight into your colleagues’ work leads to swifter and more impressive outcomes.

Moreover, content marketing software plays a critical role in enhancing ROI. By scrutinizing data and making informed, data-driven decisions concerning content creation and distribution, businesses can optimize their results and ensure a more substantial return on their investments.

You can find a tool for everything you need regarding content. If you need an AI writing assistant to create engaging content – there’s Jasper or Writesonic. For content curation, you can use ContentStudio or StoryStream. And to handle tracking and analytics – Semrush that also helps you find the right topics and track content reach.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tools

Search Engine Optimization is a critical component of digital marketing. To rank higher in search engines, you need to optimize your website and content with specific keywords and phrases that potential customers are searching for.

To make the most of SEO, you’ll need the right tools to help identify relevant keywords, create optimized content, and track search engine rankings. One popular SEO tool is Ahrefs, which offers keyword research, competitor analysis, and backlink tracking features. Another widely used tool is Semrush, which provides keyword tracking, site auditing, and content optimization tools. Yoast is another popular option for WordPress users, offering a plugin that analyzes and optimizes content for search engines.

For small e-commerce businesses, there are also specialized SEO tools available. For example, Etsy SEO tools like Etsyhunt and eRank help Etsy sellers optimize their listings and improve visibility on the platform.

Overall, investing in the right SEO tools can make a big difference in your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website or e-commerce store

Social Media Marketing Management Tools

Did you realize that a staggering 4.59 billion people across the globe actively use social media? This presents a colossal audience for small businesses to tap into, promoting their products or services to a vast clientele.

One strategy small businesses can adopt is generating QR codes to promote their social media channels, encouraging users to follow them. You can share coupons or ask for feedback this way, or even a location QR code that your followers can scan and get the directions to your store on Google Maps. These codes can also be printed on business cards, directing users to the company’s Instagram or Facebook page. However, this is merely the tip of the iceberg.

You could also use AI art generators where text prompts allow you to give instructions and create unique images to share across social media. For example, DALL-E 2 is known to be very fast and intuitive, and your imagination is the only limit to what you’ll create.

As a small business owner, juggling various responsibilities is inevitable, and managing social media can be time-consuming. Social media management software is purposefully designed to expedite this process. For instance, you can schedule posts in advance, freeing up precious time to focus on other vital aspects of your business operations.

If you are on a budget, use Buffer – a user-friendly tool that offers a good free plan with additional affordable plans available to upgrade. If you are present on many platforms, then Hootsuite is your best option. With this tool, you will maximize your marketing impact by targeting messages based on location or demographic profile.

Finally, you could try working with influencers to promote brand awareness and reach new audiences. Moonio offers you both free and paid plans to find, contact, and manage your relationships with influencers. If you want to find long-term brand ambassadors, the tool also offers the opportunity to scan your brand fans and customers to find influencers who are already talking about your brand or buying your products.

Marketing Project Management Software

Numerous small business owners grapple with resource constraints when orchestrating their marketing endeavors. But fear not, as a solution exists to help you remain at the forefront of your marketing game: marketing project management software.

This versatile tool empowers you to meticulously plan, organize, and monitor your marketing projects from inception to completion. It is designed to assist in managing various campaigns, including social media efforts, email marketing initiatives, and website overhauls.

By implementing marketing project management software, you can automate mundane tasks and eradicate extra process steps, ultimately saving time and money. For instance, it allows you to allocate tasks to team members, establish deadlines, and track progress within a single platform. Consequently, you can prevent miscommunications and ensure everyone remains aligned and informed.

Let’s be honest- tracking your marketing projects can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, with marketing project management software at your disposal, you can maintain organization and have all essential information in one centralized location. As a result, you can avoid missed deadlines, misplaced files, or forgotten critical tasks, enhancing the overall efficiency of your marketing strategy.

Text Message Marketing Software

Text message marketing software, also known as SMS marketing software, is a tool that allows businesses to send promotional messages or alerts directly to customers’ mobile phones via SMS (Short Message Service) or MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

This type of software typically includes features such as contact list management, message scheduling, automation, reporting, and analytics. It enables businesses to target specific groups of customers based on demographics, behavior, or interests, and send personalized messages with relevant offers, discounts, or reminders.

Some text message marketing software also includes features like two-way messaging, which enables customers to reply to messages, providing valuable feedback or engaging in conversations with businesses. 

Additionally, some software providers offer integrations with other marketing tools, such as email marketing or social media platforms, to create a cohesive and comprehensive marketing strategy.

Overall, text message marketing software is a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach their audience quickly and directly, increase engagement, and drive sales.

Mobile Marketing Software

As mobile device usage continues to soar, it has become imperative for small businesses to adapt by investing in mobile marketing strategies. This enables them to stay competitive and cater to the evolving needs of their clientele.

Mobile marketing software serves as a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their target audience through portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. By harnessing this software, companies can forge stronger customer relationships, elevate brand awareness, and bolster sales.

One standout feature of mobile marketing software is its capacity for real-time communication. For instance, suppose a business unveils a fresh promotion or launches a new product. In that case, the software can send push notifications directly to customer’s mobile devices. This dynamic engagement with the brand maintains customer interest and increases the likelihood of securing purchases.

Event Marketing Software

Now that we have covered digital marketing let’s talk about your offline marketing efforts. What if you want to plan an event, for example, for a new store opening or celebrating ten years of being in business?

You could use a tool that helps you manage and promote your offline events – event marketing software. It can help you plan everything from trade shows and conferences to product launches and community events.

You can automate many tedious tasks involved in event planning, such as ticket sales, email marketing, and social media promotion, and let the software do the heavy lifting. Not only that, but event marketing software can also help you reach a wider audience. You will get the word out about your event to more people than you ever could on your own. 

The biggest benefit of event marketing software is its ability to help you connect with customers in a more meaningful way. When you host an offline event, you can create a personal connection with potential customers. And with the help of event marketing software, you can ensure you’re putting your best foot forward.

Final Thoughts

By harnessing the power of business management software tools, small businesses have the potential to refine their marketing endeavors, conserve time and resources, and sidestep typical obstacles.

The key lies in selecting the appropriate tools, paving the way for executing an impactful marketing strategy. As a result, your business will flourish more rapidly and distinguish itself in an increasingly competitive market!

6 Handy eCommerce Tips To Help Boost Your Growing Business In 2023

eCommerce marketing is still a highly profitable niche in the digital world today. With the rise of online shopping, eCommerce businesses are seeing unprecedented growth and need effective marketing strategies to drive sales and increase customer loyalty.

eCommerce marketers must be well-versed in the latest trends and technologies to maximize their efforts and reach their target audiences. They must also understand how to optimize their campaigns for different platforms, such as search engine optimization (SEO) for Google or social media marketing for Facebook and Instagram.

By leveraging the right tools and techniques, eCommerce marketers can create effective campaigns that will help them attract more customers and boost sales. With a deep understanding of customer behavior, they can build strategies to help them succeed in this competitive industry.

Whether you’re an eCommerce marketer or in the eCommerce niche for your business and want to leverage marketing to help your business grow fast, this article can help you improve your eCommerce marketing strategies.

If you don’t know where to start or want a refresher on ideas for your eCommerce marketing strategy, here are a few tips that will be helpful to you.

1. Establish Your Target Audience

Identifying the target audience is an essential part of any successful marketing strategy. It involves understanding who your product or service is for and then crafting a message that resonates with your audience.

Knowing your target audience helps you create a marketing plan tailored to their needs and interests, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. By understanding your target audience, you can ensure that your marketing efforts are focused on the right people and will be more effective in reaching them.

It helps you to create content that resonates with the right people and increases the chances of your message reaching them and getting an audience. You can identify your target audience based on age, gender, location, interests, and behaviors.

By understanding the target audience in marketing, you can create tailored campaigns that are more likely to succeed. Identifying your target audience can help you focus resources on people most likely to engage with your product or service. Additionally, it helps you better understand your customers and develop products or services that meet their needs.

Many beginners need to correct the mistake of targeting anybody and everybody for their marketing campaigns, but that is a waste of effort and resources. That’s why you should make sure that you clarify the target audience of your marketing efforts.

2. Optimize Your eCommerce SEO

When you start your own eCommerce website, you must incorporate SEO efforts into your marketing campaign as well as within the creation of the website itself.

SEO is an integral part of running a successful eCommerce business. Optimizing your eCommerce SEO can help you reach more potential customers, increase website traffic, and boost your sales. With proper SEO optimization, you can ensure that your website is visible on search engine results pages (SERPs), which will help you get more visibility and conversions.

eCommerce SEO optimization involves optimizing the content on your website so that it appears higher in the SERPs. It would be best if you also focused on other aspects such as link building, keyword research, and technical elements like page speed to ensure that your website will show up easier in search engines.

Optimizing your eCommerce SEO allows you to enjoy greater visibility and higher conversions from organic search traffic.

3. Create a Content Marketing Campaign

Content marketing is a powerful tool to help you reach your target audience, build trust with them, and increase your sales. It is a cost-effective way to promote your products or services, and you can create brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads.

Creating a content marketing campaign is essential to any eCommerce marketing strategy. It allows you to produce engaging content that will attract potential customers and keep them interested in your offer

One key way to create a successful content marketing campaign is to use After Effects templates to create visually-appealing videos, motion graphics, and other digital assets. You can find thousands of After Effects templates that are easily customizable and will help you create professional-looking content quickly and easily.

Content marketing also helps to build relationships with customers, develop customer loyalty, and increase conversions. With the right content strategy in place, you can reach more customers and increase revenue for your business.

4. Utilize Reviews On Product Pages

Reviews are an essential part of any eCommerce marketing strategy. They provide customers with valuable information about the product, which can help them make informed decisions when shopping online. Reviews also allow businesses to showcase their products in a positive light and build trust with their customers.

By utilizing reviews on product pages, businesses can boost sales, increase customer engagement, and gain insights into how customers perceive their products. Customer reviews can identify areas where improvements need to be made and highlight the features that customers value most.

It is an excellent way for businesses to show that they care about customer satisfaction and are willing to take feedback seriously.

5. Play With Different Pricing Strategies

Pricing strategies are essential for any eCommerce business. Trying different pricing strategies can give you an edge over your competitors and increase your sales. Different pricing strategies can attract customers, increase customer loyalty, and maximize profits.

You can determine what works best for your business and customers by experimenting with different pricing strategies. You can also use the data from these experiments to decide which pricing strategy to implement.

It is important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to pricing strategies. Every business has different needs and goals, so it is crucial to tailor your plan accordingly. With the right approach, you can get the most out of your eCommerce marketing strategies by playing with different pricing strategies.

6. Focus on the Distribution and Fulfillment Plan

Developing a comprehensive distribution and fulfillment plan is essential for any eCommerce business. It ensures that your products reach the right customers in the right place at the right time.

Distribution and fulfillment plans are essential not only for delivering products to customers but also for marketing strategies. Focusing on these plans ensures that your products reach the right audience and that your customers’ experience is smooth. It will help you build brand loyalty and increase sales.

An effective distribution and fulfillment plan (aka order management strategies) can help you maximize profits while satisfying your customers.

Conclusion

These eCommerce marketing strategies can help you grow fast this 2023 and for years to come because they comprise a solid foundation for any eCommerce marketing plan. If you haven’t yet, remember to apply these strategies to your project to improve your eCommerce business’s growth.

The Value of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) For Small and Growing Businesses

What are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

Key performance indicators are a formal way of categorizing, measuring, and analyzing the enormous amount of data that gets generated and flows non-stop through your business, every day, in every department, at all levels. Financial information, customer behavior, employee satisfaction, and asset tracking are some examples of the types of data points that are available for you to monitor.

The purpose of KPI reporting is to track the health of a company. This helps prevent companies from developing blind spots that could hinder company growth. Similar to how the human body consists of dozens of smaller systems working in harmony toward a shared goal, KPI reporting measures individual systems such as customer acquisition cost, net profit margin, cost of goods sold (COGS), etc. to communicate which systems and processes are working well and others that require polishing.

KPI reporting exists to aid businesses, so a crucial question becomes: which KPIs should I track? A broad array of KPIs could be beneficial to a variety of businesses in all industries, so it’s essential to know which ones will be the most beneficial for your business to track. But here are two pieces of good news: businesses of any size don’t have to track every KPI in existence, and the appropriate group of KPIs is determined by the unique nature of the business at hand. If a company were to attempt to track all KPIs, there would be a high chance that the business would be overwhelmed by the volume of information to track, interpret, and remedy. Fortunately, there are different elements to consider and questions to reflect on to ensure the most appropriate KPIs are chosen—the ones that are most closely tied to the success of your business.

How to Choose the Best KPIs for Your Small Business

Goal setting, especially for small and growing businesses, typically predicates success. With fewer than 10 percent of small business owners achieving their yearly goals, it’s essential to take the steps necessary to stand out among the crowd of other businesses that compete with yours in your industry and market. Here are three company pillars to review when choosing small business KPIs:

1. Business Goals

Understanding the current “health” of your company is crucial. The “health” of a business consists of several factors—financial health, process and technology health, and the emotional/physical health of your employees. All of these factors play a key role in the overall success of your business on a long-term time horizon. After evaluating each facet of your company’s health, establishing a vision for sustainable growth can transform into plans of action that lead to attainable goals.

To avoid the disappointment of not achieving a goal, there are four elements to consider when goal planning.

  1. 1. Goals must be measurable. Without objective measurement, companies can become lost in the subjective features of a goal. Subjective interpretation of data might make you feel good, but ultimately will not result in realistic goals.
  1. 2. Goals must be actionable. Brainstorming and idea boards may be helpful tools, but without a call of movement, no momentum will be harnessed by your business in order to move forward.
  1. 3. A time frame should be assigned to every goal. Due dates are not sheer stress inducers; they are also accountability holders. If you don’t assign set time frames for every goal, it becomes easy to push off important tasks and hinder overall growth.
  1. 4. Consider breaking down larger, more challenging goals into small yet manageable milestones that comprise the overall goal. For example, a hearth and fireplace services company may desire to triple their sales this winter relative to last year. . This statement would be the overall goal, but there are many smaller steps that must be taken to achieve the overarching goal. Some examples of smaller milestones would be to:
    • Research and formulate a comprehensive, SEO-oriented strategy
    • Generate a timeline for hiring new (perhaps seasonal) employees
    • Perform research on local competitors 
    • Develop internal documentation focusing on service metrics and ways to improve them

The number of tasks needed to accomplish a 300% YoY sales increase would be longer than this, but these are just some examples of smaller goals that companies can use as proactive steps to achieve bigger, longer term goals. Almost always, it’s the assemblage of several smaller goals being completed that helps a company achieve large goals.

2. Business Stage

It is essential for a company to recognize which unique business stage it is at because it will determine which small business KPIs would be best suited. A new and growing company may want to focus primarily on KPIs related to gross vs. net revenue, whereas a more seasoned small business may want to concentrate on future growth elements such as new customer acquisition cost or branding efforts.

3. Business Model

When evaluating key performance indicators for adoption into your own company, the type of business (and industry) you’re in can determine the most relevant KPIs to monitor. 

Brick-and-mortar service businesses (plumbing, hearth services, HVAC, etc.) will want to know how long the average service call lasts. Labor costs are typically high in service-oriented businesses. Critical KPIs for this business type might be Gross Revenue Per Employee, or Direct Cost of Services Performed, or Inventory Turnover Rate.

Online businesses, including traditional eCommerce sites, will be very interested in website analytics KPIs like these: 

  • How many unique users visit the site every day / week / month?
  • Bounce rate. How many seconds does the average visitor stay on the site?
  • Conversion rate. What percentage of unique visitors buy something?
  • Percentage of visitor shopping carts that are abandoned before checkout?

Whatever business type or industry you’re in, there are KPIs that are directly proportional to the measurement of success.

Small Business KPIs For Every Company To Consider

The dynamic nature of each small business is unique, thus there is no “perfect” list of KPIs a company should track. There are, however, commonly used KPIs among smaller businesses that have proven to be effective. Below are eight widely adopted small business KPIs in today’s business climate.

1. Revenue Growth

This financial KPI informs leadership how a company’s income and sales are increasing. Revenue growth is associated with a set time frame (usually monthly), and the rate (a percentage) can be found with the following formula:

Monthly Growth Rate = (Total Revenue For Current Month – Total Revenue From Previous Month) / Previous Month’s Revenue

Revenue growth will increase, decrease, or plateau. This small business KPI is important because it ultimately reveals whether a company is on the right track for economic growth or if there is a need to course-correct.

2. Customer Acquisition / Retention Cost

Customer acquisition notifies a company how much it costs to acquire a customer. To calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC), the following formula is used:

= (Sales Expense + Marketing Expense) / # of New Customers

On a quarterly review, let’s say your marketing and sales outlay totaled $10,000 and netted 25 new clients, the CAC would be $400. The other side of that coin is customer retention, which reveals how fast a customer decides to stop doing business with your company, aka “churn rate.” Acquisition and retention create a ratio together and can help determine if there is a problem with the sales funnel or a customer support system. 

2a. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Though not a part of the original eight recommendations, a KPI that relates closely to customer retention and acquisition is the lifetime value of a customer. Understanding the CLV of any given customer allows your business to maximize every customer relationship. The following formula, which draws from other important small business KPIs, is used to calculate customer lifetime value:

= Average Order Size x Average Number of Purchases Per Year x Customer Retention Rate

3. Net Profit Margin

Net profit margin refers to how profitable your business is from the revenue it generates. One of the reasons why it is a common small business KPI is because it reflects how well a company is using its revenue. The following formula is used to find the net profit margin:

= Net Profit / Gross Revenue

4. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

The cost to deliver a single product or service (that is not connected to payroll) is known as the cost of goods sold (COGS). This small business KPI is critical to track because it allows you to monitor cash flow and bottom-line profitability.

5. Return On Investment (ROI)

To ensure that a company’s financial investments are generating both internal and external growth, the return on investment KPI compares a company’s revenue to the investment costs. Investments take on several forms such as individual marketing campaigns, business management software migration projects, employee education programs, etc. Where a small business tends to focus on customers and internal processes, a bigger enterprise is likely to focus on the entire supply chain.

6. Employee Productivity Investment / Turnover

Hiring and training employees is expensive! Including the employee productivity investment/turnover on a KPI report helps educate companies on how to improve employee satisfaction. If an employee stays at a company for a long time and works efficiently, there is a higher return on investment. It’s important not just to focus on hiring employees, but hiring employees who stick and stay. Improving the retention rate of valuable, skilled employees will improve the overall value of your business. The more you can automate your internal hiring processes, the less you’ll spend on employee acquisition.

7. Web Traffic and Conversion Rates

Incorporating an online presence comes with the responsibility of monitoring the influx or decline of web traffic. This small business KPI finds a company’s conversion rates by comparing the total number of sales to its web traffic.

This part of the KPI report can be impacted by trying new marketing campaigns or changing the design of a website. Does a simpler layout improve the ability to understand the product and find answers? Is a campaign working or does it result in flatline growth?

8. Social Media Engagement and Reach

Let’s face it. Social media is becoming more commercialized with a growing number of businesses—large and small—using social media platforms to increase brand awareness and influence new customers that may not be reached through traditional marketing channels. 

The social media engagement and reach KPI measures how effective a company’s social presence is on different platforms. The importance of staying connected to your customers cannot be overstated.  By tuning into this data, companies may find which social platforms are worth the time and monetary investment, as well as what kind of content their audience responds best to.

Though not an all-inclusive list of relevant KPIs, these small business KPIs and others have proved to be indispensable.

Using KPIs In Your Daily Decision Making

Once you’ve identified those performance metrics that best relate to the success of your business, you’ll want to stay on top of the information in real time. Generating, reviewing, and sharing an increasing number of individual reports can become cumbersome over time. 

Instead, consider business management software that allows you to customize a KPI dashboard. A KPI dashboard processes the raw data and presents a visual, at-a-glance layout of meaningful charts, graphs, facts, and figures that allow you to make more data-driven decisions and fewer gut-driven reactions in response to incomplete information.

Small Business KPIs Are Crucial To Success

An effective KPI report for small businesses will be action-driven, measured with accuracy, timely, and help you achieve your company goals. With the help of an all-in-one business software platform, KPI reporting for small businesses becomes an invaluable tool for any business to drill down and bring into focus the most meaningful success metrics, easy to interpret and communicate to others for the good of a company’s long-term health and prosperity.

Is Your Small Business Ready For The “New” Economy?

As states begin to re-open and businesses emerge into the somewhat filtered sunlight of a post-pandemic world will things be the same? The answer is no, at least for the short term.

By short term, I mean about six months to a year. That’s how long it’s likely going to take for consumers to feel 100 percent comfortable consuming again. That means eating, buying, traveling, playing, building, moving and spectating. It’s also how long it will take for many people to recover from the financial shock of not having a job and depleting their savings. It will take this long to have genuine, tested and trusted vaccines and treatments. It will also take this long for the memory of just how fragile and scary this world can be – and how easily it can fall apart – to fade enough so that people can once again have the confidence to freely spend money again.

Creating Your Game Plan

small business management team

If you’ve managed to survive this Great Suppression, then congratulations. You’ve done a few things right – more so than many of your counterparts who were not as fortunate. But as most of us who have run businesses for decades know, you’re only good as the last thing you do. Now you face the next challenge: navigating and even growing your business over the next six months to a year in this different environment. So what’s the game plan?

For starters, you’re going to make sure you’re operating a very, very safe business. Safe for your workforce and for your customers. You’ll do this not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because not doing so will cost you future business, employees and may even expose you to liabilities. So you’ll make sure that your workers are being regularly temperature checked. You’ll procure diagnostic tests and ask everyone to get tested (What if someone doesn’t want to? There’s no straight answer to that, so give it some thought.). You’ll want hand sanitizers, gloves and disinfectant everywhere. You’ll pay close attention to new guidance from OSHA and CDC. You’ll practice social distancing, require masks and limit meetings. You’ll have a cleaning schedule. You have to make your place of business spotless and you’ll hang signs everywhere informing every visitor of your actions (and theirs) to do so.

Next, you’ll let your people work from home. You’ve realized that this is not only feasible, but in some cases (surprisingly, I bet) more productive than before. You’ll invest in all the cloud technologies your business needs to ensure that your employees can do their jobs remotely. You’ll become more flexible and understanding of some of your employees’ fears of returning to work. You’ll also need to be firm. You’ll create written work from home policies to which both you and workers will agree. You’ll pay to upgrade your company’s IT security, hire more trainers and upgrade to better, faster and more productive cloud-based software. 

small business software challenges

You’ll start slow. You will take this current time to truly understand your overhead and what costs will be incurred to re-start, even with a skeleton staff. You’ll make hard estimates – based on prior data – about your future revenues and you’ll have to make tough decisions. Maybe you’ll phase in your re-opening until sales build. Maybe you’ll stay shut through the summer. Maybe you’ll re-launch with gusto.  All of this will depend on your fixed and variable cost infrastructure. Your taxes may not be due until July 15 but now’s a great time to talk to your accountant about this.

Your New Opportunities

You’ll take a few chances.  If you’ve emerged from this downturn with a few extra dollars still in the bank, you may consider taking advantage of the new market. There will be equipment up for sale and property to buy from other businesses who are in more desperate need. There will be competitors that will fold, and their customers will need your help. There will be older business owners who – exhausted by the latest “unprecedented” downturn – will be looking to exit and sell their companies. There will be talented workers that suddenly find themselves without jobs who you can snatch up and put to productive use. There will be financing at low interest rates. You’ve just emerged from another Darwin-moment, and you’re still around. Congratulations. Now take a few chances.

Finally, you’ll have learned a very important lesson. When you think back about this experience you’ll realize why you survived when many didn’t. Simply…you had cash. Maybe it was in the bank. Maybe it was credit availability. Maybe it was your ability to stop overhead altogether. But it’s all cash. The businesses that have enough cash are the ones that can weather even the worst downturns. So going forward you’ll do whatever it was that you did to do the same. Even when times are good – and they’ll be good again – you won’t overspend. You won’t be frivolous with your money. Of course, you’ll invest where you see the returns are substantial and probable. But you’ll always be conservative and frugal. That’s probably how you got here. That’s probably why you’re still here.

So the new economy is upon us. It won’t last that long. It’ll soon be back to the same economy that’s driven businesses for thousands of years. But during the next six to twelve months your job is to adapt. You’ve done a great job so far. But your job isn’t over. When you run a small business it never is.