Blog

Let’s face it:  2020 has been a hard year for many businesses. While certain industries are thriving, others are really struggling to keep their heads above water. It’s still unclear when the pandemic will ebb permanently, and when the global economy will be back on track. One thing, however, is certain:  Things aren’t likely to return to normal for some time.  With that in mind, now’s a good time to think about how your business will evolve in 2021. To help you jumpstart your 2021 planning, here are a few Business Growth Ideas that could make a serious impact on your revenues and/or bottom line in the new year.  

Consider Automation 

One sure-fire way to improve your bottom line is to increase efficiency. And one way to increase efficiency is to deploy automation. What do we mean by automation? Well, it probably depends on type of business you have.  

Generally speaking, any type of tasks that is repetitive and doesn’t need a lot of thought is a good candidate for automation. Beyond that, different businesses have different needs and processes. For example, a service business might find ways to automate new customer intake so that the process is less time consuming, whereas a product manufacturer might find ways to automate parts of its production line in a new and innovative way. 

That said, there are a few areas that most businesses can automate. Marketing is an excellent area to look into, as there are a wide variety of marketing automation software packages available at a wide range of price points. Marketing automation can dramatically save time, but also make your marketing more accurate. Another area that is often a good candidate for automation is invoicing.  

Revamp Your Brand and Messaging 

The pandemic has changed many aspects of how people live their lives. Because of that, their needs and desires have changed. What’s more, where many people are facing economic hardship, what they value has changed. What they purchase—and why they purchase it—has also likely shifted in the wake of long-term confinement and social distancing.  

This might be an excellent time to revamp your brand and brand message to reflect what your customers’ needs and pain points are now. Whatever your product or service is, just remember that you need to focus on how you solve your customers’ problems and think about other business growth ideas to solve these problems.  

Dive into Personalization 

Personalization has been around for quite some time, but thanks to innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), personalization has been the key to growth for many businesses. Personalization today goes far beyond simply putting someone’s name in a sales email. Today, it’s more about creating personalized digital experiences that reflect each individual customers’ needs. The good news is that you don’t need to develop your own sophisticated AI or have a data scientist in house. There are actually a number of off-the-shelf software systems that include personalization.  

There are a few things to look for if you want to deliver a more personalized experience. You likely need a customer relationship management (CRM) system that can integrate with your website. This will allow you to track your customers’ activities on your site and then deliver personalized experiences whenever they log on. If you’re in e-commerce, you can use personalization software to deliver timely, custom offers on products that your customers have previously bought, or you could use it to suggest similar or complementary products. Or if you’re an online publisher, software can be used to deliver personalized content, driving up engagement and readership.  

These are just a few ideas to help you grow your business in 2021. If you need more help, Thankz has just what you need.