Be a Part of these Trending Practices
BC Marketing Solutions has constructed a list of trending business actions that gathered momentum in the past year that you can incorporate for this year. If you’re new to the business game, this is the perfect time to build these practices into your strategy or if you already have a business, it’s never too late to incorporate these ideas. Either way, we’re here for business consulting to help you figure out how you can capitalize on these opportunities.
Sustainable Practices
The focus for environmentally conscious brands is trending. Studies have shown that consumers are wanting a brand that is environmentally conscious. They’re even willing to switch from products and services they’re currently using to a brand that is more sustainable. Furthermore, when asked over half of people searching for a job preferred to work for a company that implemented sustainable practices. Environmentally conscious decisions bring an irrefutable intrinsic value for both consumers and your work team.
This information gives you an opportunity to create an ethical business plan or revamp your current business model to utilize sustainable practices. By doing so, you’re proving to consumers you hear their want and not only that, you’re willing to meet their want.
It’s not enough to just be a business in today’s society, we need continuously strategize on how to create responsible business practices. This could look like changing certain products in your store, re-evaluating your infrastructure, determining if your distribution has the lowest carbon foot-print possible, waste reduction, or using hybrid online platforms.
Consumers want Digital
Even before the pandemic online shopping was on the trend. After the pandemic e-commerce stores really became the big trend. Most businesses today offer an online platform to shop, order products, or book services.
This brings us to hybrid business tactics. If you have a brick and mortar store, you can still keep it or set one up. But, you have an opportunity to incorporate digital platforms to increase lead generation or hold retention rate. A hybrid tactic may look like grocery stores including home delivery or curbside pickup via website or app. For other brick and mortar stores this may look like getting your inventory online for e-commerce shopping. The hybrid approach blends physical locations with a virtual presence. This can be done to an already established business or a new one.
Virtual Tip:
When creating a website or app, consumers want a seamless experience. This means they’ll want to be able to navigate your website, search items, shop, add to cart, and checkout with ease.
Contactless Payment
Payment methods are changing and consumers expect more payment options. As a business owner you can prepare for these interactions by choosing the correct point of sales system (POS) for your company. There is also an increase of buy now pay later options for e-commerce shopping. The option to be able to use mobile applications for payment is another solution that consumers love. This raises conversion rates when checking out of digital platforms. Another popular payment option that might work for your business is subscription plans for services. There are a number of businesses today that successfully incorporate monthly packages to their services or goods.
Benefits from Incorporating Subscriptions:
Subscriptions can be a great tool to utilize in your business’s strategy because it helps promote retention as well as helps with future forecasting. When people unsubscribe an automation can be setup for them to say why. Even though it’s a negative that they’re unsubscribing, this gives you an opportunity to use their feedback to improve your business practices.
Create a Connection
I think we can all agree that the past couple of years have been difficult with the pandemic and moving forward has became more normal. However, it has still left consumers feeling distressed. This has led them to search for not only high end products and service but also companies that are more empathetic and personal. Consumers want a company they can resonate with.
Forming a connection with consumers has never been easier. There are a number of social media platforms to choose from. The biggest tip BC Marketing Solutions can offer our clients when choosing which social media platforms to use is to think about which one your audience would be on. Then content creation that cultivates a positive personalized message can be posted. Social media also benefits your company in the form of engagement with consumers. As they reply to your posts, this gives an opportunity to interact with consumers which will give them the overall validation of being heard and ultimately valued.
Social Media Tips:
When creating content make sure to align your business with the audience. It’s important to make sure you’re on the correct platform and reaching out to your audience. To hold an audience’s attention remember to implement 70% of your posts as entertainment. If you need help figuring out which platform or how to create content that aligns with both you and your audience contact us for help. We’re here for you every step of the way.
Local Businesses
It may sometimes feel intimidating to be a small local business. However, small can be quite mighty. There has been concrete proof that consumers have shown loyalty to local businesses during the strife of the pandemic and will continue to show them support in the years to come.
Local businesses can touch on all of the tactics we discussed today in this article. They can utilize that they’re a more sustainable choice because consumers going to them instead of ordering from somewhere further are lowering the carbon foot-print, they can capitalize on how they’re keeping resources within the community, they can do community outreach/networking projects, they can benefit from hybrid platforms, and they can create extra special content creation since they know the people in their communities the best.
Make the Change
Your flexibility to adapt is going to determine how much of a competitive edge your company has. Whether your business is big or small it faces many challenges and we’re ready to help you arise to the occasion. If you need help mapping out a strategy that incorporates key concepts from this article or need other ideas, contact us for your complimentary discovery meeting.
Schedule your Discovery Meeting
All discovery meetings are completely complimentary. This is a time designated for us to get to know your business’s mission, challenges, and goals. BC Marketing Solutions wants to map out the best plan of action for you.