What you need to think about when launching your business
Know your competitors
Know your competitors before launching your business. It is important to know what they are doing, how they are doing it, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. This will help you better prepare for the future.
A competitor analysis can be done internally or externally. The former is a self-analysis of your company’s strengths and weaknesses, while the latter is an analysis of a competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. This information can be gathered through research or by asking people in the industry about them.
There are many ways to research your competition:
Use Google Adwords Keyword Tool, which helps you find keywords that your competitors rank for
Use Alexa rank, which helps you find websites that rank higher than yours
Use Similarweb, which tells you information about websites similar to yours
Naming your business
Choosing a name for your business is one of the first things you will need to do before you start your company. It can be tough, but with some research and brainstorming, you can find the perfect name for your business.
Naming your business is an important step in starting a new business. You should spend time researching what names are already taken, what names are available and what would be appropriate for your industry. You will also want to think about how the name sounds and if it will make sense to customers.
This section provides information on how to come up with a good name for your company.
Choosing a name for your business is not an easy task. You have to make sure that it is memorable, attractive, and easy to pronounce. And the best way to do this is by conducting research and branding.
There are many things to consider when choosing a business name. But if you follow these steps, you will have a better chance of choosing the perfect name for your company.
Naming a business is not as simple as just picking a word or phrase and sticking with it. There are many things to consider before settling on a name for your company.
The name of your business needs to be memorable, on-topic, and relay what your business is about. It is important to research the name and make sure it doesn’t have any negative connotations with other brands.
First, you should choose a domain that is available so that no one else can use it before you do. Then, when choosing a business name, think about what your company does and how it wants to be perceived by the public. Finally, make sure the domain and company names match up in terms of spelling and length.
You can easily find a business name and its corresponding URL on platforms such as GoDaddy. These days, it is possible to use alternatives to .com, but be aware of the business URL you will be competing with if the .com version has already been taken. It could be that the .com version is located in a region you are not selling or working in, but keep in mind the future. Are you going to expand to different markets?
Some businesses buy up all the relevant regional domain names when they first set up. You need to research carefully and keep your business expansion plans in mind when choosing your business and corresponding domain name.
A step I always take when I’m choosing a business name is to check on GoDaddy if the domain name is available. If you are planning on working with Web3, it is a good idea to also check the blockchain domain name as well. You can check it on platforms such as Unstoppable Domains.
Pick a CMS system, or have a custom website built
There are thousands of CMS systems available, where you can either build your business website yourself or have someone build it for you. If you are not tech savvy, the best option is to go with a simple website, built in one of the more popular CMS systems, and have someone do it for you.
HOT TIP
The more content you have, the slower your site can become. You need to ask yourself the question: Do I need to have my website in twenty languages, with a thousand blog posts? Keeping it simple, is often the best way to have a nice, fast website that people will engage in. By targeting your content, and focusing on SEO, you can do more with less.
Develop a content strategy
Create content clusters around a specific topic and from there write targeted blog posts or articles that you can share on social media and possibly send to news outlets for cross-linking.
Turn your posts into LinkedIn articles to drive engagement and repurpose your content. This will help you with your content strategy, without you having to write a thousand articles that are housed on your website, keeping your website light.
Document the internal content process
By documenting how you are going to produce and distribute your content, along with the subject matter, you will hone your content strategy and do more with less.
There are myriad self-help content strategy templates out there. It is easy to pick one of them and find your niche, which you should’ve figured out from your prior research.
An easy outline could be:
Make a list of relevant content subjects, based on research, your target market and the products you are selling
Cluster the subjects together
Start writing based on keyword research and your own knowledge. You might find there is one subject you can talk all day about. Focus on that and tune it to fit into one of the content clusters. If you are having trouble writing, you can either hire someone to do it for you or get it started with an Ai writing tool, such as Rytr. I often use the latter to get me started and then expand on the topic.
If you don’t consider yourself a writer, start by making lists of all the things you think are important around a subject. Then work on them each day by adding a sentence under each list bullet point. Or, publish your lists as they are on LinkedIn, tagging relevant businesses or people if you can. If you can’t think of who to tag, don’t worry. Just add some relevant hashtags and publish anyway.
Optimize your website for SEO, PPC, and conversions
Don’t get bogged down by the word conversions. It literally means people who have converted from visitors to sales on your website. PPC stands for Pay Per Click and is one of the standard advertising methods for website conversions. I often have better luck in my own businesses with Facebook ads. Remember to consider your demographic when looking at PPC and that with good SEO and PR outreach, you can actually get a good amount of conversions without forking out thousands in PPC advertising.
If you really need a push to get more sales conversions on your website, think about where your target market is. Would it be worth investigating alternative methods of advertising?
There are many ways to advertise, and while my focus is often on digital, we can’t forget the more traditional methods and the emerging methods of advertising.
Here’s a list of a few helpful resources and ideas to help you get more sales and conversions overall:
Advertising in print - I haven’t had any luck with this, but maybe I wasn’t looking in the right publications
Advertising on billboards - Even Discord advertises on traditional billboards
Sending out old-school paper mailings and gift boxes to potential clients or prospects
Networking in-person, on social media networks, Reddit, quora, and any place online where your target market might be lurking
Knowledge sharing on subjects without necessarily gaining anything from it
Sending your products to influencers, or influential people and asking them to mention you can be problematic, but you never know when you might hit the big time on this one. Many influencers require payment for sharing your products, so be careful with this one and do your research
Then there are the digital channels:
TikTok
Youtube
LinkedIn - This one is generally expensive, check your target market and possible returns before investing on this one. You might consider using LinkedIn Sales Navigator in combination with LinkedIn ads, or as an alternative to it. Seedily are doing a great job of using Sales Navigator in their outreach and have even built a business on top of it.
Consider your best qualities
Learn to recognize what motivates you
Look at the finishes that make you choose to buy clothing or a car
Look at the aspects of color, tone, and theme
Establish an identity for your business using different branding techniques and methods
Employ content writers to create ads, newsletters, online shop copy, webpages, social media posts, etc.
Make use of great headlines from advertising experts
Secure a blue chip customer to be your spokesperson
Register at a pitch event
Explain why you are launching your business
At this point, you should review your branding, marketing strategy, tone of voice, and design system you want to use
Cover all the social media channels and content types: video, photo
Do PR for a powerful launch and content distribution
