Are you planning to run a business? How do you start your business?
Don’t worry, in this era, you can get various business opportunity references easily. One of them is an online business. This business model is in high demand because it requires relatively low capital. Also, you can freely run an online business from anywhere.
You don’t need to open a physical store to run a business. Now, a business can be run only with an internet connection. Many references to start an online business, you can find online business ideas for beginners through the internet.
However, before starting an online business, you must determine what products you want to sell. Is the product interested in the market? At least the products you sell can be a solution for your target market.
There are several strategies you can carry out in building a business. We have summarised it for you:
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1. Looking For Product Uniqueness
Unique products can be created. The most important thing is that you have to make sure the products you sell must be of high quality and needed by the community. Unique products can be produced from your hobby. For example, you are a music enthusiast, you can sell band T-shirts, traditional musical instruments, or a collection of classic LPs.
Kendra Custom, a unique painting shoe product from Indonesia
Discover the uniqueness of your product. For cases like the product above, you can create an exclusive package for the product you are selling.
You can create a product package that contains a musical instrument that sells in a package with a music t-shirt and a record of The Beatles. To make it more interesting, you can package it with a wooden box with a limited visual design.
Another example of a unique product is the product of painted shoes from Indonesia, Kendra Custom. This product features shoes painted in attractive visuals and out of the box. Unique products usually have a high sale value. Don’t be surprised if many people are willing to reach into their pockets to have your unique product.
The price of a pair of shoes usually ranges from $ 50, but after being painted with a unique design, the price can be higher than usual.
2. Understand the strengths of your product
If you have found a unique product value, you must also understand the product you are selling. This way is useful when determining target markets and designing marketing strategies. For example, if you are a professional photographer. And you choose to offer wedding photography services.
This kind of business may have many competitors. For your business to grow, you have to answer many questions, including what are the strengths of your product? Why should people choose your product? What should you do in the face of competition?
These questions require you to understand the strengths of your product in depth. Never run a business just following a growing trend. It will be useless because it won’t last long. This case happened to the coffee shop business which is now a trend in Indonesia. Many coffee shops are out of business because they follow the trend without exploring the advantages of their products.
The coffee business is very profitable. You can get up to 100 percent profit from selling a cup of coffee. However, without good governance and plans, the impact will be dangerous for business continuity. Some coffeeshop even buys millions of dollars worth of espresso machines. As the business goes on, they get a big loss because they do not have the right business strategy.
3. Research on Competitors
This stage is important for a business person to do. Remember, when you start a business, there are hundreds or even millions of other people who already run a business similar to yours. This research stage help business for beginners to understand market tastes.
Improve your business performance by researching competitors. (Photo: Doc. Hebatmedia)
Look for as many references as possible about your competitors, pay attention to what they do to the product.
You can find businesses that are similar to yours on the Internet easily. Applying methods of observing, imitating, and modifying can be helpful. From this method, you will find answers about what competitors are selling? Why do their products sell? Why are their products sought after by people? What’s interesting about business competitors? What kind of content do they serve? Look for at least five competitors as a reference.
4. Become a Market Solution
Based on CBS Insight’s research, 42 percent of start-up companies fail to develop because they don’t provide solutions for their markets. You don’t need to answer all consumer problems. Choose several problems that you most likely can solve through your product. The best place to find consumer problems is social media.
It is undeniable that social media has a large number of visitors and users. Look for social media that provides business applications and is in demand by business people. Facebook, for example, social media made by Mark Zuckerberg provides marketplace features for its users.
You can start with Facebook groups. Try to identify problems from group members. Business groups that offer commodity-based products such as fruits, paper, coffee, and others are quite busy on Facebook.
Competition often occurs between its members. In Indonesia, they often keep the original prices of commodities to avoid competition. They assume competitors will reduce prices if they know the market price. This case raises unfair competition. Maybe you can find a solution through the products you offer.
5. Determine the Target and Promote Your Business
Group your target markets according to their demographics, for example, their sex, occupation, residence, age range, and hobbies. Through this data, you can determine the right and effective promotional strategies. If you do promotions on social media Facebook and Instagram, you have to pay several costs to use paid features. The cost of advertising on Facebook ranges from USD 5 to USD 50,000 per week.
The cost of advertising on social media is quite expensive. That’s why you have to determine the right target market so that the costs you incur have a greater profit.
6. Run a Digital Marketing Strategy
Digital marketing strategies require a professional website. Verisign’s research says that 56% of people don’t trust products that don’t have an official website. Professionally managed websites are like your office, and online stores are just the tools.
An online business without an official website will be useless. If consumers do not trust your product, they will switch to another product. Most likely your competitors already have an official website. And many businesses similar to yours already run digital marketing using professional websites.
7. Optimise Your Website
The next step is to optimize your website performance. This method is important for your website to be on the top of the internet search list. Currently, the most widely used online search engine is Google. You can use these several methods for your website if you want its position at the top of Google search listings, as follows:
Digital Marketing Chanel (Ilustration: Rizaldi Abror)
- Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques
SEO is a technique used by webmasters to win online search competitions. This method is useful so that your business is on the first page of Google search. If a business is at the top of Google’s search listings, the opportunity to be found by potential customers will be easier. Google has a fairly complex algorithm, so that makes digital professionals try their website at the top of Google’s list.
- Serve Valuable Content
How to create content that is SEO-friendly and worth selling? Make content that can be trusted. Never spread fictitious information on your content. Visual content is more desirable because it is interesting and pleasing to the eye. Untrusted content runs the risk of being considered spam by Google.
Present informative content according to audience needs. Do your research first by finding popular content that is relevant to your business. Present informative content according to audience needs. Do your research first by finding popular content that is relevant to your business. Look for content references that most people like.
After presenting SEO-friendly content, use persuasive call-to-action techniques. For example “Contact us now”, “Ask Our Professional Team”, “Consult With Our Team Free.”
- Use High Search Volume Keywords
Looking for high-volume search keywords needs to be done for SEO techniques. But using keywords like this is not as easy as imagined. Your competition may use keywords that you choose too. Moreover, the cost to use these keywords in ads is quite expensive.
But you can use several tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Keyword Everywhere tool to search for popular keywords. For example, if you present information about a business opportunity, you can use “local business opportunity, small business opportunity from home, or business opportunity for sale” as keywords.
If you work on digital marketing services, you can use “best digital marketing services, digital marketing service near me or Bali SEO service” as a keyword.
Keywords like that have a relatively high search volume. You should look for keywords that are relatively low competition but still sell. Well, this skill must be studied more deeply.
8. Collaborate With Digital Marketing Agency Services
Running a digital marketing strategy does drain energy, time, and money. Working with a digital marketing agency is undoubtedly very helpful. But before choosing a digital marketing service provider, you should pay attention to these requirements:
- Select an Experienced Agency
Digital marketing service providers indeed specialize in their fields. Choose an experienced and credible agency. They will help your online business find its potential markets and consumers.
- Have a Professional Team
In general, digital marketing companies have a team of professionals in their fields. The professional team has requirements that consist of the webmaster, SEO experts, content creators, graphic designers, and digital campaigners.
- Focus on ROI (Return of Investment)
For those who use digital marketing services, choose digital marketing services that can be proved through the effectiveness of the product campaigns they promote. Reliable digital marketers are happy to suggest a marketing plan that is suitable for their clients’ needs.
Choose an agency that focuses on ROI. The agency will prioritize the conversions that occur from the promotional strategy that you are running. So the value of the investment that you spend on renting their services will be reciprocated through multiple benefits.
Editors: Rizaldi Abror
