Running a small to medium enterprise (SME) is tough. In South Africa, particularly, SMEs are faced with unique challenges like the weak economy, crime, and cash flow, not to mention the physical and financial burden of load-shedding. Prepare your SME for business success during the year ahead by following the tips we share in this article.

Prepare your SME for business success

Reflect & “take stock”

It is essential to take time to really reflect on where your company is positioned currently, and where you would like it to get to. Do a SWOT* Analysis, identify your key performance indicators (KPIs), set new goals, and prioritise these objectives. What’s your cash flow looking like and where can you save?

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

During this phase of introspection, really unpack what your competitors are getting right (and wrong too from your perspective). This could help you identify a plan to stay a couple of steps ahead in the coming year.

Target new audiences

If you want your business to grow in the coming year it could be time to identify new audiences. To do this well, you will need to identify the channels, messaging and offers that would make your business appeal to those audiences.

The famous Thomas Jefferson quote is relevant when it comes to this:
“If you want something you’ve never had. You must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

You must do MORE this year. Relook and enhance your SEO, social media, SEM, and content marketing efforts. Also, consider affiliate marketing, influencer marketing and collaborations to reach your goals.

Focus on the customers you have

Do not forget about the customers that already love what you do. Put a strategy in place that will help you build customer loyalty. Give them more of the things they enjoy. Send out targeted newsletters with discount codes, invest more in your best-selling products, communicate regularly and make it super easy to buy what you sell.

Adopt relevant technology trends

Technology is rapidly changing the way SMEs can function. The hard truth is that your business must adopt tech trends to remain relevant. However, as the market is so rife with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation software, it is easy to feel extremely overwhelmed. The important thing to do is to remain knowledgeable on what is available but to only adopt the ones that can truly help you enhance your business, save on costs and time, and reduce errors.

Doing so can help you streamline your business and help you do more with less.

Some of the latest buzz words in the tech industry to take note of include:

1. AI Website Analytics – AI-powered web analytics tools designed to automatically capture and analyse user interactions.
2. Influence Engineering – A marketing and communication approach that uses psychological and social principles to create messages that will captivate and persuade target audiences.
3. AdsPower – A browser designed for anti-detection purposes. It allows for multiple accounts and maximum online anonymity protection to conceal a user’s digital fingerprint, making it difficult for websites to identify and track their online activities.
4. AI Detector – A tool that makes use of AI to check whether a piece of content is original or the work of AI software.

Think outside the box – cultivate a creative culture

SMEs need a constant flow of fresh ideas to win over more customers in the year ahead. What kind of products and solutions can solve your customers’ problems? How can you improve the quality of your products? How will you market your products to all your audiences?

Data and trends can help you address these issues, but it is critical to get the creative juices flowing by making time to be innovative and think ahead.

Invest in skills training

You are never too old to learn anything new. Enrol in an online course this coming year or grow the skills of your important assets. Skills training is a cornerstone of personal and professional growth. It can increase productivity and help your company adapt to changing technologies faster in the year ahead.

Show you care

Customers like to associate themselves with the brands they trust. Many are expecting small and medium enterprises SMES to share their interest in the welfare of the community and the planet. Show you care by donating to a charity, reducing your carbon footprint, or investing in recyclable packaging and products.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. To grow and prosper you need to plan for success by reflecting, setting new goals, and prioritising them.
2. Grow your audience by doing more interaction across various channels.
3. Don’t neglect the customers you already have. Plan to enhance customer loyalty.
4. Stay up to date on technological advancements and adopt the tech trends that will benefit your business.
5. Make time to innovate and think of fresh ideas.
6. Invest in skills training for the benefit of your business and employees.
7. Pick a cause your company is passionate about and support it. Your customers want to know you care about something.

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