Farida Yahya: 10 Ways to Maximize Grants for your Business

Almost every business owner’s dream is to get access to unlimited funding, however, some grant organizations like to know exactly what you need the funds for, and how you will maximize it. To help you identify how to grow your business via additional investment, I’ve compiled a list of 10 areas to consider:

Infrastructure growth

Your infrastructure needs to grow alongside your business. This could be you renting a bigger office or warehouse. It could also involve acquiring new computers, hardware, or vehicles. Generally, a reflection of how well your business is doing and putting resources into your business’ assets can sustain this development.

Enter new markets

You are limiting your growth if you are only looking for opportunities in your city or country. There is truly a universe of opportunities out there. When you take your business internationally, it is an incredible way to grow your business and offer your services or products to a more extensive client base.

While there might be a price to pay for the exposure, the investment is worth it. For instance, you need to buy a plane ticket if you will be traveling out of your country to research a new target market and market your items to them. Paying for thorough market research in another country you wish to enter could give you the boldness to make that next major business decision.

Contract workers

You could consider employing more “intrapreneurial” staff, that is, people who have an enterprising mentality but work inside a business. These people are priceless for your business future.

Here, you can offer new solutions or ideas for your business, and they are more willing to take risks when faced with a problem. Those are the exact qualities that are key to your business’ prosperity because they will catapult the rate of your business growth.

Mobile first

Research studies have found that most shoppers use a smartphone to access websites when shopping. Imagine the amount of traffic and money you will be leaving on the table if your website is not optimized for mobile devices. Designing a mobile-friendly website will help to enhance your customers’ experience, boost sales, and push your business forward.

Put resources into PR

Having your business mentioned in an editorial article can be 100 times more valuable and about 90% more successful than advertising. You will be able to raise brand awareness because readers are more open to reading about business than pay attention to just random ads.

While I am not saying that advertising is not effective; a solid PR campaign can get the message out and also offer higher credibility to your business since it will be mentioned by a trusted third party.

Build a strong presence on social media

Social media is a cost-effective and powerful way to grow an online presence for your business. These platforms allow you to target a specific audience for your ads right from their interests to age, sex, lifestyle habits, and location.

Studies found that over 70% of shoppers are more likely to buy from a business that has a strong presence on social media. You will be spending a bit more to get a huge return on investment.

Invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO helps to boost the visibility of your business’ website on search engines like Bing and Google. SEO is a powerful business tool that helps boost the position of your website on the search results page based on some factors such as backlinks from trustworthy websites.

It is worth investing in SEO because when the ranking of your website increases, the traffic to your site will also increase. There are different ways to boost your ranking. One of the most powerful methods is to publish interesting, genuine, and unique content.

This will surely increase your site ranking as well as establish you as an expert in your field since you will be sharing your expertise and knowledge on a subject, thereby enabling your business to add to the abundance of knowledge accessible on the web. Therefore, hiring an SEO specialist can expand your business profile, contributing to your growth and profitability in the future.

Learning opportunities for your team

The knowledge and skills of your employees must become advanced as your business grows. Putting resources into extra training can enable your business to prosper, whether it’s team-building, streamlining your administrations, or venturing into new regions.

Training offers a chance to retain staff because they will be motivated and happy to work for a company that cares about their personal and professional development. But, the skills development should not end with your employees. You need to upskill yourself as well.

As an entrepreneur, you may discover that you need to work on some areas. Taking an online course or attending a training program increases your understanding of how to run your business properly.

Cultivate company culture

This isn’t just about your staff and clients but also about your stakeholders, suppliers, and distributors. Come up with ways to build close relationships with them, this will strengthen your brand’s character and give a competitive edge to your company while improving your employees’ commitment.

Show your people that value them and their loyalty to your business, you can organize customer events, plan surprise birthday parties, go on group field trips, and so on.

Integrate channels for customer service

We are in the 21st century and customers have become more impatient about waiting for responses to their queries. There are so many channels that you can use to improve your customer service such as instant chat, email, virtual assistant, social media, and so on.

You need to make sure that your customer service channels are manned by professionals who are efficient and effective in dealing with queries. At some point, you should consider employing a full-time customer service agent to guarantee fast replies to comments and questions, while you focus on other important aspects of your business.

In summary, it is essential to assess the core aspects of your business to maintain growth. By gradually implementing these changes, your business will succeed and maintain its competitive edge in the ever-growing marketplace.

Do you agree with these points? Let me know what you think.

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