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Measurement of Success in Business

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StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Article |Measurement of Success|Measurement of Success in BusinessSuccess is a relative term and does not only mean different things for different people but also different things for different businesses. What makes success even more tricky to measure or define is that it also changes over time or circumstance. What could be a success today might be underperformance the next.

As an entrepreneur, the one thing that you want to see is growth, but that growth does not necessarily mean that the bank account is filling up nicely. So how does one go about measuring success in business?

Looking at the business’s financials

Obviously, business financials are a good indication of whether the business is successful or not. No business can survive without money and no business can grow with it either. But when looking at the money, one must focus on all three the major streams or trails of money, the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement.
The income statement shows you how much money the business made over a period. It indicates the profits and losses of the business and gives an indication of the measure of profitability during the specified time.

Most entrepreneurs who are new to the game will place a very high value on the income statement and can tend to forget about the balance sheet.

The balance sheet is one of the most important financial indicators seeing that it depicts the health of the venture. It measures how much you owe and how much you own. A successful entrepreneur will home in on the debt of the business and strategically align it with the income statement to pay off the debt as soon as possible while still making a profit.

The cash flow of the business shows the state of how liquid the cash in the business is. When there is a cash flow problem, it can cause some serious strain on the other two financial aspects and ultimately lower the success of the business.

As the management writer for write my essay service puts it, “being successful does not necessarily mean that the business is debt, free, but rather that the debt repayments can be made without constraining the cash flow.”

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures eBook

Customer satisfaction signs

When a customer has a bad experience, they probably will not buy from your business or use your services again. As an entrepreneur, you will know how important customer satisfaction is. Not only does it indicate that the business is doing well, but it is also a reflection of your efforts.

There is a certain pride involved with customer satisfaction, especially if you have poured everything into your business. To get a bad review or to deliver bad service, is like a slap in the face and an attack on your character.

It sometimes happens that bad experiences go unnoticed and this is only because it was not picked up and dealt with. There are many tools available that will help the young entrepreneur to measure how satisfied the clients are.

Surveys and questionnaires are excellent tools that provide an in-depth quality check of your products or services. The review does not necessarily have to be bad to make improvements.

Reviews are very specific and when a bad review is received, it should be dealt with immediately. A bad review could be turned into something positive if the customer feels as though their concerns were heard.

These reviews could also be posted on the company website so that people can see that real people gave their opinions. When you see mostly good reviews and positive surveys, it is a good indication that the company is successful.

The new clients that come in

A successful business will show gradual growth over time. When a business is turning a profit, it generally means that it is good health and successful. However, when the profits stay stagnant, it means that the business is not growing. New customers are a much more reliable indicator of the success of a business.

When you know how many new customers you get, you can measure the success and projected growth of the company. On the other hand, when the same old customers keep you afloat, then it might be time to invest in a marketing strategy. Customers come and go, but if there is not a general influx of customers, they will only end up going.
To see if new customers are supporting you, draw up a client list with email addresses to see if your sales are limited to existing clients.

The statistics writer and researcher at the essay writing service says that once you have a client list and a system in place, you can measure how well your marketing strategies are doing. Every time you launch a new product or run a promotion, you can run averages on your customers and establish which strategy is the best for bringing in new clients.

StrategyDriven Organizational Performance Measures Article |Measurement of Success|Measurement of Success in BusinessIt is not just about the clients

A business can only sustain growth if the people who are doing the work are doing it well. As a young entrepreneur, you might not have too many people working for you, but as your business grows, so also will your list of employees.

One way to measure the success of the business is to see how well the staff are doing. When they are discontent, it could spill over into the quality of their work and threaten the customer experience.

Running performance reviews is an excellent way of finding out where the bad spots are. Many entrepreneurs fail to do performance reviews because they do not want to step on the toes of the employees. The thing is, if they are not made aware of the areas where they lack, they will never know how they can improve.

It also serves as a morale booster when there are performance bonuses on the line. Nothing puts a smile on the faces of employees like money in the bank.

Stay on top of market trends

A successful business is one that keeps with the times. Technology has changed everything in the world, and it continues to change every industry. When your business is successful, it does not mean that you can relax and keep on with the same recipe, expecting the same results.

Unfortunately, you need to keep up with the times and the best way to do this is to see what the competition is doing. If your business is aimed at service delivery and you do not apply the newest techniques, then you will start to see a decline in profits.

Look to yourself

There is a bit of subjectivity involved in measuring the success of a business, which is why you should measure what your business is doing against your own expectations. It does not matter how well it is doing on paper.
If it does not meet your expectations, the business could still be unsuccessful. You need to be content with the growth of the business and if you are not, then a new plan can be drawn up.

Conclusion

The success of any business depends on so many factors that it is hard to put it all into one category. The main thing to remember is to continuously evaluate the state of your business and track where things are going well and where there is a need. The more you tinker with the things you do not like, the more successful the business will become.

About the Author

StrategyDriven Expert Contributor | Tiffany HarperTiffany Harper is a freelance writer from New York. She loves to share her experience through blog posts. She began writing from the professional writer service for Write my essay and later for buy college papers. Please do not hesitate to contact her on twitter.

Don’t Get Left Behind With Poor Marketing, It’s Time To Step Up

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Poor Marketing|Don't Get Left Behind With Poor Marketing, It's Time To Step UpTechnology is evolving rapidly and nothing is stagnant anymore. Our daily life changes, everything around us changes. So how could Marketing be stagnant? It has evolved and with the tools now available we have the greatest efficiency ever. Let’s take the things from the beginning.

What actually is Marketing?

The truth is that the word Marketing is quite misunderstood in different countries and means different things to different people. When you hear the word Marketing, you may think that it is something that only large companies and corporations use.The reality is completely different. You use Marketing every day in your business and you do not know it. Marketing is the coordinated and organized effort of a business to meet the needs of consumers by promoting its goods or services. In this way we manage to attract new customers, build relationships and gain loyal consumers. No matter how good your product or service is, without a clear Marketing Plan you will not be able to attract customers and grow your business. So Marketing is vital in a business no matter how big or small it is. It is also a basic expense of a business and not something optional that you can skip. Which is what makes lending so important and small business loans can really contribute massively. You should look at funding options available and see how they can help build your strategy.

Audience Targeting

Targeting the audience is more than accurate. We can show an advertisement for example to Women, 26 – 45 years old, who live in the area of Utah, have 1 child and are interested in sports items and have it specifically targeted to them depending on the type of advertising platform we choose. This is when SEO becomes a huge thing for businesses.

Measurable Results

We have at our disposal really valuable information and statistics. For example, we can see what users did when they saw your ad, how long they watched your video and how long they browsed your site. Which ad was most effective, which one had the most clicks and which demographic audience was most interested. And all this is just the beginning.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of Digital Marketing is spectacular. The most important thing is not that it turns out. How can you prove, for example, how effective the billboards you put up in the city columns were? In contrast, the digital poster you promoted on Facebook will tell you how many people saw it, what they did when they saw it, how many were interesting and to which demographic and age audience they belonged. Facebook ads can be great but you should certainly look to hire an expert to ensure you’re hitting the right people.

Speed

So imagine that you want to promote an event quickly, very quickly. You want things done on the fastrack. While it will take days to create and send a brochure, a Social Media campaign can not only “run” in 24 hours but also bring results. You should never be slow with your marketing because you can be sure that other companies are nailing it and it’s time that you do too.

Five Tips To Enable Your Start-Up For Long-Term Success

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StrategyDriven Starting Your Business Article |New Start-up|Five Tips To Enable Your Start-Up For Long-Term SuccessStarting a new business is very challenging. Just as you begin to make progress, a fresh new challenge awaits you around the corner. Getting caught up in the difficulties of the short-term running of a business can be detrimental to long-term success.

Many start-up owners don’t realize the task that faces them when establishing a business. In most cases, the reasons for starting a venture are due to personal circumstances and work preferences. Too often, owners or management are short-sighted, leading to quick failure. 90% of new start-ups fail, and less than half of business last longer than five years.

Your start-up doesn’t have to contribute to the above statistics. By taking some strategic actions in the early stages, you can give your company a strong chance at survival. If you’ve launched a new business and are eager for success, here are five tips to enable your start-up for prosperity in the long-term.

1.Create a business plan and stick to it

Business plans are key to long term success, particularly for start-ups. In fact, research has shown that companies that operated using a business plan were almost twice as likely to experience growth and success than those that didn’t.

A business plan should be the first course of action. It outlines the goals and strategies of the start-up. It also includes detailed market information, competitor analysis, logistics, operations, and financial projections.

Your business plan should be referred to when making key decisions, and it must be adapted if circumstances change.

2. Source funding

Depending on the type of business that you’re running, you may need significant revenue to get it off the ground. If you have employees, they need to be paid regularly, meaning healthy cash-flow is a necessity. While you may have the financial means to operate on a monthly basis, don’t neglect the importance of cash flow. 82% of businesses fail due to cash flow problems.

3. Professional financial advice

Calculating financial projections, dissecting accounts, and managing cash flow can become extremely overwhelming very quickly. Many start-up owners don’t have experience in this field, making the financial side of the business even more stressful.

Considering U.S. banking history, you should seriously consider hiring a professional financial advisor to guide you through important financial processes. This can save you in the long-term and can prevent unnecessary losses due to inexperience.

4. Establish a clear target market

Having a clear idea of who your customers are is an absolute must for start-ups. It’s essential to know your audience, their interests, and what they seek in a product or service. Marketing plans and strategies should be customer-focused and targeted ads should be a key feature.

Never settle when it comes to your customer base. Always seek to expand through lead generation and various marketing techniques.

5. Be data-driven

Through website analysis and social media insights, a modern business generates a lot of data. This data should be thoroughly analyzed to gain a deeper understanding of customers and the market.

Look to analytics to guide your start-up with executive decision making. Analyzing the right information can lead to significant long term success.

Top 5 Business Marketing Strategies

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article | Top 5 Business Marketing StrategiesGrowing a business isn’t simple. To begin with, you want a workable idea. From that point, you have to find a lucrative market, specify a target market and also have something worth selling them. And without the Ideal marketing approaches to fuel your development, screaming a profit and remaining afloat is virtually impossible.

You need the correct marketing approaches to survive and conquer the market. So, here are some of them.

Here are B2C, C2C, C2B, and B2B marketing strategies that you can adapt in your business.

1. Niche-Driven Strategy

Many kinds of research have shown that the fastest-growing firms are generally experts at a closely targeted market. This ought to be an area of the business that you know completely, a distance in which you may become an unmatched specialist and pioneer.

Niche makes all your advertising and marketing efforts simpler since it tends to specify just what you do and instantly distinguish you from the competition.

2. Get Feedback

Getting feedback from the target market is not a choice, it is a necessity. This B2B marketing strategy has to be driven by information over anything else and never actually know your consumers, your marketing plan is as great as guessing. Among the most effective ways to begin getting feedback would be to employ a questionnaire procedure in your promotion procedures. This can divert incredibly useful information in regards to events, conferences and trade shows.

3. Utilize social media

That is where all of the so-called magical is occurring. Some companies are built only on the backs of social networking. Sure. However, as you build momentum, then you will find posting on interpersonal websites easier and easier as time passes.

Obviously, you might also employ a social networking manager when you’ve got cash to burn. But if you do not, simply be yourself. Be authentic. Post whatever you find useful and relevant that will assist your viewers to learn about you and your small business.

4. Utilize influencers

Want to get the word on the market and improve your visibility on societal websites without requiring years to construct the audience? Then you should surely leverage influencers. However, the crucial thing is to discover the ideal influencer. You do not need to go with influencers with countless followers. You can select for smaller influencers with a few thousand followers.

5. Create Targets and Milestones

It’s possible to think of targets as the last destination, whereas milestones are the actions necessary to achieve that destination – your own map. You may begin by assessing your marketing objectives and ways to do them. Doing this will make the whole marketing process simpler to comprehend to your team and there won’t be any confusion about how to reach a marketing goal.

Conclusion

The main objective should not be to survive but to be the best and conquer the market. You must access your marketing strategies and find efficient ways to improve them.

The marketing world is evolving and thus you also need to keep that pace and update your strategies regularly.

Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?

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StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Target Market|Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?When it comes to digital marketing and growing your brand over the internet, many companies tend to focus on website design–and for good reason. They might also invest in social media marketing strategies such as getting influencers on board or even growing an online brand persona. There are plenty of ways to get your product out there these days, but how do you know if you’re hitting the right targets?

In this post, we’ll be taking a look at a couple of ways to ensure that you’re not wasting your marketing budget by aiming at the wrong targets. We’ll walk you through a couple of simple steps that will help you ensure that your marketing budget is used in the most cost-effective way possible.

Understanding your audience

One of the first things to ask yourself is if you understand your audience or not. A lot of businesses will create an ideal customer profile and try to target them with their products, services and advertisements. However, there’s always a small chance that this ideal customer doesn’t actually exist.

Customer profiles can be used to help you start your business and develop products, but you ultimately need to listen to customer feedback and use real data to determine where you need to take your business. As such, make sure you listen to your audience and determine the type of customer that your products and services actually appeal to instead of trying to chase a fictional customer that might not even exist.

Make use of demographic targeting

Once you understand the type of customer you should be aiming for, it’s time to use targeted marketing to aim your marketing at the right people. Most social media services have some kind of targeted marketing settings where you can choose the demographics who your advertising will appear to. Platforms such as Facebook offer a fantastic number of demographic targeting settings to tweak in order to raise the quality of your leads.

There are also demand-side platforms that can help you save time and money when advertising your products and services. A DSP allows you to quickly set up a campaign with granular demographic targeting that fits your needs, and then the DSP does all the work to figure out how the ads should run. It saves you from having to buy digital ad space from publishers and it offers more predictable pricing.

Find the right platforms and channels to reach your audience

One of the most popular but misunderstood ways to reach your audience is to use social media advertising. By breaking into the right communities, you can go straight to your audience and start improving the quality of your leads. However, it’s important that you try to reach them on the right platforms and channels if you want to get the most out of your budget.

Demographic targeting is great, but you also need to think about the platforms you’re targeting them on. For instance, targeting seniors on a platform such as Twitter might not be as effective as traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and even TV. However, aiming your fashion-oriented products at users on Instagram is far more likely to work given the types of people that use the platform. In short, make sure you’re investing your advertising budget wisely by aiming at the right audiences.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Target Market|Are You Hitting the Right Digital Marketing Targets?Working on your company’s reputation

Reputation is everything when it comes to today’s business landscape. We live in a connected world where everyone has a say in anything, and that includes your business’s reputation. Annoy one customer and they could spark a chain of boycotting if they have a sizable following on social media. Make one small mistake and your business’s reputation could get dragged through the mud by an angry and ill-informed mob. This is just the world we live in, hence why it’s vital that you need to focus on your company’s reputation if you want to reach your target audience.

Here are a couple of suggestions for improving your reputation to ensure your company reaches the right people:

  • Be transparent when it comes to issues that could cause trouble for your reputation
  • Don’t make promises that you can’t keep and ensure that you stick to them if you’ve made any–there’s nothing worse for a company’s reputation than false promises
  • If you’re facing a problem with your business and your audience, make sure you act quickly instead of letting the problem stew and get progressively worse by staying quiet
  • Always respond to criticism and questions from your audience if possible
  • Be a caring and ethical employer to show that your business can be trusted
  • Work with your audience and its communities to show that you care about their opinions

It can be difficult to maintain a good reputation for your business. However, if you’re an honest and trustworthy company that doesn’t engage in shady dealings, you’ll find that this can be surprisingly easy.

Speak the same language as your audience

Whether it’s jargon, idioms or technical terms, make sure that you’re speaking the same language as your audience. This will greatly improve your chances of reaching out to them on social media and will greatly improve customer relationships.

This can be made much easier if you have a community manager available to assist you. A dedicated role that is focused on communicating with your audience means that you’ll have a much easier time listening to them and understanding them. You can respond to their questions, take on their feedback and create a much better relationship with your audience.

It can be difficult to hit the right marketing targets especially if you haven’t already defined them yet. Having the right business strategy can greatly improve your chances of targeting the right audience and growing your company. With a limited marketing budget, it’s important that not a single penny goes to waste. With the correct marketing strategies and aiming at the right audiences, it can be much easier than you’d think.