While the world is dealing with multiple waves of the COVID19 pandemic, small businesses and startups are finding it increasingly difficult to survive. Even though the shift to remote work culture has saved businesses a lot of money, the decline in customer buying power has been a major reason for concern.
If you are own a startup and are struggling to survive let alone thrive, here are some tips to help you overcome the situation and grow despite the challenges:
- Adapt to the change:
The best thing startups can do right now is hop on the bandwagon and adapt. This means identifying areas where they need to make changes, even it means changing the business model for sustaining in this situation.
For instance, if you feel a certain product is not being used as much anymore as in the past immediately stop its entire production. Moreover, try to sell the existing stock of that product at an attractive price to earn from it before it becomes too outdated.
- Empower your employees:
This is of paramount importance. If your employee’s skills are not honed, they won’t be able to perform to the best of their abilities or stay competitive. So invest in a good training tool to provide employees remote learning opportunities.
If you are concerned about the expense of the training, you can search for options that fit your budget. For instance, consider Adobe Captivate Prime which is a popular option when it comes to training employees. The Adobe Captivate Prime cost is just $4 a month per registered user, making it a very cheap yet powerful training tool.
- Leverage social media:
Without a doubt, there is a dramatic increase in the number of people spending time on social media and the amount of time people spend on their mobile devices. This makes it crucial for startup owners to go social and connect with customers.
Digital marketing can not only help you reach more customers but also build brand credibility. This will increase your product/service visibility, and with the right marketing strategy, you can increase online sales.
- Look for hidden opportunities:
It is important to look for a silver lining to ensure you survive the pandemic without constantly feeling distraught. For instance, you can make changes to a product or a service to be of more value to a customer during this time.
You can study customer behavior and research what your competitors are offering to devise a way to thrive in this situation. Another way would be to find an investor. But make sure you have a solid business plan to get funding from an important investor.
- Automate:
If you have been relying on manual labor to get things done, it’s time to rethink. There are various operations that can be automated to save time. This will not only save the money you pay to an employee to do a menial task but will also get you more accurate results.
For instance, you can automate the payroll process by using a free payroll software. Not only does it ensure employees always receive salaries on time but also calculates their salaries accurately. Manual calculation of payroll is prone to errors and can lead to employees receiving incorrect salaries.
Conclusion:
Undoubtedly, these are very tough times and things can get challenging if startups don’t streamline their processes. The above tips will help startup owners survive these turbulent times and thrive too. Are you a startup owner? How is your startup staying afloat in these tough times? Let us know in the comments below!
