5 Things To Consider When Starting A New Business Post Pandemic
Opening a new business is a risky venture at the best of times, but perhaps even more so going forward post-pandemic. Business as we know it has had to evolve greatly over 2020, and whilst some try to return to previous business practices, some are happy to embrace the changes. Here are some things to think about.
Think About The Industry
It’s fair to say all industries of business will have changed in some way, if you’re looking to start a new business, you should look at what potential competitors and rivals are currently doing. You could also see what they did wrong, and learn from their mistakes.
There are, of course, many industries that have grown during the pandemic, such as online food shopping and streaming platforms. If you’re looking for a new industry to enter, then do some research about it, to ensure you’re not joining an industry that is over-saturated.
Think About How You Will Raise The Money
It’s likely that you won’t have that much money set aside in savings due to the pandemic, and even if you did, you probably need more than you’d think in order to get started in the new climate.
There are a number of ways in order to raise funds, from personal ventures to seeking venture capitalists to invest in your project, in exchange for equity in the business.
These capitalists will be seeking good opportunities, so you should do what you can to appear attractive to investors. You can take online courses to learn more about this, and to learn about other investment avenues, such as crowdfunding and venture capitalist funds, there are more details here.
Crowdfunding is how new businesses raise money for new and exciting products online, through public backers. For example, sometimes a game developer will build an early version of a game, through an alpha, and release a trailer. They hope that this will build enough interest to draw in the public and their money.
Think About What Business Will Look Like
The way in which businesses will operate will most likely look different post-pandemic than they ever did beforehand. Customers will expect a higher level of hygiene and will be shocked to see there’s no hand sanitizer on offer, for example.
Businesses may require more regulations to be followed and forms to be filled for employees’ well-being for a while. You should have an HR representative to be in charge of these matters.
The number of contactless payments will have increased within businesses, both in terms of how businesses accept them and how ready customers are to use them. Some businesses may try and display more products behind glass, in order to stop people from touching them.
Think About Digital Outlets
You may find there will be fewer customers interested in physical outlets, as they have gotten used to shopping online. So, you’ve got to think if you need an outlet in general.
You will need a strong digital brand identity in order to attract your targeted customer base. There are a number of ways you can do that. For example, you could include your highly rated reviews on your homepage, to show those that find their way to you, that you’re a company that can be trusted.
Another method to improve your digital brand is to try and create a more personalized online experience. You could do this by utilizing personalizing merchandising technology, which allows you to target recommendations and advertisements at customers, based on what they’ve been viewing and searching for on your site.
Getting potential customers to your site is also quite tricky, you need to ensure your social media profiles are hitting the right notes. Be consistent across the board when it comes to your house style, and target your posts for the right audience.
You could also be implementing SEO techniques in order to drive traffic to your site, you can do this by hiring a third party, or getting your own in-house marketers.
Think About How To Prepare For Something Like This
The pandemic has been a wake-up call for many businesses and individuals. Mainly, they realized that they were vastly ill-equipped for something like this. With that in mind, you should draw up a contingency plan, if anything similar to this happens again.
Many businesses had to learn the laws behind furloughing staff and create documents from scratch. Now, they have these as templates if they need them again, and this will save time in the future, time that employees may have spent worrying.
Employees will feel reassured knowing you’re planning for something like this. It may be useful to have extra stock of PPE and hygiene products than you normally would, in order to be equipped for any stock shortages that may fall their way.
By Zoe Price
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