Working a corporate job can appear to be the highlight of your career as a young professional. However, with the employment landscape a bit unstable, you may get laid off and left to find another job. Thankfully, we now have tools and resources to earn income between jobs, or even discover a passion to start your own business. It's becoming easier to launch a business online, and gain new clients and customers rather quickly. Let's take a look at several ways to accomplish this.
Finding Clients
Whether you're launching a full-fledged retail business or just developing a client base, there are several ways to find customers. First, establish your services. Then, match them with the type of companies you want to work with. With more companies launching on the web, finding clients via search engines and social media (and examining your competition) is easier than ever.
Think of the products and services you currently use online. Could they possibly need what you have to offer? There is nothing more appealing to a company than knowing a loyal customer enjoys their product, and wants to enhance it with a value added product or service of their own.
Marketing Your Business
You can also use inbound marketing to attract new clients. Use your company website, blog and guest posting on influential websites to establish your company as an authority in your industry, and attract the customers you want.
Social media is one of the most powerful tools for a new business--especially online. Utilize platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube to get the word out about your business. Take the opportunity to build relationships with both existing and prospective customers, connect with social influencers, and promote content around your brand.
Managing Your Time
Running a small business in the digital age will still take a big chunk of your time. There are excellent tools out there to help you streamline the process, leaving you with extra time to spend with your kids.
Google Apps has endless benefits for digital business owners. You can manage your appointments, calls and tasks with the Calendar app, manage your communications with Gmail and even manage a database of customers with its Forms app.
HootSuite is an excellent social media management tool which allows you to monitor mentions of your brand, interact with new followers and schedule updates to your networks.
Mail Chimp is a great platform for creating weekly newsletters to communicate new products, promotions and solicit feedback all at once.
Launching an online business is challenging, but it can also be extremely rewarding. And with the plethora of digital age tools at your disposal, you can get more done in less time, and grow your business faster.