One interesting thing about starting a business is that many people think it’s easy. So, they go into it thinking everything will just work out for the best in the end, but most times, it doesn’t. That’s why the number of failed startups every year keeps increasing.

The truth is starting a business is difficult if you don’t have the right knowledge before you embark on a venture. It’s why successful people always advise anyone who wants to start a business or embark in entrepreneurship to do as much research as possible before starting out.

The idea is that you can’t have too much knowledge. But too little knowledge is a recipe for disaster.

That’s why we decided to have a chat with direct-response marketer, Nimrod Santo on what every business person should know before starting out and this is what he had to say.

It’s Not Always about Money

While money is certainly important when it comes to starting a business venture especially when it comes to the capital, getting it does not mean the business will be successful. What you need is a sound business model which will be capable of generating consistent cash flow to keep your business running.

This means that you need to get customers or clients as the case may be and keep them interested in your system. For this to happen, you need to understand that you’ll need a solid marketing technique for your products and services.

You can use the capital you get from investors to invest in digital marketing and creating quality products.

Determine What People Need

Why is Amazon so big today? Because it was able to create a space where people can get the things they need very easily. That’s what you should spend most of your time on before you start a business venture.

Try to discover the things that people will be interested in and adopt it as your business model. Whether it’s a new way of rendering a service or a new product, just figure it out.

While you’re determining what your potential may need, you shouldn’t forget about the needs of the people around you, especially your employees. Compensate them when they’re meant to be compensated, invest in their training and make them feel needed.

Separate Yourself from Your Business

Nimrod Santo believes that separating your personal finances from that of your business will help you keep track of your profits and your losses. Even though the aim of your business is to make you financially stable, you should learn to keep the account of your business from your personal account.

Be financially disciplined, it’s one way to overcome many more obstacles in order to find success when it comes to entrepreneurship. See yourself as part of the workspace or another employee. If possible, pay yourself fixed salaries or wages from the business.

Make Sure the Business is Right for You

Sometimes, the difference between having a successful business and an unsuccessful one lie in the type of business you choose to do to begin with. There are some businesses that look really appealing but may not be perfect for the set of skills you possess.

So, in order to create a successful business, you should make sure that the business model is based on something you’re good at.

Maintain a Balance between Work and Personal Life

The popular belief is that business persons are usually too busy to have a personal life. The truth is it doesn’t have to be so. Of course, it might be difficult and most times, you have to be disciplined, but it can still be done. That’s what is referred to as creating a balance between your work and personal life.

 

Offense and defense are frequently utilized in organizations like that of a conflict or in sports. Where the individuals who have a place in the offense group are attempting to make a score, objective, or benefit while those that have a place in the defense group keep the other group from scoring and put forth a valiant effort to be in the offense group. The two groups want to be on the top of the list. The following are Josh Melick’s arrangements on the best way to play in the offense group more often than not.

In business, it’s exceptionally dubious to say that you are on the offense or the defense side. Organizations don’t have a fixed rule when one is going ahead as offense or defense. Experiments and tests are significant. Melick says that as originators, they ought to have the option to figure out what office will play the offense as well as the defense line. They should address themselves similar to “Is this the correct territory for the offense? Or then again defense?”. Looking at the master plan, Josh Melick accepts that they should wind up playing more as an offense group.

One division that is considered to have a place in the offense group is Sales and Marketing, as they sell the organization and its items. In any case, they have this consistent conversation with clients against their rivals. This may sound like defense as opposed to offense. Melick says that in the event that they are to utilize their critical benefits by targeting to sell materials, at that point that would be an offense to utilize a storyline that can move the battle to their track.

The Legal office might be considered as in the defense group as it naturally protects the organization through claims and such. As a head of an organization, they should realize when to assault and utilize their legal counselors and claim for safeguard as well as a device for something like a patent troll. Barack Obama through his book, “A Promised Land” said that he didn’t know whether he “played dirty” when he tested the assignments of his rivals in his first Illinois Senate campaign due to insufficient marks and it worked for his potential benefit.

As Melick stated, some may imagine that HR may appear to be a defense group as it manages and ensures the organization and its workers’ welfare. Ensuring that everything is going great. In any case, HR can be considered as a major part of the offense side too, not simply defense. Workers for instance are part of your group as Melick states. They are the best benefactor an organization has. In the event that the employees are satisfied, it’ll reflect on the clients too. Great projects of the organization ought to be considered as an offense since the best benefits typically come from the best organizations. Selecting the best players is unquestionably an offense strategy.

If they’re not viably manufacturing offense, at that point they’re more probably being a cautious player. Make an effort not to be one. HR, Legal group, and Sales and Marketing group would all be able to be on the offense side. Indeed, even Customer support. “They may make programs that will assist them with accomplishing and winning their objectives”, Melick says.

Josh Melick, helped to establish and is the CEO of an endeavor-sponsored innovation company Broadly, an organization that helps private companies on the best way to assemble their apparatuses for compelling correspondence with their customers and has effectively raised more than $20M. A designer by calling, Melick was in the executive leadership branch of Intuit and AT&T.

 

Your business is incredibly important to you. Whether you built the company from the ground up or you’re taking over what someone else started, it’s your job to continue growing your enterprise and run everything in the most efficient manner. You can’t do that without the best tools and solutions. When it comes to running a great business, it’s okay to ask for help from other experts, in fact, it’s encouraged. There are other providers and vendors who specialize in things like data analytics, marketing strategies, and customer service transactions. They have services that you can benefit from, as an independent company.

No matter what goods and services you are providing as a company, there are some universal things every business needs. Therefore, there are certain business services that all organizations can benefit from. When you have huge data sets coming in, multiple accounts you’re trying to manage, and strategic priorities to accomplish, you don’t have time to flounder around. You need efficient systems, software, and services that will help you get the job done. Here are some of the top business services you should consider for your business.

Machine Learning and Data Analytics Assistance

Since the introduction of the digital age, businesses have been working to understand their datasets and rearrange algorithms to best understand this information. When raw data comes in, it appears as clusters or data points that may not make much sense to the outside observer. This is where Python and machine learning alignment technology can help you decode your data and set strategic priorities. If this isn’t your initial area of expertise, Nick McCullum has put together a step-by-step guide to different clusters and how to get key results with K means clustering python. Utilize his expertise with machine learning to set your own algorithm to get outputs that can help your company and your customers.

Legal Aid for Complex Problems

If you are selling items or are in partnership with any retailers, you will be signing plenty of contracts and dealing with legal ramifications. It can be beneficial to have a working relationship with ISO payment processing legal teams. They can understand and support your independent sales organization while you work with financial institutions and other large enterprises.

Time Management Software

Chances are that you have big goals and dreams for your company. You won’t be able to reach them without first defining those goals and taking the first step to meet them. It helps to have WorkBoard OKR software for defining and using Objectives and Key Results, or OKRs, that keep your company on track. With WorkBoard OKRs, the whole team of merchant services can monitor data sets and metrics to achieve collective team outcomes. Having that visualization of goals and markers to hit can help with workflow and take your business to the next level.

Tech Support

Very few jobs are possible anymore without the help of technology. However, sometimes tech can be a necessary evil that breaks down and causes problems all the time. Having remote tech support will be a game-changer for your business. Stop wasting time trying to fix problems, instead call in experts who can give you a solution right away.

Call Center Technology

Your business is all about reaching customers and creating connections with them. This means you need to be available to your buyers in new and creative ways. The best choice to make a personal connection is call center technology. Not only does this connect your team members to clients at all times, but with cloud-based technology, your team can see all past communications and create a streamlined, smooth experience all around.

Automatic Marketing Tactics

As any startup knows, you can’t become a huge enterprise when no one knows you exist. This is why you have to invest in marketing and publicity. Find services that can help you set up automatic email chains or schedule better social media posts. As a business owner, you need to be reading metrics and setting priorities with your marketing to reach more potential customers and keep your loyal client base. Find a service you can work with to expand your horizons.

Search Engine Optimization

Another way to put your company on the map of the internet is with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This is a technique that uses keywords and backlinks that boost your website’s credibility. This helps you appear higher on search engine results pages so more people will be attracted to your website overall.

Boosting Employee Morale

At the end of the day, you couldn’t run your business without the employees you have working for you. Make sure you are giving back to them and making your company a positive place to work. From convenient scheduling to streamlined payroll to fun office activities to transparency between boss and worker, there are different ways to make your team feel like they are respected and appreciated.

 

For a long time, the healthcare industry relied heavily on in-person marketing tactics. They worked well during a period where the internet was considered a luxury, but in recent years, healthcare marketers have begun specialising in the online market instead.

Despite the healthcare industry’s move over to the online market, however, lots of organizations are still relying on old fashioned techniques. These often cost a lot of money, and could be limiting your exposure to crucial audiences.

This is true especially for millennial audiences and younger, who admit to finding 90% of their healthcare information online.

A lot of these discoveries are made through social media, where healthcare organizations can increase their brand exposure by using free marketing tactics.

In an industry that still lags far behind many others in terms of marketing, however, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Engage With Relevant Online Influencers

In a world where over 50% of the population have access to the internet, there’s a high chance that you will discover a community of people already talking about the condition your healthcare company is aiming to treat.

These days, influencers are taking to their platforms to talk about everything, from chronic and terminal illnesses, to debilitating, life-long disabilities.

By finding and communicating with the frontrunners in your healthcare organization’s field, you are getting your name out there to those who could directly benefit from your services.

Lots of people turn to online communities when healthcare organizations have let them down in the past, so by being there, you can reassure people that they are not alone in their battle, and that you can help them.

For example, if you are a healthcare organisation focusing on the nutrition of people suffering from cancer, you’d want to target communities talking about the subject. You’d want to establish your brand as a place to go for reliable, and educational information that will benefit the community.

Once you establish yourself as a brand to be trusted, people who have lost hope or would prefer to access services online will naturally turn into clients.

Use Interactive Media To Educate

Research into efficient social media marketing is still ongoing, but one thing everyone is sure of is that interactive media is the best way to engage your audience. Infographics and videos will largely increase your engagement rates over text-only posts in most cases.

One of the best ways to market your healthcare organization on social media is to make sure the interactive content you’re putting out there is educational, and speaks to your target audience.

You can do this by providing your audience with facts about the healthcare needs you’re targeting, revealing myths, and reassuring people the seeking help and/or treatment is not something that should be feared.

By providing meaningful, educational content, you are encouraging others to engage by sharing their own experiences.

You will also be inviting them to ask their own questions, giving your healthcare organization the chance to clearly display your expertise.

Create Trendy Content

People are far more likely to engage with content they see as familiar as opposed to content they are seeing for the first time.

This doesn’t mean that you have to copy what other healthcare organizations are doing. Instead, think about the trends, and what angle your organization can take to appeal to these without compromising your brands authenticity.

One of the biggest predicted trends of 2019 in the healthcare marketing niche is wellness.

This can be interpreted in terms of physical and mental health, depending on the target audience you are aiming for and how you present your brand on social media.

Let’s take the cancer healthcare organization example from earlier.

You could promote wellness in a physical manner by promoting the benefits of a nutritious diet on cancer recover. Certain vitamins and minerals can decrease recovery times, and lower the impact of side effects, such as hair loss and malnutrition.

You could also promote wellness in a mental health manner, by explaining how good nutrition during cancer treatment can help you feel better. Eating certain foods, or taking certain supplements, can help with gut health, which makes you feel better and gives you the motivation you need to fight through gruelling treatment.

You could also incorporate a mix of the two, to show your target audience that your healthcare organization really does care about them in a holistic manner.

It wouldn’t be a good healthcare marketing move to start talking about spirituality if you were a cancer-focused organization, however, as this would not fit in with the rest of your marketing.

It may also make your target audience weary of your intentions, and leave them questioning about whether you care about them or the business primarily.

TIP: Healthcare marketing is all about showing your target audience that you care about them as an individual.

Handle Complaints Efficiently and Professionally

Recent research has shown that the amount of people turning towards social media to air their complaints about healthcare organizations continues to grow every year.

Even if you are the best healthcare organization for the niche you are working in, it’s highly likely that you will receive complaints on your social media at some point.

For this reason, how you handle your social media complaints procedure should be a big part of your healthcare marketing plan.

It is incredibly important that your healthcare marketing team get into the habit of replying to messages from unhappy customers quickly, with the aim of solving their issue as efficiently as possible.

It can be disheartening when people are insulting individuals or company practices that you have worked hard on, but you must always remember to remain professional at all times.

This is to make sure that you suitably deal with complaints before the complainant has time to tarnish your organization’s reputation on social media for good.

If you fail to do this, the fallout could be disastrous, and may go on to affect your organization’s business in the long term.

On a more positive note, your response to customer complaints on social media is a marketing tool in and of itself, as it provides an opportunity for you to stand out against your competitors.

By having someone specifically to handle social media complaints as part of your healthcare organizations marketing team, you are clearly telling customers that what they say matters, and that you take feedback more seriously than your competitors.

Going back to what we said at the start of this article about healthcare marketing teams being in their infancy stages, being progressive in this manner would definitely promote your brand as the one to choose in a competitive market.

It also shows that you are active on social media, instead of letting your accounts stagnate like a lot of healthcare organizations continue to do without realising the effect this could be having on them in 2019.