Professional services firms often face the challenge of distinguishing themselves in a highly competitive market. Developing a strong brand is a surefire way to stand out among the crowd. A well-crafted brand development strategy can help your firm establish a clear identity, communicate your company values to potential clients, and build trust and loyalty among existing clients. Read on to learn how to create a brand development strategy for your firm.
Research Your Target Market
Conduct a thorough analysis of your target market, including clients, competitors, and industry trends. This should inform your firm’s overall brand positioning. You should fully understand your target demographic to the point where you can anticipate their wants and needs, thereby creating purposeful messaging that will ring true. Furthermore, research will help you determine strengths and weaknesses in how your business and brand are regarded.
Develop Your Brand Positioning
Aim to develop a brand messaging platform—or market position—that clearly communicates what sets your firm apart from competition as well as key benefits to potential clients within your target audience. Why should they choose to work with you? This messaging should be consistent across all media communications, including your firm’s website, social media, email marketing, and other promotional materials.
Create a Positioning Statement
Typically three to five sentences, a positioning statement conveys the core of your brand positioning. It should be ambitious so your firm has goals to work toward, but remember that you will need to deliver on promises.
Establish a Name, Logo and Slogan
If your business is already up and running, there’s usually no need to change your firm’s name. However, if you feel you’ve outgrown your original name or you’re going through a merger, a name change might be in order. Either way, you want to develop a visual identity that aligns with your brand positioning and messaging. Along with a slogan, this can include a logo, color palette, and typography that are distinctive and memorable, and that can be easily recognized by its target audience. Keep in mind that these are symbols of your brand that serve as a way to communicate with your audience and potential clients. Therefore, they should be designed with your target market in mind.
Create a Content Marketing Strategy
Visibility and reputation drive brand strength, and effective content marketing has the potential to increase both. Aim to create quality content that reflects your brand values and goals. When done correctly, this will make your brand relevant to your target market and boost your firm to a position of authority in your niche.
Get Involved and Build Relationships
Building trust and credibility with both existing and potential clients is an important piece of brand development strategy. This can be achieved through a variety of means, including:
Building a robust online presence
Publishing thought leadership content
Participating in industry events and conferences
Effectively communicating in a timely and responsive manner
Providing ongoing follow-up
Implement Your Brand Development Strategy
Creating a brand development is one thing, but consistently applying it is another. Once created, a brand development strategy all too often falls off the priority list. The strategy needs to be put into play if you want to grow your brand. Not only that, but it’s an ongoing effort that requires continuous monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment. Remember to conduct regular brand audits, track brand visibility and perception, and gather feedback from clients and employees. And as the market and industry evolve, your firm’s brand should be adapted accordingly.
Veterinary practices that provide award-winning services don’t hesitate on the small stuff – the over-and-beyond touches that make them stand out and keep clients coming back. The customer service tips below might not be groundbreaking, but when implemented on a regular basis, you’ll create positive experiences and gain repeat clients, who will likely spread the word to their friends and communities.
First Impressions and Communication
A common grievance reported to veterinary state medical boards is lack of communication. To avoid this fate, make a good impression when a client visits for the first time by:
Introducing them to the team that will be caring for their pet
Signing them up for any means you’ve established for clients to communicate with you, such as an online portal
Offering them a welcome packet that includes details about your clinic, services offered, emergency contact information, where to find additional information about pet care, and a welcome letter
Create a Loyalty Rewards Program
Clients who follow your suggestions, properly care for their pets, and continue to bring their business to you are deserving of some perks, and a loyalty reward program is just the ticket. Whether they can be used for product or service discounts (or both) is up to you, but a loyalty program can be an effective vehicle in retaining clients.
Follow Up in a Meaningful Way
If you want a client to feel especially cared for, be sure to follow up on their pet after they’ve come in for an illness or procedure. At the minimum, follow up with a standard phone call one to three days after the visit, depending on the procedure. This also keeps you informed of the pet’s progress and client compliance of aftercare. If you want to add an extra personal touch, send the client a “get well soon” chew toy or catnip mouse for their pet.
Take Notes
Just as we appreciate when doctors remember something specific to us, clients appreciate when their vet remembers something specific to their pet, so take note of anything that stands out during routine check-ups. Do they like to be scratched behind the ears or on the belly? Is there a certain treat or toy they love? Jotting notes in a patients’ records about their likes and dislikes can help you create a personalized experience for your clients.
Create a Social Media Presence
Social media is a powerful tool that can help personalize your practice and communicate with your community. Share information like helpful tips for pet owners and any changes to hours or services. You can also post pictures of pets (provided the client has signed a photo release form), and encourage pet owners to post their own pictures and tag your practice.
Make a Memorial Donation
Establish a way to demonstrate your sympathy when a pet dies. While most practices send sympathy cards, you can go above and beyond by making a small donation to an animal charity fund in the pet’s name. You could also have a tree or flower planted in the pet’s name.
Implement a Referral Program
Referral programs can include simply sending a thank-you card to a client who sent a referral your way, or it can be as involved as sending a small gift of thanks for the business sent your way. You could provide new clients with a $10 discount and post a $10 credit to the referring client’s account. If you want to take it up a notch, you could give a different gift each time for repeat referrals to keep the program updated and worthwhile to the client.
After weathering the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic for the past two years, small businesses are facing yet another significant challenge: rising inflation. While small business owners can take solace in the fact that they’re not facing this challenge alone, it can be difficult to come up with a game plan to hedge against inflation. Below we’ll go over some top tips to help you do just that.
What’s Driving Inflation?
Inflation is a sustained increase in the price of goods and services, and it weakens the purchasing power of currency. In the US, demand surged once the economy re-opened post-pandemic lockdowns, and Americans were eager to spend money they had saved, including government stimulus checks. At the same time, we started to experience supply chain issues as a result of Covid-era policies. This put pressure on the supply-and-demand flow, with supply falling exceedingly short of demand. Rising oil prices, which lead to rising gas prices, are also to blame.
Media coverage on inflation tends to center the consumers, but the challenges posed to small businesses can be even greater, including:
A loss of money due to rising supply costs
A slowdown of incoming invoice payments as clients struggle with their own financial hardships
More hurdles to access funds as financial institutions often tighten borrowing requirements for the duration of higher inflation
These challenges force the small business owner to either absorb higher costs or raise prices for the consumer. However, there are inflation protection measures that can help to alleviate this dilemma.
Use Automation to Increase Productivity
If it’s possible to automate certain daily tasks, do it. Tasks that make the most sense to automate include those that are repeatable and don’t take a lot of brainpower to complete, including:
Email
Contracts
Purchase orders
Invoices
Inventory
Shipping
Sales and marketing
Automation cuts down on errors, simplifies processes, and enhances customer service. There is a plethora of apps available to help you, from implementing basic bookkeeping to boosting client care, ramping up marketing, and more. You may be using some of these apps already, but be sure you’re taking full advantage of the features they offer.
Cut Expenses
Reduce costs wherever you can. Cancel any services, subscriptions, and products your company isn’t using. Also consider looking into alternate materials, products, or ingredients that may be less expensive and will help ultimately save money. Something else to think about: Is transitioning to a hybrid remote/in-office model that would give you the opportunity to downsize your office a possibility for your business?
Tackle Debt
If you have any residual funds from the Covid-era stimulus packages, now is the time to use those to pay down high-interest debt, especially as interest rates are expected to keep rising. You may not be able to wipe out your debt completely, but try to cut down at least the principal amount. Decreasing how much you pay through lowering interest rates can aid in protecting against inflation.
Additionally, don’t discount trying to renegotiate loans or lines of credit with your lender in order to lower interest rates. Doing so will allow you to save money, which you can put into savings reserves.
Lower Your Supply Chain Risk
Your business is going to be susceptible to supply chain disruptions. To further protect against inflation, lower your supply chain risk by:
Organizing backup supply chain options
Exploring domestic substitutes for overseas suppliers
Storing stockpiles of essential supplies for the least possible storage costs
Raise Prices Strategically
Even if you’re automating processes and cutting expenses, sometimes price increases can’t be avoided during periods of high inflation. Always keep a pulse on what the competition is doing, and be careful not to raise prices too quickly. Pricing yourself above the market without a strategic approach could lose customers.
With inflation rising, it might be tempting to cut fundraising budgets and programs, but that’s the last move you should be making. Instead, it’s time to put proven fundraising strategies to work. As long as you keep in mind that in order for a fundraising campaign to be fruitful, both time and effort need to be invested, the strategies discussed below will help you raise money more effectively.
Don’t Try to Fix What Isn’t Broken
First, don’t panic. If your development staff has been successful at implementing effective activities, don’t cut your budget (or lay off staff). Continue to follow the plan. An economic slowdown is not the time to cut back on development work.
Create a Plan for Strategy and Revenue
People give money to causes that resonate with them. They give even more money to organizations that are strategic about their mission and how they execute their goals to accomplish that mission. Therefore, if you don’t have a strategic plan and a revenue plan already established, now is the time to create them. An effective strategic plan allows you to build investment, and an effective revenue plan provides a blueprint to generate funds. Think about how you can sharpen your nonprofit’s messaging and position your mission, values, and programs to boost your effectiveness for the recipients of your services.
Connect with Supporters
In times of economic uncertainty, nonprofits need to double down on efforts to stay connected with their supporters. This includes thanking donors, offering updates about your budget and pressing needs, and conveying stories about your work through testimonials, photos, videos, social media conversations, etc. Allow space for your supporters’ voices to be heard in telling their own stories in how they connect to your organization and community.
Utilize Social Media
If you want people to become more invested in your work, focus on creating an online community through social media where people can get to know your organization — your mission, goals, and plans to achieve them. Showcase upcoming events and be clear on opportunities for people to become involved. Additional modes of digital outreach include email newsletters, campaigns, and event invites.
Pay Attention to Return on Investment
In regards to raising money, nonprofit organizations generally have limited resources in the form of staff, technology, and funds. Be sure you are accurately calculating the costs of every revenue-generating endeavor to be able to gauge the actual net income that resulted from each endeavor. If the return on investment of time, effort, and money is lacking, you might find that there are less expensive and more effective ways to raise money.
Find New Donors by Analyzing Existing Donors
When your well of support is running low, look into your database of existing donors and determine commonalities among the most generous donors. Demographics, donation amounts, and length of time they’ve been regularly donating are all key aspects you should pay attention to. Once you’ve narrowed it down to your best donors, ask them (formally or informally) what drives them to give to your specific organization. The goal is to figure out what resonates with them so that you can find other donors like them.
Whether a small business owner is working with an accountant or on their own, it’s critical to establish a bookkeeping process in order to mitigate the possibilities of unexpected cash flow problems. Tracking finances and transactions provides stability for your business and allows you to focus on company goals and growth. Here are some tips for efficient bookkeeping.
Separate Business and Personal Expenses
This should be done as soon as you establish your business. Separating personal and business accounts is beneficial in that it helps to:
Avoid blurred lines on expenses that could prompt an IRS audit.
Limit your personal liability should your business ever be sued.
Clarify business expenses for bookkeeping practices
By opening business accounts, you will begin to develop business credit, which is separate from your personal credit history. A good business credit score translates to lower rates on insurance policies and increases your borrowing potential.
Track All Business Expenses
It might seem like a no-brainer, but tracking and categorizing expenses and revenue streams are essential for tax purposes and profit monitoring. Doing so allows you to easily spot different areas of strength and growth based on chronicled data. Whether you use an accounting software program, a basic spreadsheet like Excel, or even a pen-and-paper ledger, what matters is that you find a process that works for you and stick with it.
Keep a Consistent Schedule for Bookkeeping
Unless your small business offers financial services, it’s unlikely that you started your company due to a love of numbers and bookkeeping, so it’s understandable if this might be a task that’s tempting to push to the backburner. However, consistently scheduling blocks of time for balancing the books will help simplify your life, especially during tax season. If your business has grown to the point where you loathe the time it takes to keep up on bookkeeping, you might be ready to hire on a bookkeeper.
Be Prepared for Major Expenses
Even if you have meticulously maintained balance sheets and cash flow reports, you don’t have a crystal ball to predict surprising expenses. That’s why it’s crucial to plan for such expenses, especially unplanned ones, with a separate emergency fund dedicated specifically to your business. Aim to save enough cash to cover expenses for three to six months. Having cash stashed away also helps to avoid going into debt for your business. Operating with little to no debt means less risk and a faster profit, which means you’ll have more capital to put back into your business for growth opportunities.
Prepare for Personal and Business Taxes
Do your best to dodge surprises and errors with your small-business taxes by preparing throughout the year. Here are some things to keep in mind:
Income tax: The manner in which you’re required to pay income taxes depends on how your business is structured legally. For example, if you have a sole proprietorship, your business taxes are paid as part of your personal income tax known as “pass through” taxes. However, if you have a structure like a Limited Liability Company (LLC), you’ll owe self-employment taxes and no corporate taxes. Be sure that you understand how your business is structured legally so you know how you’re required to pay income taxes.
Payroll tax: In order to file payroll tax returns, you need a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN). If you operate across more than one state, you will also need a State Identification Number for each state in which your business operates. Payroll taxes are deposited either semiweekly or monthly and reported quarterly.
Sales tax: If you’re in the business of selling products, you need to collect sales tax from each customer. These taxes differ by state, county, and city. If you sell online or across multiple locations, it might be beneficial to consult a tax professional to be sure you’re collecting sales taxes correctly.
Consider Hiring and Accountant
While most accounting software programs have some form of technical support, the risk of user error is high. Real-world accounting professionals can offer an experienced set of eyes to ensure your records are accurate and your finances are organized. The hours you devote to keeping up on your business’s books and taxes could be better spent brainstorming new ideas, managing your team, and searching out new growth opportunities.
The construction industry has seen its fair share of challenges throughout the past two years as the pandemic surged, and the jury’s still out on 2022. The good news is that following technology trends can help withstand challenges and leverage ongoing opportunities for company growth.
Address Labor Shortage with Tech Tools
As with most industries in this post-pandemic climate, the construction industry is experiencing labor shortage, and there is no indication that this will change soon. One of the best investments builders and contractors can make right now is thorough training of valuable and promising workers so they’ll have the skills needed to thrive in the field. Think about equipping workers with new state-of-the-art technology tools — an investment that’s sure to reap rewards even as the industry fluctuates.
Look into Modular and Prefabricated Construction
Don’t overlook the modular construction market — it’s projected to reach $157 billion by next year. Offsite prefabrication and modular construction, where a structure is built offsite and delivered to the planned site, is trending upwards due to consistent quality and decrease in labor costs and construction time. Additionally, material waste has plagued the industry for some time, but this method addresses that inefficiency by recycling leftover materials.
Promote Teamwork with Collaboration Technology
In order to foster communication and coordination between office and field teams, think about implementing a workflow automation platform such as Fluix or Integrify. Swapping paper documents for digital construction forms and automated workflows helps to streamline the process while allowing teams to collaborate and oversee field documents.
Go Green
It’s no secret that reducing our collective carbon footprint is a trend with staying power, and the construction industry is not immune. Companies can be conscious of this by lowering operating costs, improving occupant health, and increasing occupancy rates.
Increase Jobsite Safety with Wearable Tech
Approximately 20% of worker fatalities in 2019 occurred in the construction industry. Suffice to say, safety is a trend. This includes construction technology and better safety equipment such as products with IoT connected sensors that are incorporated into wearables like safety vests and hard hats. These products help improve worker safety by alerting management to a worker’s location. Using wearable and embedded sensors can help prevent injury from falls, heavy machinery, and overexertion.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
Self-driving vehicles and drones can help accelerate the construction process by improving productivity and accuracy without risking job security. This automation process can take care of repetitive tasks while freeing workers to focus on specialized projects and individual responsibilities.
