There’s a statistic out there which claims that about 90 percent of all startups don’t make it past their first five years. The reason why this statistic is so alarming is that people running them don’t do the right research before launching. There are certain conditions (keys) to your success that have to be honored in order for your enterprise to stand any chance of making it in a competitive field. With that in mind and without further ado, here are the top five things you need to do in order to ensure the survival of your startup.
Check if there’s a market need
The reason why about 42 percent of all startups and small businesses fail is due to the fact that there’s no market need for what they have to offer. Sure, their idea may sound brilliant on paper and there may be so many things going their way, however, unless there are people out there who are actually willing to buy from you or pay for your services, your business cannot thrive and prosper. So, start by validating your idea, drafting a business plan and most importantly, checking if there’s an actual market for your offer.
Make the right team
Another thing you could do is try to get the most out of your team. What this means is that you have a team that is trained and trustworthy enough to be entrusted with some of the most demanding and most responsible tasks. Trying to micro-manage everything will drive you insane and by being able to rely on your team, you’ll be able to run your company at optimal efficiency. This starts with the hiring process but this is definitely not the end of it.
Smart marketing investments
One more thing you need to take into consideration is the fact that your marketing budget won’t be something that you can rely on in order to overcome your closest competitors. Instead, you’ll have to try to outwit them and get the most with what you’ve got. How do you do this? Well, one of the ways is to outsource your marketing to an agency specializing in transcreation services. This means that they take the whole context into perspective. This ranges from your business to your customers and the cultural context of your interaction. In other words, you get a completely customized marketing to make your business unique.
Gather enough money
The next thing you need to understand is that gathering enough money isn’t as easy as you may think it will be. First of all, it requires you to calculate all the costs surrounding the very launch. Then, you need to make an estimate (a pessimistic one) of how long it will take your business to become fully self-sustainable. What this means is that your income (in a form of instant payments), can cover your operational expenses. When it comes to this, it might be best to entrust a projection to a professional or study similar business in your area.
Retain your customers
It costs you five times less to keep an already existent customer than to make a new one. With that in mind, you need to focus on strategies that boost customer loyalty. Start even before they make the first purchase. Try to establish trust by investing in quality content marketing and interact with your audience as directly as possible. Even for online businesses, attending trade shows can do wonders. After the purchase, focus on retaining your customers with a clever post-sale-follow-up or a loyalty program.
In the end, you need to understand that fulfilling just these five conditions doesn’t guarantee the success of your business with a 100 percent guarantee. You can also get outcompeted, mistime the launch of your product or have some cost-related issues. Not to mention the unexpected occurrences that are too rare or uncommon to even list or name. All in all, hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
Diana Smith is a full time mom of two beautiful girls interested in latest business news and new social media trends. In her free time she enjoys exercising and preparing healthy meals for her family.
