It’s time to start looking at the exciting opportunities 2016 will have to offer your business. It’s time to start focusing on areas in which you can improve your business every day. Your growth in the New Year will depend on the strategic decisions you make now, so make sure the choices you make give your bottom line the best chance for growth. Below are a few areas to consider for optimizing your business potential for growth in 2016.
1. Data Management
Data is proving to be the driver of technology and marketing strategies as 86 percent of marketers plan to integrate big data in their digital game plan. The question then becomes how are you organizing all of the vital information that’s coming into your business? Using sticky notes and mobile notepad applications are a start, but there is a much easier way to organize much more information. Take notice of the variety of tools, services and solutions available that can be developed specifically to meet the custom needs of your business. These tools can help you organize your finances and growth metrics, catalog, your customer interactions, prioritize your calendar and more at a minimal cost. Start organizing your data so you can optimize your business and be ready to tackle any obstacle this year.
2. Social Media
Having a social media presence is another key to unlocking success in 2016. Nearly 60 percent of marketers indicated that social media improved lead generation, which is great news for your business since you will be able to dedicate even more time and attention to your social audience than your larger competitors. Ask yourself and your team how it is that you communicate with your target audience through Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms? Have you appointed anyone to dedicate their energy to this task? Also, what is the strategy behind the content that is being created and posted? A great way to optimize social media efforts for a business is to delegate the task to a single individual who will avoid redundancies, understand what content is valuable and in line with your customer-facing strategy and branding efforts, and seal the cracks so content doesn’t fall through. A single tweet, Facebook post or Instagram photo focusing on the right topic and posted at the right time could very well be worth a dozen haphazard posts that don’t have a clear purpose. Your business can’t afford to waste time on ineffective social media content, so make sure whoever is responsible for your social accounts is educated and empowered to positively impact the company’s success.
3. Focus on the Team
The final ingredient to optimizing your business is to analyze how it runs. In order to enjoy a successful 2016, you need to invest in training, educating and guiding your employees. Your team is the life force of your business, and it’s worth taking the time to make sure they have the tools they need to be efficient and effective in their roles. This training could come in the form of time spent walking employees through accounts and client relationships to make sure they know where things stand. Work through issues with them and make sure they are receiving clear direction. You can help them further by looking into the right software to help them manage new customer leads. Taking a moment to make sure your team is positioned for success will give you a chance to optimize everything from your own time, to the way the company interacts with customers, to the development of your product or service.
As a business owner, you have an inherent advantage in team development because you can directly interface with your employees and teach them the way you want things done. Large multi-national organizations don’t have that luxury to truly develop the team directly from the top. Manage your growth in 2016 by dedicating yourself to your employees.
When you gear up to work on your goals for the new year, make sure you’re ready to organize your data, strategize how you’ll handle your social media platforms and focus on strengthening your team. These three areas are key for optimizing business success. Remember to benchmark your progress, too, so you can keep track of your improvement for years to come.
