So you’ve got an idea for an SME. First off, great work! There will be people around the world who dream of being entrepreneurs, but never have that spark of an idea that sets them off on their journey.
You’ve had that spark, and if you’re reading this article, it’s probably a good one. But it’s important to know that it’s only now that the work begins! To get your idea into action, this is the time to carefully plan out your next steps, ensuring you’ve done everything possible to secure success.
But what exactly are these steps and how can you make sure you tackle them effectively? To help you answer this question, we’ve listed out all of the most important things you need to do in the next few months, as well as a few notes on how to get them right.
Conduct Thorough Market Research
The first thing you need to do is validate your idea. Before you invest any time and money into this idea, make sure that you conduct some thorough market research, identifying any competitors, as well as your target audience and the demand for your product or service.
Create A Business Plan
After this is done, you need to create a well-structured business plan designed to attract potential investors. In effect, this is about translating your idea in the most exciting way possible, giving investors a reason to get involved and part with their money. To do this, you need to outline your business model, pricing strategy, target market, and long-term goals, all of which will serve as your roadmap for the future.
Set Up Your Finances
The next thing you need to do is set up your finances, opening a business account that can work to establish financial credibility with banks and investors. This will then give you a solid foundation to help your SME stay organised, compliant, and prepared for growth, and others will recognise this as a sign of professionalism and responsibility – giving them more of an incentive to join your ranks.
Attain the Right Insurance
You might think it’s a little early to be looking into insurance, but there is never a wrong time to do this. Even in the first few months of business, insurance can be crucial to protecting your assets, mitigating risks, and ensuring long-term stability, so it’s your job to tick off your insurance checklist and get all the necessary coverage in place.
Especially when your budget is tight, it doesn’t take much for something to derail your business before it even has a chance to grow – and beyond legal protection, having the right policies will help to build trust with investors and future employees, so there’s no doubt the benefits are multi-faceted.
Develop a Strong Brand
You have the idea and the know-how, but you don’t actually have the brand yet. Sometimes even the best ideas don’t take off, simply because they fail to establish a strong, recognizable identity that resonates with potential customers. To do this, you need to define your mission, values, and unique selling points. What makes your business different? Why should people care? Once you’ve got this nailed down, it’ll be time to work on visual elements like creating a great logo, color scheme, and typography, all of which should be coherent and punchy enough to make an impact.
Establish an Effective Marketing Strategy
After your brand is decided upon, you’ll then need to get it out there, utilizing a strong marketing strategy that includes digital advertising, content marketing, search-engine optimization, and networking to attract and retain new customers. There should also be an emphasis on loyalty. In other words, you should be giving customers both a reason to jump on board and stay there, especially if you’re running a B2B company, where loyalty can be the difference between success and failure.
Hire Your Team
Last but not least, you should be looking to hire a team that is motivated and engaged with your goals. This is no longer just an idea, of course. Now that you’ve set up the necessary infrastructure, it’s going to be a lot easier to bring in the right people, demonstrating exactly what you need them to do and where you want the company to go in the next five years.
