This 2019 is going to be one of the most challenging years for businesses across the globe. In this guide, we are going to point out areas of your business that you should be looking to implement or improve on this 2019. We will not go into detail and leave the research down to you. However, what we are going to do is showyou which areas are going to be a priority to ensure your business succeeds this year.
- Protect Your Business Against Cyber Attacks
Cyber attacks on small businesses increased last year the world over. Mostly English and Spanish speaking countries have been targeted by cybercriminals. Our most valuable advice, in this case, is to look into government agencies that specialize in advising your business on how to strengthen its security to limit the risk of cyber-attacks.
See ssi.gouv.fr for more information on how French authorities are dealing with cyber attacks and for downloads that advise how your business can prevent cyber-attacks. There are several ways to protect a business’s cybersecurity, but the biggest challenge is finding one that is affordable.
- Business Websites
There are way too many businesses that still do not have a Facebook page or even a website. Adding to this, there are a large number of businesses that do have a website, but the site is not mobile friendly, or the current design is old.
The very first place people are going to look for more information about a business is the company website. Even if the company has a sales team, people are still going to want to look at the company website for more information. Good sales personnel are often difficult to keep if they work on commission, but the website they must refer potential customers to is outdated, not mobile friendly, or worst still the company does not have a website.
- Social Media Marketing
Another important aspect of any businesses success in 2019 is going to be social media. Increasingly Social Media is becoming as important, if not more important, than owning a website. Do some research and check which social media platforms are currently the most popular in your country right now.
Facebook and Instagram are always going to among the top contenders as well as Twitter. However, depending on which country you are reading this from, Twitter is not always as successful as Facebook and Instagram. For example, South East Asia’s Twitter market shows some of the lowest usages in the world when comparing global regional Twitter statistics.
Check out fastlikes.fr for more information on social media services.
- Competitor Research
2019 is going to be one of the most competitive years in all industries. With so many people looking for ways to invest their money and a huge shortage of place to put it, venture capitalists and other investment style firms are looking at marketplaces with a small number of businesses and a large target market. These are industries that have largely been ignored because of the barrier to entry.
However, the barriers to entry have usually been financial. Nowadays investment firms are committing higher budgets for bigger returns because this is their only option. Therefore, businesses will need to know their competitors well and spot any up and coming newbies in the industry.
By understanding your competitor’s marketing strategy and unique selling point, you will be able to adjust your business to remain competitive and dissuade your own customers from moving to newcomers in your industry.
If you are a web agency and you want to get accurate market research data about your client’s website, then you will need to make sure that your research is location specific. In order to collect the right data, you will need to log on to a server or computer that is in the same location as your client. If not, then you stand the risk of wasting a lot of time researching the wrong competitors.
In order to avoid wasting valuable research time, you will need specific software. For instance, if you are researching a French company, then look at VPNgratuit. You will be given a number of French servers to log on to and then you can search for competitors in France from anywhere in the world.
The reason you would do this is that if you look for a search term in France from let’s say the USA, the results you will be given will mainly be French-speaking Canadian websites. This is not useful if your client only means to target an audience within France.
The same applies if you are researching city specific competitors. You will need to find a server that is in a city as close as possible to your client or use a software program that allows you to narrow down your research to a specific region, city or town in the country your customer resides.
As you can see, there are 4 very important points made here that will give any business a competitive advantage in 2019. If your business falls behind on these areas this year, then in 2020, it is going to be very hard to catch up with those companies in your industry that have been working on these points. Arguably one of the most important points to note here is number 1. One cyber attack on your business could mean the difference between a profit and loss for the year!
