When you are looking to draw up a business plan for your new startup, you can become overwhelmed by the amount of priorities you seemingly have. Concentrating on twenty different business aspects can leave you spreading yourself too thin. As a new venture, you need to focus heavily on the key aspects to get your business up and running successfully. While the decor of your office is important, it’s not as vital as your cash flow or your digital marketing strategy. Take a look at these non negotiables for any new business.
Funding
Forget worrying about your Twitter header or your latest business card, and focus heavily on your funding. Without this important financial backing to your startup, you won’t be able to hit the ground running. Having the necessary funding in place means that you can fulfil orders swiftly and put a sound supply chain in place to provide exceptional customer service.
You could choose to head to your local bank to apply for a business loan or you might prefer to hunt down a business angel. Securing business angel investment means that you will have a book of contacts and an industry expert on board as well as plenty of cash. This can be hugely beneficial for a new startup looking for a leg up within a competitive sector.
Cash Flow
As well as your initial funding, you need a buoyant cash flow to help you to continue your order processing and product delivery timescales. It’s vital that your clients and customers pay their invoices swiftly. Without this, your staff team may not be paid on time, your cash flow may stagnate and you may struggle to function. If you are concerned about invoice payments, consider a different sort of finance. So, what is cash flow finance? Companies provide a service where you invoice clients as usual, but the company pays you 90% of the bill within a couple of hours. This means there is no waiting around for late payments or having to chase up defaulters. The remaining 10% gets paid to you when your client pays up.
Marketing
You could have the best idea of the century. But if no one knows about it, what’s the point? As a new startup, you will be entering a competitive marketplace. This is why you need wide exposure for your brand. The best platforms to use are social media channels. Get your business a Twitter feed, an Instagram page and a Facebook account. With these platforms, you can display your wares and products, and communicate with your potential customer base. Here, you can incentivise with discounts, and direct traffic to your website with relevant and meaningful content. With embedded SEO, you have an even better chance of leapfrogging your rivals in the Google search results. The more shares and followers you attract, the greater the exposure for your brand.
Being a new startup has never been more challenging. However, by following this guide, you can hit the ground running and make a success of your business.
