So, you’ve got this ahh-mazing idea for a new business. You’re so excited about it that you can barely sleep at night and your friends and family have put a limit on the amount you’re allowed to talk about it. The only problem is, you don’t know where to start to turn your idea into a reality.
In the digital age, it’s never been easier to reach your target audience and share your message. However, the fast-moving digital environment can be rather overwhelming for new businesses. Not only does it make it way too easy to stalk your competitors (and when you see they’ve got 5K Instagram followers compared to your 5, it can be pretty disheartening), but it can feel hard to keep up with the ever-changing new technologies.
One inspiring woman who is an expert in harnessing the power of the digital age to grow your business and amplify your impact is Jane Copeland. As well as being an entrepreneur, author and founder of award winning blog ‘Coping with Jane’, Jane is a digital marketing authority who specialises in coaching other women in service-based businesses. While pregnant, Jane developed the incredibly rare ‘graves’ disease. Feeling like she had lost her identity as a woman, she decided to start a business from home due to her illness. Jane’s passion is helping women in a similar situation she was.
Here, Jane shares five easy ways you can use digital tools as an affordable and efficient method to scale your business.
Buy traffic
“Every business needs leads. This is a pipeline of prospects who have the potential to become paying customers. The quickest way to get leads is to buy traffic. These days buying traffic is inexpensive and accessible to anyone with Wi-Fi. One way of buying traffic is through Facebook advertising. There’s no need to faff about on social media relying on “hope” marketing to grow your business. Instead, spend money earlier and use online marketing tools that are literally at your fingertips and pay for leads to get where you want to go faster.”
Focus on one sales funnel
“You’ll of course need to turn those leads that you’ve bought into paying customers. This is where a sales funnel comes in. A sales funnel is how you sell anything. The good news is that you only need ONE sales funnel to get your business firing. The mistake many entrepreneurs make is that they over complicate things but they don’t need to. Often the best businesses are the simplest ones. Focus on putting together one sales funnel that converts.”
Turn the wheel (instead of reinventing it)
“We may be in the digital age but nothing beats fast-tracking your growth than having a mentor. Why try to work things out on your own when someone else has already been there and you can tap into their experience and what’s already been proven to work?
When you have a mentor you are learning from someone who has already arrived at where you want to be. With the right mentor in your corner, it’s an investment that should save you time, money and also fast-track you reaching your goals. It’s money well spent. Think less creating the wheel and more turning of it.”
Focus on lifetime customers
“What do businesses who are slaying in the digital economy, like Audible, Netflix and Spotify, have in common? If you said repeat customers you’d be correct. Repeat customers = recurring income and that means consistent income. AKA a big, beautiful business where you’re not working hard for each new sale.
Repeat customers are the key to increasing cash flow, igniting growth, and raising the value of your company. Instead of looking for new customers, how can you be more useful to your current ones? Whether you want to transform your entire business into a recurring revenue engine or just add an additional income source, a smart business is one that focuses on repeat automatic customers. Which brings me to my next point…”
Automate more
“Forget about working around the clock (something that many business owners find themselves doing). The great thing is that thanks to new tools and technologies, it’s never been easier to automate many of your business functions.
For example your sales funnel, the process of finding leads and turning them into paying customers, can be fully automated. This means that you can always be selling and importantly have a business that runs when you’re not around.
The modern landscape of the internet and tools and platforms available, are not only shaking up industries, but allow inexpensive and easily accessible ways for businesses to grow faster. Smart businesses who tap into these ways to scale their business in the digital age will find that it is possible have a successful business that also gives you tickle time with your kids, a healthy relationship with your partner and a side order of “me time” every once in a while. And who doesn’t want that?!”
