A business needs a robust system of operation to keep it through all the thick and thins that are sometimes unavoidable. For every business, it is important, especially during a recessionary time, to operate with some cost cutting measures. And if things are far away from recovery, it becomes imperative to have a safety shield to pull the business through tough times. In such a time, it is important to reduce cost, increase profits and promote the business effectively. Mentioned below are some great tips that can help you keep your business in business.
1. Seek Referrals
Referrals can prove to be a boon for your business. When it comes to buying, customers often go by words of mouth. Thus a business can not really ask for more if it has some other reputed business referring to it. Also, you can ask your customers for referrals and offer them various types of incentives in return. You can even start a promotion and provide referral cards to customers. Again, this is an effective strategy that does not even cost much.
2. Effective Promotion
Almost every business has a planned promotion, sales, or other things that they plan to advertise. Such promotional strategies could be used as and when required. However, one of the best ways to get the most out of your investment is to provide the printed advertisements to the customers along with the items that they purchase. This really helps a lot in your upcoming promotions and ensures that more customers return to you in future. This can be a very effective strategy and you do not need to spend much on providing customers with printed ads.
3. Become an Expert
This is the age of information. And the fact that information is just a click away, people settle for nothing but the best. When it comes to business, more often than not, it is observed that many business owners are unknown experts. You can make your expertise known among people by writing a piece of column in a local newspaper on your business domain. You can also opt for delivering classes at libraries, local schools or colleges. You will find out that people do look for and appreciate an expert advice to which they can refer to. This is pretty good strategy that will only rob you off your time.
4. Find Another Business to Share Ad Costs With
Although this can prove to be a very great strategy, but hardly any business ever considers it. In case you are planning a sale in future, you can very well ask any neighboring business to combine advertisement efforts with them for the same day. This way both the businesses can cut cost. Simply combine efforts, divide the expenses, and enjoy the benefits you thus make.
5. Create Forms on Your Own
Yes, you can very well create the forms you need on your own. It is much better than buying forms. First of all, buying forms can prove to be a very frustrating task. It takes a lot of time to find a generic form and then you also have to pay for them. Although customized forms is a better option than this, but then these customized forms cost a lot more that the generic ones. A good cost saving option is to create your own forms using like Excel, Word, or Publisher. It is certainly better and economical than buying generic or customized forms.
6. Use Social Networking
In today’s’ networking age when almost everyone is connected to every other person, you can use various social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook etc to offer something extra to your audience. It will also give an additional exposure to your business. Social networking can help you get more business and best thing is that it does not cost you anything.
7. Try to Keep Your Printing Costs Low
Often, it is seen that the printings of advertisements, receipts, bills etc cost a business a whopping amount. This sends the budget aflutter. Therefore, it is imperative to cut down the printing cost. You can cut down printing cost to some extent by by purchasing refilled ink cartridges. These will cost you 40% less than buying new cartridges.
8. Build a Virtual Office
In today’s era of technology, setting up a virtual office is must. A physical office can be too expensive to afford. However, a good alternative is to set up a virtual office that can work just as fine. Try to search for information on virtual offices and you will be surprised by the chunk of information you get. You will have to pay for calls in a virtual office, but this cost will certainly be too less than what you may have to spend on building a brick and mortar office.
