Business
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Starting a New Business the Right Way

Whether you are starting a business in Israel, Europe or elsewhere, the fundamental aspects of getting it up and running on the road to success won’t change much. There are a number of things to consider including what your business will do, who it is aimed at and how you are going to market your business and brand to the masses.

Each business will differ in its precise offering. However, with some careful planning and with a plan in place, your chances of success are far greater and your business is more likely to progress month to month and year to year. Success may not necessarily come quickly, but getting up and running properly, with the right preparation will help ensure it does come. Two of the main factors you should consider are:

  • Business Funding
  • Marketing the Business

With these factors in mind, you may need to enlist the help of an industry expert to get things truly off the ground. For example, if you are selling health products such as juice cleanses in the UK, you may need to get a nutritionist to help you explain your product differently to other products and this is important when marketing your new brand.

How Will your Business Get Funding?

First and foremost, you will need to plan whether or not your business needs any funding at all. If it is the case that any degree of funding or cash injection is needed, you should consider your options of where this may come from:

  • Your own savings
  • Friends and family
  • Venture Capital (VC) and ‘Angel’ Investor funding
  • Investors

If you are to invest your own savings or money from friends and family, it is likely (although not certain) that arrangements can be a little more flexible. For example, you will not have to pay any interest to yourself and are unlikely to have to pay much if any to family. However, many people understandably prefer to keep their nearest and dearest apart from business, so this is not always a viable option.

Venture Capital (VC) and Angel Investors will require a more detailed business plan; projections, numbers and figures, costings and more before considering investing in your business. It is therefore very important that you put together a comprehensive plan and strategy of what can be achieved. VC investors are usually private equity firms and companies with funds specifically for businesses which they see as having high growth potential.

Other investors will usually require a return on their investment, commonly referred to as the ‘ROI.’ For example, they will likely invest an amount of money in return for a percentage (%) of the company’s equity, which will depend on the growth potential and valuation of the business in question. In cases of these investors, there will more than likely be a bit of pressure to build the business to the extent where both the investors get their return and you can make some profit from the business.

Marketing your Business to the Right Audiences

When it comes to marketing your product or service offering, finding and establishing your ideal audience is key to business success. For example, if you are selling health products, targeting gym-goers and health conscious people is likely to be much more fruitful than targeting less health-conscious people (source: Missfits Nutrition).

Some of the most popular, most cost-effective and most fruitful ways to market a new business are having a website and utilizing social media to target the best and most coveted audiences.

Website Marketing

Marketing your website comes in a variety of forms, likely to include the very website and its performance, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising (via search engines) and search engine optimization (SEO). Your website should be fit for purpose to start with.

For example, if selling products, it should be easy for users to purchase multiple products via your website. For PPC and SEO, you will likely need to enlist the services and expertise of industry experts who will be able to tailor these campaigns to target the most captive audiences via search engines.

Social Media

Social media outlets popularly utilized for business purposes include Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. All of these platforms have benefits. For example, Facebook may allow you to tailor a specific campaign to a particular demographic, based on age and gender.

Instagram however, provides a visual element that other platforms may not be able to provide and LinkedIn is seen as a much more professional and therefore often trusted platform. This means that high-end services and professional services may thrive on LinkedIn whereas they may not across other platforms.