Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

According to a recent report, a staggering 96% of start-up businesses will fail in their first ten years. This could be due to a multitude of different factors and economic stresses but often comes down to poor planning when the business is in its infancy. While it’s easy to focus on the ‘here and now’ when first launching your business, you need to ensure you are putting plans in place to secure your company’s future, too.

With that in mind, here are four questions you should ask yourself if you want your business to still be around in ten years. 

What Will Make Your Business Stand Out?

With thousands of businesses being launched each and every day, it’s important that you find a way to stand out from your competitors and bring in a loyal customer base. In order to achieve this, you need to know both your industry and target audience inside and out – so that you can provide them with services/products they simply couldn’t get elsewhere. You also need to put together a strong marketing strategy that capitalizes on your USP (Unique Selling Point). Thankfully, there are many ways you can advertise your business, whether you choose to rely on social media or even word of mouth (WOM) marketing.  

How Will I Connect With My Customers? 

Your relationship with your customers is integral to your long-term success – meaning that you need to find ways to improve your customer retention rates. Customer retention refers to the practice of customers remaining loyal to a brand instead of making a singular purchase and never returning. By connecting with your customers, you are instilling them with a sense of loyalty and trust – meaning they will always turn to your brand when they are looking to make a purchase. You can connect (and improve your relationship) with customers by engaging with them more often – be that on social media, through email, or even over the phone. 

How Will I Capitalize On Trends? 

No industry is entirely static – meaning you should expend trends regarding consumer behaviors and habits to change often and sometimes in unexpected ways. However, you can help future-proof your business by ensuring that you capitalize on trends as much as possible, as this shows that you are incredibly customer-orientated. For example, due to its sudden boost in popularity, companies with TikTok accounts have noticed a dramatic increase in sales after advertising their products there. 

How Will I Facilitate Business Growth? 

As mentioned previously, the easiest way to ensure that your company will still be around in a decade is to ensure you lay down plans for the future. This means that you should set yourself goals as to what you want to achieve within a certain timeframe (say a year) and figure out what steps you need to take to achieve these goals. You can also facilitate company growth by bringing new employees with fresh ideas and experiences or by expanding your workspace in order to meet increased customer demands.