Even in 2023 there is no one single right way to increase your chances of success with your small business. There is no one formula or one set of rules that will guarantee small business success.
However, for tradie small business owners there are some simple steps that can be taken to improve the chances of success for your trade business. Each step can help make it easier to manage your tradie small business and become a successful trade business owner. Let’s look at five top tips to help you grow your trade small business in New Zealand.
Truly know your core customers
How well do you know your core customer types? Do you have a vague idea who they are? Or have you clearly defined your target audience and gained a crystal clear understanding of their motivations, frustrations, goals – and how your trade business can help them?
If you truly want to know your key customers so you can better engage them and help them, it may be worth developing marketing personas for the main types of customers your trade business serves.
A marketing persona offers a precise picture of your core customer types. They can be effective in helping business owners to better understand the most effective ways to communicate, connect, and engage with their customers.
Optimise your company’s online presence
Most businesses have a company website to market their products and services. However, merely having a website for your trade small business may not be enough if it offers minimal value to potential customers who visit your site. Your trade company’s website should not be a token gesture to have, “just because”.
Instead, your business will benefit from having a website that is an informative destination for your potential customers and offers prospects real value. A great tactic for doing just that is content marketing. This is an incisive and effective type of marketing that will help you to attract, engage and retain your audience by sharing relevant and useful information that will add true value to them.
With a well-designed and easy to navigate website, you can also increase your likelihood of receiving new business enquiries due to the fact that your company website:
- is intuitively designed and easy to use;
- clearly explains each of the trade services you offer, who you offer them to, and the geographical area that you service; and
- clearly explains how visitors to your website can contact you (by mobile phone and email).
While on the topic of optimising your company’s online presence, it’s also important that your trade business website is optimised for SEO (search engine optimisation), including local SEO. This will help improve your organic search engine ranking and increase the likelihood of new business enquiries coming your way.
Be super organised
Growing and sustaining a trade small business requires that you become hyper organised. Your ability to organise your priorities and the flow of each working day can have a major impact on the outcomes of your business – and indeed on the state of your own health and wellbeing. Being well organised will also help you avoid feeling burnt out at the end of a busy day or busy week.
For busy tradie small business owners, to-do lists can be a great way to help organise each day and each working week. One handy way to manage your to-do list is to make use of digital tools such as Trello or Slack to keep your to-do list on track. Such tools can be a godsend for busy tradies.
Competitor analysis
Although it is nothing new, an extensive competitor analysis can be one of the best ways to understand your key competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Your competitors might be doing something that you can take, improve upon, and incorporate into your trade business to increase your chances of success.
The way you analyse your competitors will differ depending on your industry and the level of access you have to your competitors. Suggested steps that you could use to gain insights into understanding your competitors may include:
- identifying who they are;
- conducting a SWOT analysis of each competitor;
- reviewing their company website and the experience it offers.
- Finding out the market position of each competitor.
- Running a price analysis on each of your competitors.
Reduce your exposure to risks
A key part of growing a small business is protecting its future by reducing its exposure to risk via business insurance. After all, you don’t want to pour your heart, soul, and life savings into your small business only to potentially lose it all due to an insurance claim against your business.
Risk simply comes with the territory when you operate your own small business. While you may not be able to control everything, you can control how you manage and reduce your risk. Some types of business insurance that tradie small business owners may consider include:
- Public Liability insurance: A crucial form of cover to protect you and your business against claims arising from third party property damage and accidental injury
- Tool and Portable Equipment Insurance: Covers you for loss and damage to items of portable equipment associated with your business. These can include tools of trade and items of stock.
BizCover helps tradie small business owners throughout New Zealand to reduce the risks to their business via business insurance*, including Public Liability insurance, and small business insurance. Visit bizcover.co.nz and get business insurance for your accounting small business without drama and get on with your day.
*This information is general only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be relied upon as advice. As with any insurance, cover will be subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions contained in the policy wording. © 2022 BizCover Pty Limited. BizCover Limited is owned by BizCover Pty Ltd (ABN 68 127 707 975)
