strategy Online Business development – Research And Do It Yourself At First – Here’s Why…

[Eric Lyon]

The other day I was scanning some social media posts and came across one talking about an expert/guru they hired to perform a few development and content tasks for them. After the project was completed and handed over, the buyer/investor unknowing promoted someone elses embedded affiliate links/programs. 50% of their project was done with the buyers/Investors links and the other 50% was meticulously injected with the expert/guru’s links.

Reading the post on social media, it reminded me about a very short conversation I had with Mike Cyger (Owner of DomainSherpa) at NamesCon back in Jan. 2017 in Las Vegas, I recall him asking me what I would advise a new domain investor looking to develop their first online business. My answer was very short and lacked any real context (I advised them to research and do it themselves at first). Without context, the assumed answer could go various different ways. Mike and I agreed to speak more about my answer later, as we were both booked up for the next couple months.

It’s imperative that start-up businesses do their due diligence and research every aspect of their business from (but not limited to); Target demographics, marketing and sales strategies, brand identity, public relations, interactive features they need, services and products they will offer, a basic idea of what they want their web presence to look like, domain investment costs, hosting costs, development options, tax requirements, legal requirements, etc.

While I can agree with some consultants; that new business owners can easily spread themselves too thin, which negatively effects production, it’s critical that a business owner knows what each department is doing for their business (At least a basic concept). Again, I have to ask; How on earth can a business be successful if the owner doesn’t at least understand the basics of how their own business works? Blind faith?..

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[arnela]

I completely agree that it is important to do own research. I think the problem appears when you have to choose which strategy is relevant which is not that important. Of course, there are tips like be unique from competitors, integrate with social media to promote your business and so on. But these tips are more general. Which tips do you think are more relevant in 2017?

 

[Eric Lyon]

I completely agree that it is important to do own research. I think the problem appears when you have to choose which strategy is relevant which is not that important. Of course, there are tips like be unique from competitors, integrate with social media to promote your business and so on. But these tips are more general. Which tips do you think are more relevant in 2017?

That's going to be different for everyone since each business model varies. Sadly, there really isn't a generalized answer I can give you that will solve everyone's problems when it comes to strategy. After research should come testing. Lots of testing, to identify which strategies will work best for you and your unique business.

Each year, the markets shift a little. Some changes are very minimal and nobody notices at first (E.G. Deep linking, longer articles, new banner ad campaign, etc.) and others are more dramatic with a widespread effect on everyone (E.g. Google algorithm changes). It's important to never stop researching and learning. So, I suppose, the best strategy I would recommend as the most important to start would be to research and learn at least one new thing every day that benefits your business.

 

[arnela]

Thank you for your answer!
What io find hard to identify what may benefits business. What I mean is that sometimes a person may a lot of time to find the right direction of the research. How to optimise the first step of research to make sure that you took the right direction?

 

[Eric Lyon]

Thank you for your answer!
What io find hard to identify what may benefits business. What I mean is that sometimes a person may a lot of time to find the right direction of the research. How to optimise the first step of research to make sure that you took the right direction?

So I can answer that more accurately, can you provide me with an example business niche/model?

 

[arnela]

Well, as an example can be a small shop. Something like accessories, necklaces or something relevant to it.
Let's assume that it is kind of family business without a plan to expand further.
I understand that there should be a business plan with identified customer niche market, pricing and so on. What came into my mind is a personal branding. I think on the occasion of small business that can be a useful thing. What do you think?

 

[arnela]

By the way, had in my mind to ask what do you about these tips?

 

[Eric Lyon]

Well, as an example can be a small shop. Something like accessories, necklaces or something relevant to it.
Let's assume that it is kind of family business without a plan to expand further.
I understand that there should be a business plan with identified customer niche market, pricing and so on. What came into my mind is a personal branding. I think on the occasion of small business that can be a useful thing. What do you think?

Naturally, as a small family business owner myself, I agree that even small mom and pop shops can and should have a powerful brand, regardless what industry they are in. However, your initial question was about how one should start researching to build brand awareness to a business in the first place. Using your example "A small family operated jewelery shop", I would probably do the the following (Assuming you've already established the business and have proper licensing):

• Brand Brainstorming – This includes brand mapping techniques and domain availability check. - Establish deep meaning to your brand. Here's an example of a brand map with deep meaning (Obviously, a brand for the jewelery industry will be different and should have meaning that relates to the niche):

• Brand Competitor Research – This includes general research of your competitors to ensure your brand stands out better than the rest. This is pretty straight forward. You'll want to google several other companies that are in the same exact business as you are. Review their terms of service, privacy policy, brand image, mission statement, content exicution, etc. and take notes, because you want to package your brand better than theirs.
  
• Brand Target Market Research – This includes researching your target audience and target geography so you can ensure that your brand is reaching the right potential consumers. Using the same method as above, you'll want to now check their testimonials, followers on social media, and reviews to find out who their customers are and take notes on how you can give them a better solution. Your sites analytics are also important. By checking analytics, you can see where visitors are coming from, what page they visited longest, what page they left on, which page is most popular, etc. use those stats to focus on what's working and expand on it.
  
• Brand Creation/Design – This includes the unique and creative design of your new brand. This is self explanitory, keep in mind the deep meaning example I gave above. You'll also want to run some trademark searches to insure you aren't infringing on anyone elses identity in your industry. Last thing you need is a lawsuit just starting out for creating a brand easily confused for someone elses. A law suit that early in the game could crush your business before it gets started.
  
• Brand Strategy/Campaign – This includes outlining marketing/advertising campaigns to help you get the most exposure for your brand. You'll obviously want to google and read as many marketing articles as you can find and creative avenues to get your brand in front of people. Here's a checklist list I created in 2011 to help you get started with marketing/advertising ideas: https://www.namepros.com/threads/marketing-ideas-and-techniques.719211/
  
• Brand Management – This is the labour involved in getting your brand out there. Managing your campaigns should be a daily/weekly/monthly ritual. Keep notes of whats working and eliminate what's not. Continue testing new stratigies and keep the ones that produce. Your analytics data helps with this too.

By the way, had in my mind to ask what do you about these tips?

That's the basics. Looks good.

 

[arnela]

Wow, thank you for all details. Read through each point several times and keeping reading. Regarding the first 3 points, it is quite clear for me. Well, about the last 3 points. I assume there should be the specialist who knows hot to create the right design concept. I am not a professional in this field. What do you think?
Regarding brand campaign and brand management. Do you consider online marketing here as well? Like SEO or SEM? Am I right?

Also, what do you think about personal branding in this content? Like promoting shop via personal branding.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Wow, thank you for all details. Read through each point several times and keeping reading. Regarding the first 3 points, it is quite clear for me. Well, about the last 3 points. I assume there should be the specialist who knows hot to create the right design concept. I am not a professional in this field. What do you think?
Regarding brand campaign and brand management. Do you consider online marketing here as well? Like SEO or SEM? Am I right?

Also, what do you think about personal branding in this content? Like promoting shop via personal branding.

Yes, if you don't have the skill sets for designing a brand, you should hire a professional.

Correct, brand management also contains elements of online marketing (Social engagment, blogging, link building, seo, press releases, etc.)

I think that personal branding and company branding should go hand and hand. After all, you are an extension of your company. If a CEO/President/Freelancer doesn't have a trusted personal brand, their company won't be trusted either.

I hope that helps,