Growing your business

Creating and implementing best practices to grow and future proof your business has never been more important. Roccoco have put together some useful tips to get your business back on track after lockdown.

Businesses are adapting to the new normal of post lockdown operating, and it can be tough realising that positive results are getting harder to achieve. There is evidence to show that online business activity has never been busier so finding a way to make your business function remotely is one of the best solutions for todays market.

Tip One

Performing a brand audit can help to realign your core values with your future business aspirations. The process involves reassessing your business plan and brand archetype, reviewing the current market and competitors and making appropriate changes or updates.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Look over your business plan and look at what's changed and what needs to change

2. Understand your brand archetype or personality so you can better position yourself

3. Review your current colours and typography to assess whether your current brand identity is working hard enough for you - could it do with a refresh?

4. Identify your closest competitors and discover what they're doing differently

5. Speak to a brand specialist to perform a professional brand audit and strategic plan.

Tip Two

Think about refreshing or rebranding. With so much additional competition online, there's no better time to stand out from the crowd. Giving your brand a facelift can work wonders for increasing customer visibility as well as giving you something current to be proud of.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Find a local brand creative to assess your requirements

2. Start a Pinterest or mood board of other logos and design styles you like

3. Create customer profiles based on insights, so you know you're demographic

4. Make sure that all your social profiles are up to date and beautifully branded

5. Refine your tone of voice, define how do you want to speak to your audience.

Tip Three

Discover the social platforms that work best for your business and post on them regularly. Retail and creative industries work best with Instagram and Pinterest while corporates will benefit from LinkedIn and Twitter. Businesses in hospitality and local services should use Facebook for the highest engagement.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Give your social pages an updated look by refreshing your post style

2. Use a scheduling app for low maintenance posting but don't forget to engage with other users to boost your activity

3. Allow a small budget for targeted advertising or post boosting

4. Create a content strategy that focuses on generating unique, branded content

5. Offer extras on top of your current services to help drive engagement with a call to action, this could be in the form of a coupon in exchange for email signup, a free consultation or pricing packages.