The coronavirus pandemic took many businesses by surprise, and worse yet, forced many businesses to fold.

Business survival is no mean feat, with a lot of factors at play. But the pandemic made business survival hard for many business owners.
Nevertheless, as a business owner, you must plan and solidify your business come what may.

In this post, we share our top 6 business survival tips for 2021.

Reassess Your Budget

Setting a budget and sticking to it is a vital element of business success even in normal times, but it’s all the more important in 2021. Be sure to create a fresh budget for the year 2021.

Consider your goals for the year and then identify the areas that need more resources. This may mean increase your ad spend or spreading out the payments to make an important asset acquisition.

Nurture Your Most Loyal Customers

Loyal customers are a big asset for any business. Not only will they buy repeatedly from you but they will also spread the good word about you online and offline. That kind of free advertising is very valuable. After all, we trust our friends’ opinions more than anything.

If your customers have left a review on social media or review sites like Yelp or Google, be sure to comment on these reviews and thank them for their time. This small gesture goes a long way in showing how much you value their business and feedback.

You can even consider rewarding your brand advocates by offering them a referral code or a discount coupon that they can redeem on their next purchase.

Leverage Social Media Advertising

Targeted social media marketing can deliver some stunning results. Facebook allows you to target people that are similar to your existing target audience profile. You can target these look-alike customers to market your products and offers.

Moreover, Facebook Ads Manager allows you to effortlessly convert these ads to Instagram ads. Instagram is another excellent platform to grow your leads and boost sales.

With social media advertising, you can target people based on aspects like education, location, ethnic affinity, life events and financial status.
By narrowing your criteria, you may reach fewer people but this is balanced by the fact that you are reaching more people who are interested in knowing about your business and offerings.

If you don’t have the budget to begin advertising yet, a giveaway contest is an excellent way to improve engagement and followers cost-effectively.

Diversify

If your survival is at risk in your current market, consider looking at other markets. For instance, you may find customers in the next town or perhaps by shifting your marketing focus.

If you are targeting an extremely broad market, try to narrow it down to a specific audience. You may end up discovering an entirely new market.

Know Your Customers Well

A successful business is one that knows its target customers well. These customers are your last hope in times such as these. So look for ways to persuade these customers to re-order.

Rank these customers by attributes, identify which products are most popular among your core customers, or conduct a poll to know what your customers’ pain points are and what they are looking for.

Don’t Drop Your Price, Offer More

Dropping your prices to gain customers won’t take you far, especially if you are pitted against big competitors with huge piles of cash to burn. Rather than competing on price, stand tall and above them using your product knowledge, superior service or customer-support.

Credit: Bob Stokes