Every single big company once started out as a small startup business, and they are now serving as some of the most luxurious and expensive brands in the world. Both Apple and Google started out in garages and look where they are now. Not to mention Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Louis Vuitton which were once upon a time small fashion businesses ready to take over the world. The creative business has become a huge deal in the last couple of decades, and it seems that this trend is not going to settle down – more and more businesses in the creative industry are trying to find their way to the hearts of the customers. If you want to become a part of this world, and you have a business that you want to launch, don’t let the competition discourage you, but rather work hard to earn your place under this starry sky of success. What are the pro tips that you need to follow? Take a look:
1. Have a business plan
After carefully selecting your business model, it’s time to make your business plans – the documents that you will send out to your investors, lenders and potential partners to give them a full understanding of your business. Now, according to Guardian, over 90% of new businesses survive their first year while almost 60% of them collapse after five years. This is the main reason why you should have a business plan for one, three and five years, and follow them to the letter. What you need to do is base these calculations on how many potential customers you will have and the capacity of the business.
2. Think about the essentials
Starting your business in the creative industry, especially in fashion, architecture and art, is definitely not an easy endeavor. This definitely costs a bit more, but it’s important to invest in everything that’s essential so that it will pay off in the end. Let’s take the example of starting your own fashion business. Apart from the regular fees that you will be giving to your employees or the people who are helping you out, it’s important to invest in good fashion ERP software that will help you manage everything in the best possible way. This might seem unimportant, but software like this will certainly help you in the long run – they will keep track of your spending, revenue, stock in and stock out, manufacturer orders, shipping, invoices and much more.
3. Know your target audience
The first thing that you need to do is find your target audience. Creating a business that will cater to everyone’s needs is out of the question, as it won’t catch on the majority of your potential customers. Focus on a certain group of people – for example children, teenagers or adults, and start from there. What is your business? Whom do you want as your customers? These are all important questions that need to be answered.
4. Test your product
Regardless of the nature of your business idea, it’s very important to test your products and services so that you see if there’s anything else you need to think about. This is the step when you will find out who your potential customers are and how they feel about the services or products you are offering. Bear in mind that it’s only by market testing that you will make your business more successful – it might happen that you will have to change the idea completely if you want to succeed, and this is why you should do this in the beginning.
5. Use the power of advertising
After completing the first four steps, it’s time for the most important of them all – advertising. Make sure to keep everything quite visual as the look of the products, your website and your logo are extremely important in this new day and age. Next, try to find the best advertising platform to show your products. The strongest advertising platform at the moment is definitely Instagram, so make sure you use the perks of it. Create your own business account there and a signature identity as the feed on Instagram is extremely important nowadays. If you need more help in this department, you can always find an expert who will give you reveal certain tips and tricks to you.
So let’s conclude – don’t be scared to start. Yes, you will have to start small, but you will get to see your business grow more and more as time passes, especially if you carefully plan out everything and are cautious enough. Good luck!
