3 Must-have strategies for any modern business

The world is constantly changing. With new technological advancements and social trends emerging regularly, it’s hard to know what’s worth investing time, energy and money into. But whilst certain trends may not last, there are a few long-term strategies that can help future-proof your business and boost your productivity. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at three strategies that are worth investing in. 

Social media marketing

Whether you like it or not, social media has and will continue to be around for a long time. It is an immensely powerful tool that can help connect your business to countless potential customers around the world. The power of social media is so great that organizations are now questioning its use in political campaigns.

So even if you don’t personally indulge in the use of social media, it would be idiotic to ignore the effect it could have on your business. The key problem for many businesses regarding social media however is that they don’t have a strategy in place. Posting random things on an ad-hoc basis is not enough. In order to maximise results, you need to post consistently on the right channels as well as use the paid advert features. For example, a B2B company may benefit from posting insightful articles on Linked-In whereas a cosmetics company may see better results by hiring influencers to post products on Instagram.

Whatever you choose, make sure you have a plan. Do your research, find out what channels your customers engage with and what content they enjoy. You can utilize multiple social media channels but you need to have a plan to ensure that your content is insightful, useful and relevant.

Staff development & retention

The culture of staying with one company for the entirety of your career is long gone. Professionals these days hop from job to job and change careers multiple times. Sure, there will still be a level of coming & going and new staff with fresh ideas is good for business, but generally speaking, keeping talented staff on board will boost productivity and increase profits. Getting serious about developing your staff is therefore key.

When it comes to creating a staff retention strategy, career development and satisfaction should be at the top of the list. Workers want to feel passionate about what they do. So in order to keep your staff engaged, you need to have a clear path of progression in place. You also need regular opportunities for them to have their say and to communicate their own ideas about their future goals.

Another huge aspect of staff satisfaction is flexible working. Modern workers prioritize a work-life balance. Being able to offer options such as working from home is therefore essential. Again, you should create a culture of allowing your staff to have their say as to what is important to them. For some, it might be having set KPIs and the freedom to complete their work whenever and wherever they wish. For others, they may prefer having one day to work from home per week. Either way, having a strategy in place which allows workers to tell you what they want is key. 

Business continuity management

Put simply, business continuity management is the strategy put in place to minimise a company’s risk of exposure to both external and internal threats. Whether it’s cybersecurity, data breaches or natural disasters, there are many things that can derail a business. Having a robust and comprehensive organisational risk management plan in place is absolutely key.

There are many things to consider as part of a BCM plan. These include disaster recovery, emergency management, contingency planning, organisation-wide communication and more. Many organisations choose to outsource this capability to specialist companies. With modern technology, these companies can streamline all of these elements into one application that allows you to update and adapt your BCM strategy as needed.

Conclusion

Whether it’s marketing, technology or staff training, there are many trends and theories in business that fail to stand the test of time. But by focusing your efforts on a few crucial strategies, you can future-proof your business, increase productivity and keep your staff engaged.