Being a business man or woman is one of the hardest jobs in the world, and there is nothing as frustrating as a failed business.

Entrepreneurs are determined, bold, and competitive. Most of the time, they have the personal qualities they need to run a successful business. Then why is it that an astonishing 8 out of 10 small businesses fail every year?

You read that right – 8 out of 10 businesses fail every year. That’s massive!

Imagine investing your time, energy and money to setup a business with the hope of growing it into something big and possibly building it into an empire, only for you to wake up one day and realize you are out of business.

If 8 out of 10 businesses fail every year, it then means that a huge number of businesses will still fail this year. The question is would yours be among? Or would yours survive and grow? You might say all the prayers now, and declare “God forbid”, but as good as prayer is, if you continue to make the mistakes the owners of those failed businesses made, yours too will eventually fail.

For you to prevent your business from failing it’s important that you know those mistakes so that you can avoid them and save your business from failure in 2018.

Upon examination of pitfalls in businesses that are doing everything right, it becomes easier to see that it takes more than just being an ambitious CEO to achieve success in business and survive the marketplace. There are 3 key reasons why many businesses have failed and many more will fail in 2018.

Many businesses keep making these same common mistakes in their few years of operation and it’s possible you too are making it. The odds are daunting, but businesses can increase their chances of success and survival substantially by avoiding these deadly mistakes. The mistakes include:

1. Failure to Market Online

In an age where “Google” is a verb, if you’re not marketing online, you’re not selling as much as you could. According to statistics from Invesp, 80% of Internet users have used the Internet to make a purchase. Additionally, 81% of Internet users research products online before making a purchase. In order for your business to thrive, your business must be visible to consumers doing their online research and shopping. SEO work, social media marketing and cross-selling between all communication channels are all absolutely crucial to increasing online visibility.

Press exposure, press releases, traditional PR, social media, and even print marketing should incorporate strong online components.

For example, many companies now incorporate QR codes and social-media icons into their print adverts because they know an increasing number of people will look up their business online. The more your online activities intersect with your marketing efforts offline, the more visibility you gain.

It is no news that the driving force of every business is the customers. This means that the more customers you have the more growth and survival your business enjoys. Likewise, the fewer customers you have, the less you can survive as a business.

With this, the relationship between online marketing and business survival becomes clearer – since 81% of your target customers will search for what they want online before they come to your shop or office, it then means that if you are not online, or do not have visibility online, those customers will not see you. In other words you keep losing customers until you go out of business.

2. Failing to Adapt (and grow) When the Market Changes

Perhaps your initial business model can produce a certain level of activity, but if you are not perpetually studying your market and evolving accordingly, you run the high risk of being left behind. Businesses that survive are those that embrace and adapt to market changes, and this usually results in exponential growth that would not have been possible if they had maintained status quo (in fact, they may not have even survived).

Do your research on your industry and the market in your geographic location. You may find that you can be ahead of trends in your area based on similar companies in other areas. Study how other successful small business owners in your area thrive and incorporate what you find. Taking the time to do the nitty-gritty research will pay off when you are ahead of market trends and standing out in your industry.

One of the most impactful changes in the business world today is digital technology. The way customers relate with businesses, and the way marketing is done has been greatly changed by digital technology. What you need do is embrace it; else you will soon fade out of the market.

3. Failing to Track and Measure your Marketing Efforts

It is very difficult to track the outcome of conventional marketing; this is why businesses that rely on the usual traditional marketing methods of printing and distributing flyers, hanging banners, pasting posters, and even radio and television adverts can’t really know the results they are getting from those marketing measures. And since they don’t know the results they are getting they wouldn’t know the changes to make in their efforts.

Web analytic tools can provide you with valuable market research and insight. Use Web analytics to see which activities generate traffic (customers and potential customers) to your business; what your customers wants to know; who’s buying what (and who isn’t) and which customers are leaving your site without purchasing.

Being able to measure your business using online tools in action allows you to improve customer experience, discover trends among your customers, and boost your numbers – both in customer base and sales.

By eliminating these three risk factors, you’re well on your way to success without falling victim to the intimidating 80% fail rate of small businesses in their first few years of operation.

Look at your business right now; are you making these same mistakes? If you are, then you’ve got to fix it. Don’t say “I’m an expert; I know this business very well. I can’t fail”. Hmm! You should remember that businesses far bigger than yours have failed before, and at your level, the above are the common mistakes made by small and medium businesses that have failed.

So wisdom demands that you know these mistakes and then avoid them. But if you do otherwise, then you are setting yourself up for failure very soon.

Are you making these mistakes right now? Are you ready to fix them and take your business forward? Are you ready to avoid failure in your business? Do you need help in doing this? Check my signature and follow the Link there.

Source: https://zizix.com.ng/why-your-business-will-fail-in-2018/