In 2022, Is There Anything That Can Give Your Business An Edge?
The business world has become much more equal since the invention of the internet. Right now, for example, a small company of around five people can design and implement a website as polished, functional and appealing as a Fortune 500 company can. Businesses up and down the scale may have social media pages, but outside of the imaging branding, the social media presence of Coca-Cola Ltd and your local farm shop can look just as professional when next to one another.
This begs the question, what exactly is it that can give your business “the edge” when every possible tactic for growth and exposure seems to be used by all businesses? Of course, this highly depends on the kind of firm you run and the industry or local market it serves. In this post, we hope that you can make use of the most universal principles to better calculate what unique edge you can offer, and how to deliver it in the best way.
Without further ado, let’s explore this topic below:
Comprehensive, Reliable Business IT
With comprehensive and reliable IT infrastructure and IT infrastructure management, you can ensure that your systems are constantly available, that the right cybersecurity patches are installed and that all the features you need – like consistent cloud storage, are provided.
Managed IT service providers will often allow you to scale your package in accordance to the features they have available – so if you’re happy with a relatively minor support package that can be considered, or if you need 24/7 server maintenance and operation thanks to your business serving a mostly online audience, then this can be chosen too.
It’s not exactly true that you’ll be the only business using managed IT services, but just like having a website, ensuring that you have a strong, capable platform like this will help you compete, and make certain you never have to lose out on potential leads due to unnecessary downtime.
The Best Employee Satisfaction
One provision you really do have control over and can completely refine outside of any worries about competition is that of caring for your staff, and making certain you provide a fantastic workplace.
Some businesses may think they need to invest in a huge amount of provisions for this to be the case, like the best ergonomic chairs, the biggest and most sizeable terminal monitors, and more. But really, you just need to provide a light, airy, clean, comfortable workspace, with some good refreshments like great-quality free coffee throughout the day, a worthwhile work progression scheme, investing in training, hiring internally for higher positions, and more. You can bet that companies which reveal themselves to be excellent employers, often awarded with certificates of this nature thanks to employee advocacy, have their pick of what kind of talent they’d like to bring into the team. Think the opposite of a brain drain.
Contributions To Social & Ethical Causes
In 2022, consumers want more from the brands they utilise and support. The term ‘conscious consumer’ has become more of a way to describe general consumers, as everyone wants to know their money is going to businesses that care about their environmental impact, for example.
Could it be that being at the forefront of a social cause that matters to you can help you retain relevance and even renew it? Of course, the course matters first, not the marketing benefits of participating in it. For example, mattress companies have been known to donate a certain number of their products to homeless shelters after a certain number of sales. They didn’t have to do that, but they took the initiative and can proudly say they’re doing some good. It’s easy to discount this as not necessarily a good revenue-builder, but you’d be amazed at how a company can go from vague to present, standing for something, and relevant in the society of today should they permit themselves to try.
Pro-Consumer Support
Placing yourself firmly in the camp of being pro-consumer can make a profound difference to your reputation and may even allow you to curate appreciative consumers who support you and spread your message for you.
CDPR, one of the biggest companies in Poland, makes video games and thanks to their efforts in recoding old video games to preserve them for a modern audience, have made friends with those who appreciate interactive software all over the world. Even releasing a newer one of their titles in an overpromised and unfinished state hasn’t been enough to kill off their reputation.
As you can see – if you focus on being as pro-consumer as possible, and retain that (sometimes, it can be as simple as offering money-back guarantees), you are seen as an authority to look to and even protect. That’s a pretty profound ‘edge’ for your business to enjoy, and you may even be surprised just how effective the approach can be.
Innovating Where You Can
Every business contributes to its industry, offering at least something unique of value to justify its presence. Even companies that seem similar to others, like Pepsi for example, have a noticeable variance in who they supply, what products they offer, and the marginally unique profile they provide.
It may be, then, that while you’re not able to innovate in an industry-wide context, you may be able to innovate in small regards. A cafe may offer a robust lunch menu for both parents and children, for instance, making sure that kids who attend are given a nutritionally complete meal a parent can feel proud of bringing their child to enjoy. As you can see – often it’s the smaller measures that make the most difference, the little techniques and efforts your business goes to in order to show the care in what it does.
Innovating where and where you can may not break any records, but it can keep appreciative and loyal customers coming back to greet and partake in what you have to offer.
With t his advice, we hope you can see that in 2022, there’s plenty to give your business the edge it deserves, even if it might take a little while to identify those opportunistic avenues.
