Have you ever noticed that no entrepreneur is alike? If you look at some of today’s most influential entrepreneurs, you’ll see that not one of them is the same. And to be fair, from the perspective of “human to human,” no one person is the same, obviously… but in order to achieve success in the business world, regardless of the industry, there are certain models and strategies that you must follow, right? Yes, but does that theory hold true for entrepreneurs? Not necessarily…
You have to understand that entrepreneurs are a very rare breed of individuals that can’t be put into a category. People have said that entrepreneurs are introverts, graduated at the top of their class from college, and that they’re weird… What people fail to realize is that some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs dropped out of college, love being around people, and are some of the most fun people you will ever meet… just look at the young Bill Gates pictured above... So you can’t put people in boxes because everybody doesn’t fit.
Now, there’s one safe thing to say that’s similar among the diverse bunch of individuals we call entrepreneurs, is how they enter entrepreneurship. They’re either seeking out entrepreneurial opportunities or they’re being presented with entrepreneurial opportunities.
Brick-and-mortar entrepreneurial opportunities are great ways to put a face behind the brand and make a name in your local community but it also comes with expensive overhead and slow scalability. Those two reasons alone are why you should consider opening an online store this year, especially, if you have the drive to own a business.
As an online business owner, one of the biggest perks is that you don’t have the typical entrepreneurial challenges most new businesses face. By owning an online business, you’re essentially investing in your future. Take a look at the seven reasons you should consider starting an online store.
1. Unique Marketing Techniques
Because we live in such a digital era, it can sometimes be hard to believe that businesses had to market their businesses without the use of social media. TV commercials, radio ads, postcards, and even billboards were the primary outlets to market a business… those methods are prehistoric compared to today’s marketing efforts but are still utilized today.
The funny thing about those “prehistoric” marketing methods is that they were and still are, quite expensive. Brick-and-mortar stores, at one point, were solely reliant upon those methods. But thank goodness for technology.
Today, one of the biggest marketing powerhouses to date is social media. And guess what… it’s the cheapest marketing tool for starting businesses and allows businesses to reach their target audience from all over the globe.
Just simply create a business account on the various social media platforms and engage and interact with your followers.
Everything from posting new items and limited time only sales to customer appreciation giveaways and hashtag contests, social media has completely changed marketing strategies for many businesses and become a standard in many business models.
What’s more, social media pairs perfectly with other content promotion channels as well.
When developing your content marketing strategy, you should have a plan for both the topics you will cover and equally important, how you will gain visibility for your content. Social media, outreach link building to promote content, and even participation in groups with a strong interest in your niche can be great methods.
2. Thriving Community of Web Users
If you think about the shopping behaviors of consumers back in the 60s and 70s compared to now, you’ll see that there’s an obvious difference in their shopping habits. In today’s era, a large percentage of people now shop online… in fact, eight out of ten, to be exact. If that’s not clear enough for you, according to Statista, that’s around 4.54 billion people! With online shopping being such a profitable industry, there’s definitely room for you to get a piece of the pie as well.
3. Scalability
The scalability opportunity that comes with online businesses is unlike that of a brick-and-mortar store. Typically, with brick-and-mortar stores, its growth can be quite limited and its target audience is typically found in close proximity to the business’ physical location.
With online stores, your growth opportunities are limitless. You have to understand that your online store won’t necessarily just transform into a six-figure company overnight but once your business picks up momentum and starts to rapidly grow, you have the ability to expand your business to a worldwide audience.
4. Great Platform For Unique Products
Any business, whether brick-and-mortar or online, can sell unique products… where the difference lies is in the unique audience that’s going to want to buy those products. Depending on just how “unique” your products are, you may not live in the right area to try and sell those products from a brick and mortar store but if you own an online business, you’re going to be able to find your unique target audience and market your products directly to them, all over the world.
5. Freedom and Flexibility
The freedom and flexibility is what attracts people to become an entrepreneur in the first place. Although becoming an entrepreneur and traveling while making money is nothing like going on a vacation, like most people tend to think it is, just having the freedom and flexibility to get out of the office environment is what sweetens the deal a little more.
According to Forbes, Americans will forgo their taking breaks and using their vacation time simply out of fear of falling behind. When you own an online business, you’ll have a vacation-like environment without the office politics but even in owning your business, it’s still very important to make sure you’re taking breaks and giving yourself off days.
6. Source of Helpful Information
As mentioned earlier, 4.54 billion people use the internet, but do you know why they use the internet? Because they’re looking for information; answers. A user might hop online and be looking for floral print dresses… once they type that in the search engine bar, the results will show local stores that offer what that user is looking for in a certain mile radius. But what if the user isn’t looking to go into a store? Well, the search engine will also pull results for online stores as well.
With a stellar marketing and SEO strategy available at multiple seo management services, your business could be the business that pops up in the search results when users are searching for products you’re selling. To be the go-to source of information about products you’re selling, just make sure that when you’re in the process of building your website to use a trusted website builder. This is not only going to make your online store look professional but it’s also going to make them feel secure when they’re on your site.
7. Enhances Your Tech Skills
You may not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to technology, but going through the steps of building your website and learning how to market your business is going to sharpen your skills in technology. And even if you still aren’t catching on as quickly on to the technical side of your online business, you still have the brain capacity to know that there are people who do understand it and you can simply hire them to help you with the technical things.
