How to spring clean your business in six simple steps
March 11th 2022
Spring is the season of change, renewed hope and vitality - the perfect time of year to have a reshuffle, a rework, or to get your business in order by scaling things back and cleaning things up.
Warmer weather approaches, the daffodils are in bloom, and the clocks go back, meaning we can enjoy longer nights and brighter mornings. No matter what the last 12 months may have thrown at you, now is the time to try and feel a little more optimistic about the future.
How to spring clean your business in six simple steps
1. Think about your brand
One of the easiest things you can do to freshen up your business is to sit down and really have a think about your brand.
Where do you want to be in a year? How about in five years or ten? Ponder if your current branding represents these goals or you as a business. If it doesn’t, then think about how you can get it to. Have a look at your current slogans and messages and make sure you’re presenting the best parts of your business to the world.
Amelia, who runs her successful 'Pooch Lounge and Grooming' business in Bromley, South East London, said that building her brand is high on her priorities list moving forward.
“Next year, I’d like to work on my social media,” She tells us “That’s something I'd really like to expand on. You know, just really find ways to improve reach, whether it's through adverts or other ways.” She adds “Newsletters are something I'd like to do in the future. I'd definitely like to create something to send out to customers. But even little things like shouting out dogs that have come a long way, maybe ‘dog of the week’ pictures with little ‘about them’ sections.”
2. Streamline your social media
Another thing you can do to spring clean your business goes hand in hand with the above tip and links to what Amelia mentioned. By thinking about your brand, you could also look at the platforms you use to amplify your message, yep, you got it, we’re talking about social media.
Social media marketing is a great add on for any business and tweaking how you use things like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram reaps many benefits. Many business owners find it really helps them understand their customer's needs.
Rosy Sida, who runs Filth Florist in London said, “When I first started, Instagram and social media was how I built my platform, basically for free. It does work as free advertising, so it definitely built our following.”
Isabelle Alaya, of Melange Chocolate Shop in Peckham said she wasn't aware of the power of social media until recently. She said, “I had paid someone else to do our social media a few times and didn’t see any good results, so I was never convinced until recently. But a social media influencer did a little video in the shop and straight away I had lots of new people coming and visiting from all around London.”
Now Isabelle realises the importance of using social media to get your brand out there, she had some top advice for other business owners.
“I’d definitely say ask everyone coming in your shop to follow you on Facebook or Instagram, I'm ashamed of asking, so I never do it, but that's what needs to be done in this day and age. People respond to options. So, if people don't see you as an option, then sadly they will move on to somewhere else.”
With social media, you can reach more potential customers or clients, make it easier for people to see what you’re about and you can really engage with your audience. Thinking about streamlining your social media accounts, making sure they are all consistent, have the same recognisable colour scheme, appropriate profile pictures and a bio that really nails down what you do is sure to help your business feel fresh, brand new, and ready for spring.
3. Launch a new strategy
Now is the perfect time to try something new business-wise. We’ve all been stuck in a rut during winter, doing the same things over and over, getting our information from the same outlets. As businesses get ready for the warmer months, you might find yourself wanting to jump right in and try something brand new.
This ‘something new’ could be a different kind of marketing strategy, a newsletter, a new social media posting strategy or even paid ads in newspapers or magazines. You may decide that a referral scheme could benefit you, where a customer wins something if they refer five friends to your business. Whatever you decide, now is the perfect time to try something brand new and alter your strategy, it may turn out to be helpful to your business.
Anita Mattson-Hesketh, who runs Lush Blooms Bespoke Floristry in Cardiff said she's made some changes to help her business appeal to customers who may be a little cash strapped right now. She said “I've made changes like introducing payment plans and lowering some prices. I’ve also set up Klarna, so people can spread the costs at 0% percent instead of using credit cards.”
4. Revisit your business plan
Being adaptable is what life in business is all about. Taking some time to sit down and really think about a new plan will make it easier to know where you are going in the future and what you want to achieve.
The pandemic was a prime example of businesses having to alter how they ran in order to succeed. The cost of living crisis and the energy crisis caused further uncertainty for business owners.
But use all these hurdles to your advantage. You could think about how you coped with the business/customer relationship during these tough times. Maybe you started an online service that worked well and you could revisit this way of communicating. Maybe you adapted by turning your café into an al fresco experience with outside tables and chairs, have a think about how to move forward with your business and create a brand-new plan that reflects this.
Rosy, from Filth Florist chatted to us about pivoting her business focus during the cost of living crisis, she said “Moving to the wedding side of business and not doing the weekly bouquets was a direct result of the increase in flower costs. I would probably still be doing the bouquets if flowers hadn’t increased so much in price, but the margins are just so small now, it's not a financially viable income stream.”
5. Revamp your premises (and refresh staff relationships)
Everything you change about your business internally is great, but sometimes you want to show the world that you feel brand new and show off your new plans.
So why not have a revamp of your business premises. If you own a shop, how about switching displays round, designing a new window front to celebrate the end of winter. If you have an office, try brightening the place up with a move around of furniture, add some refreshing spring plants. You could start an employee of the month campaign and put up some staff pictures to show them you value their work.
Staff motivation is key and will help your business shine as one. Speaking of motivation, Bionic asked how Isabelle spurs her Melange employees on.
“I feed them chocolate.” She laughs, but continues, joking aside “I give them freedom and I value them a lot, so they feel confident. They don't have me on their back all the time, they’re free to get on with their work. Considering freedom is my most important value, I make sure to give them that.”
6. Get your business costs sorted
Ah, the dreaded books. Spring is a time for new beginnings, and you want to go into the warmer months with as less stress as possible. You don’t want numbers clogging up your mind. By getting your business costs sorted, we mean checking out your current bills and seeing if you could potentially save anywhere.
Becoming more mindful about energy efficiency is just one way you can lower costs, for example, Chris Harrison who just set up his independent gym Hybrid in Southampton said, “Hybrid is a very energy efficient gym, so there's no cardio kit plugged in. Most pieces of equipment are battery operated and can be recharged, there's only about ten things which need to be plugged in on a daily basis and all the lighting I've got has been changed to super-efficient LEDs.”
He continues: “So even though the business is in early stages right now, the energy bills I'm getting are much lower, I'm really keeping an eye on my overheads. It’s important to me as a business owner not to let costs behind the scenes spiral out of control.”
By taking a leaf out of Chris' book and sorting out your finances now, you can take advantage of the great deals out there and could end up saving money on your bills.
It’s a great idea to work out what you spend each month on things like electricity and energy and how you could be saving. That’s where Bionic comes in, we can shop the market for you to help you save money on business energy, business insurance, and connectivity so you have more money to spend on your business. If you're in need of business finance, we can compare options from high street banks, challenger banks and alternative lenders to find the right solution for your business.
Here are three ways in which we can save your business time and money:
- Here at Bionic we take all the hassle out of switching suppliers and one of our experts will make sure you get the perfect deal for your business.
- Bionics' tech-enabled team will search for the best prices on your behalf and send you a list of the best quotes to choose from. We make sure you’ll never overpay for business energy again.
- We’ll sort out the switch completely and all you have to do is kick back, relax and save money.
Our service is free, so give us a call now on 0800 077 4181 to find out how we can help your business. Or you can leave your postcode in the pop-up box and we'll get back to you.