Want to win the return to business war in 2021? Truthfully, it’s not as hard as it seems.

Here’s what focus on:

1. Work on Building Lifelong Customer Relationships

Business is really nothing but hundreds of millions of interactions with customers.

But most businesses don’t understand this obvious truth. That’s evidenced by customers’ extremely low trust in businesses.

Data from Hubspot reveals this about consumer trust:

• 55% don’t trust businesses they buy from as much as they used to
• 65% don’t trust company press releases
• 69% don’t trust advertising
• 71% don’t trust sponsored ads on social networks
• 81% trust their friends and family’s advice over what businesses say

Consumers go to third-party review websites like Google or Yelp before patronizing any business.

The point is to go above and beyond in your customer relationships. Most companies don’t.

Customers expect that when they need help, their favorite business will leave them hanging.

So when you come through, you stand out and win customers who stick with you through thick and thin.

2. Have a Precision Understanding of Your Core Customer

You likely have several market segments you serve. But one segment stands out above the rest and is really essential to your survival.

How well do you know their hopes, dreams, and pain points?

Are there ways in which you can improve in addressing those? Do your competitors have a step ahead of you in any of these respects?

If you think about this point long enough, you’ll realize that again it’s all about the relationship.

You can only have a relationship with your customer if you understand who they are and how to solve their problem.

The better you stay in touch with that, the harder you are to beat in the business arena.

3. You can’t Avoid Social Media – It’s Essential to Your Success

No matter how traditional your business may be, you have to work on being present on social media.

Baby boomers, who used to prefer shopping in-store versus online, have shifted to buying online because of COVID.

Plus, in general, 52% of new brand discovery happens on social media. And social media ad spending has risen every year, hitting $50 billion or so here in 2021.

Social media is more of an asset than you think. You can gather specific market data (age, gender, location, interests, and more) when you advertise on various social channels.

This is the type of data that cost 6-7 figures 20 years ago.

If you notice, there’s nothing special about these tips that makes them only apply now. They’re timeless. They’ll work in any business climate.

It seems strange. But most businesses overlook these strategies. If you take the time to really master them, then you’ll easily own the market during the 2021 recovery and beyond.