Planning business online Te whakamahere pakihi i te ipurangi

Planning is the key to setting up a great online business, and it gives you more chances for success.

The two main things you need to identify are:

• your ideal customers - learn who your customers are to better understand how to reach the right market
• your unique selling point (USP) - define your USP while planning your online business, so you can stand out from your competitors and attract more customers.  

Once you’ve established these, you can take the following steps.

Understanding your customers

Developing your unique selling point

 

Once you’ve identified your customers and USP, make it easier for people to find and trust your business with a New Zealand Business Number.

Completing your New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) profile and setting it to public increases the credibility and findability of your business. 

Create an NZBN - NZBN

Your minimum viable product (MVP) is the first working version of your online business, with just enough features and products to satisfy potential customers and let you collect feedback.

You won’t reach every potential customer with your MVP, but you’ll test your vision and see if other people share it.

Your MVP will depend on what you sell. It must:

• show enough potential to attract interest
• have enough immediate value that people will use it, buy it, or invest in it
• let you gather feedback that helps you build on your idea. 

Starting with your MVP may allow you to:

• launch your business or idea quickly
• test your assumptions, and change strategy if needed
• learn what problems you still need to solve or what features you need to add
• understand your customers and what they want
• build your reputation
• avoid putting effort and money into something that won’t work
• attract investors if your idea is good.

Use your MVP to check if customers will buy what you want to sell. You should also research existing demand – use Google Trends to see what keywords people use when looking for what you sell.

Measure the success of your MVP by gathering feedback and data. Refine your product or service accordingly.

Google Trends - Google

Setting the right prices affects how people think about your brand.

To set your prices, you need to:

• understand your customers
• know your competitors
• evaluate what you offer.

Online, it’s easier for customers to compare your product against you competitors’ – and they might choose the cheapest. If your product has characteristics that set it apart, customers will expect pricing to match.

It’s important to attract customers without undervaluing your product. 

In your budget, consider:

• costs involved in creating what you sell
• website fees
• design or technical help
• advertising.

You’ll likely need most of your budget for digital marketing.

Four popular ways to set your budget are:

• spend to cover tasks and achieve objectives – this is the most logical method, if you know what you want to achieve
• limit yourself to what feels affordable
• spend based on sales
• spend to match competitors. 

If the budget looks too steep, revise your targets.

Target your marketing dollars on activities that boost your takings the most. You can usually expect:

• up to 80% of revenue from pay-per-click adverts
• 40–80% to eventually come from making content easy to find, using search engine optimisation
• 10–30% from email marketing
• 0–10% from social media marketing. 

Google Ads are good for a new online business because you: 

• see results straight away
• learn what keywords customers are using to find you, so you can develop your content to rank higher in search results.