The global startup economy is worth about $3 trillion, rising to 20% within the last two years. Although this isn’t much, startups are extremely vital to every nation’s economy in the long run.

The largest global companies were once startups. Those that have become enormously successful became what they are today by taking practical strategic actions towards achieving their short and long-term goals.

You can, too. As a startup company in Hong Kong, whether a small privately-owned business or corporate entity, you have several opportunities to position your business for success. The territory itself fosters a healthy commercial environment as there’s the ease of obtaining business licenses, simple and low tax regime (ranking as the world’s most business-friendly tax system), and support initiatives for small businesses.

But achieving remarkable success in your business isn’t solely by what environment you plant your business in but by the practical actions you take. And in the world of digitalization, there are so many things to consider.

So, to put you on the right track, here are key focus areas to position your startup business for success.

1. Accounting and finance

A crucial aspect of business that some startups fail to realize early is their accounting and finance. Although you may have capital, you may not have the financial skills to determine the best ways to utilize it and increase your profit margin, which is vital to upscaling your business finance.

Also, you want to have accurate bookkeeping for all your financial data, cash inflow, outflow, and transactions to have an insight into where your business is headed. With these and your normal business operations competing for your time, it becomes advisable to hire an Accountant in Hong Kong to take the financial burden off of your shoulders. With their financial skills, they can help your business increase its profit margin, excel and succeed financially.

You can also consult with an accountant in Hong Kong for expert advice on tax planning and help with cloud-based financial data services.

2. Making a digital presence

The Internet is a vast environment filled with limitless opportunities. Companies that have leveraged the power of digital marketing have gained an online presence and global recognition.

According to Smart Insights, about 81% of people go online to search for a product or service. With such statistics,  having a website isn’t only recommended but paramount. That’s how your target audience will get to find you if they haven’t heard of you before.

If you are a local-based business in Hong Kong, then you would have to optimize your website locally for your target market. If your service has a farther reach, such as if you deliver goods internationally, then you want customers all over the world to be able to buy from you on your website.

Failing to leverage website and digital marketing can greatly limit business revenue.

3. Content/SEO marketing

Not all websites have a blog section on their website or post content on social media. Some businesses may not find it relevant, and rightly so.

However, we cannot deny how much keeping your customers engaged impacts customer loyalty.

As a startup, you want your first customers to not only return to make a second purchase but also to recommend your product/service to their friends. By keeping your audience engaged, you can achieve this — through content marketing.

You can grab customers’ emails when they log in or make a purchase on your site and send them newsletters afterwards. Creating fresh content for them will keep you in their minds.

Also leverage blogging, not to advertise your product or service, but to educate users on issues they are asking related to your niche. Show yourself as a credible resource for answers, and they become loyal to your brand.

But effective content and SEO marketing is not as easy as you may think. You’ll find that hiring an SEO agency or digital marketing expert will become a worthy investment.

4. Information Technology

Another vital aspect startups shouldn’t ignore is IT. In simple terms, information technology fosters innovation in business. It offers you access to improved data storage, efficient information distribution, faster processing, and smarter apps, all of which are relevant to make your organization world-class. Consequently, these benefits you derive from IT help increase value, enhance quality, and boost productivity.

Knowing these benefits, it would be a mistake to neglect investing in IT. You can get help from a managed IT services provider if you do not have a sufficiently skilled team to handle your tech. Hiring a managed IT services company is often recommended as they bring more to the table (as compared to an internal IT staff), including:

• Round the clock monitoring of your servers
• Detection and instant resolution of tech issues before they escalate
• Improved IT security
• Peace of mind due to their number of skilled personnel making up the IT company.

It may not sound very economical to you but most companies, both big and small, have found managed IT a worthy investment.

5. Tradeoff

One issue some startup entrepreneurs have is the ability to know what to face and what can wait. Going into their business with big dreams, they would want to accomplish so much within such a short time. This can mean enhancing their product by incorporating both relevant and not-so-relevant features at the expense of cost.

But it’s important for entrepreneurs to learn tradeoffs, a decision that places priority on one of several competing options. Remember, your resources are limited as a startup, and you can’t do everything.

Assuming you are a software company developing a product, there would always be indispensable and luxury features. If you do not yet have sufficient resources, it may be wise to let go of the latter so you can focus your resources on the vital features. You can then improve on the software later when you have made revenue from the software (of course, its acceptance by your target audience will prompt you to include more features to make life easier for them).

Tradeoff is also necessary for knowing what machinery and equipment you can start your business with without spending all your resources, how many staff you need, and lots more.

Conclusion

Starting a business can be pretty exciting. You feel the rush fuelled by your goals and dreams. But taking careful, strategic steps is key to achieving those goals and fostering continuous business growth.

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