So the word is out: I’m going all out to launch my first true business, and it is a business that brings together the cutting-edge technology of augmented reality with personalized wall art. Who would have thought? Certainly not me. You see, coming up with a business idea can be different for everyone. Depending on the situation you are in, finding potentially solid business ideas can be done in different ways. After doing research, I have seen three methods come back several times:
Look for opportunities in your own community. What are you missing on a daily basis? Maybe you consistently hear family and friends complain about certain things. These complaints can potentially be turned into a business that solves the problem.
Look for that one thing you are extremely good at and passionate about. If you mix doing what you're great at with doing what you genuinely enjoy, your performance and productivity will most likely increase.
Look for future trends and needs and see if there is a business that can be built around that. Working with social media made me realize that it was only one part of running a business. After a while, I started to feel like focusing just on one component wasn’t giving me the satisfaction that I was hoping to get. I noticed that I started asking questions to clients about the reasoning behind certain structural business decisions, which made me more intrigued by the entity of a business as opposed to just the marketing department. I learned how there are so many elements that affect the results of a business, which is when I knew that I had a passion for building businesses.
I love the process of working out a business plan and seeing it transform from a simple idea to a complete business that is ready to be launched. To find the idea for SensoriumArte, I combined my personal passion with two things: something that we currently see as highly valued (personalization) and a future trend that is growing significantly every year (augmented reality).
When do you know you have found the right idea?
In short: you don’t. No matter what kind of business idea you have, no matter how unique it is, unless it is something so groundbreaking that people can’t ignore it, there is no real way to tell that you have found the right idea. There are so many components that can badly influence the success rate of your business. The pricing has a huge impact on success, the marketing strategy has a huge impact on success, and even your branding has a huge impact on success. To make sure that you optimize all these factors, you write a business plan that covers it all. Below, I will shortly mention some of the most important parts of setting up a business that I have covered for myself, and that I will also cover in this blog series.
Designing a brand. Creating a brand is the best way to connect with your audience. It acts as a way of communication between you and your customers and it will help you build a close relationship with the customer.
Identifying your target audience. Identifying your target audience will help you determine whether there might be people interested in your product. It will also allow you to more specifically target certain audiences through your marketing efforts.
Managing the supply chain. One of the most common problems for startups and small businesses has to do with logistics and inventory. Finding a way to structure the supply chain to ensure the constant availability of your product for customers is immensely important for your business.
Integrating the element of augmented reality into a business. Incorporating new pieces of technology into your business can be a difficult and costly task. You can add it into your marketing efforts, or offer it as part of your product. Augmented reality will become a more used piece of technology, and there will be a wide variety of opportunities that it will bring.
Designing the website. The structure and design of the website are a major part of SensoriumArte. This is where it truly differentiates itself from the competition, or anyone else offering personalized wall art for that matter. In any business, the design is very important. This is where you can integrate your brand identity, and create a user-friendly experience that might make the difference between a one-time purchase and a long-term supporter.
Creating a seamless customer experience. There are so many touchpoints in the process of selling a product. Way more than you think. Each of these touchpoints should be designed in a way that offers a seamless experience for your (potential) customer. I will share some major components that have helped me stay structured, and offer as many seamless touchpoints as possible.
Creating effective digital marketing campaigns. If everything has been set up properly, your digital marketing efforts can still negatively impact your results. Targeting the wrong audience, using the wrong influencer to collaborate with, or not using the proper channels to share your message with, all of are key components to consider when you’re launching your business.
The struggles of building a business. As someone who values transparency and honesty, I would be lying if I told you building SensoriumArte has been easy. finding the right audience (with no guarantees until you start targeting that audience when you launch), Getting to know the personalized wall art space, and making sure the entire website is smooth and spotless can be very difficult to do. It takes many revisions, strategic meetings, and research sessions to be satisfied with a certain business structure. Besides that, the mental aspect is something that people could wildly underestimate. Sitting behind your desk alone for months, trying to figure out the best way to go about building a business is tough, and should never be taken lightly.
Finding the right idea can be difficult, and doesn’t always have to be coming from a passion for a certain product or industry. My main reason for starting this business is that I want to gain the ability to travel more freely, without having a business that keeps me in a certain spot. The reason this works for me is because I found a love for building something from the ground up. I want to offer something that makes people smile and provides a way for people to relive their memories. By doing so, I want to motivate and allow myself to explore and create memories. My point is: No matter the personal motivation, you need a clear plan of action before starting the process of building the business.
In the upcoming blog series, I’ll tackle each topic from two different angles to give you the complete picture. First, I’ll dive deep into each aspect, providing information and potential strategies that other people have used to successfully build a business. Second, I’ll share how I have tackled each of the topics and come up with a fitting strategy that has helped me build a business that offers personalized wall art. Building something from the ground up with very little experience might give you a fair view of the life of a start-up.
