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A very important part of any business’ success is generating new revenue streams. This can be through establishing new products or services, finding ways to monetize existing ones, or creating effective marketing strategies for both types of offerings.
As you probably know by now, growing your company involves spending money! It takes investment to develop new products or find new ways to sell what you have, and that expense comes with extra costs.
So how do you make sure those expenditures are worth it? By investing in research to determine if this idea will work and earn you back what you paid for it.
This article will go more in depth about one way to evaluate potential income sources using the same process that I used for writing this article. Read on for our top tip!
General tips
Start looking into different routes to profitability early on. While some of these opportunities may take longer to bear fruit, they are better than waiting until you need all of the help you can get!
Thinking of ways to generate additional revenues before there is a problem helps prevent at least that much damage. Plus, most people learn best when shown examples so donning your innovation hat doesn't hurt either!
Revamp and reevaluate your current practices as well as things you already offer to see where profit can be found.
“Revenue generation” is an interesting term because there are so many different ways to define it. Many people seem to use this term as a way to describe what products or services you offer that make money for your business. This is not a bad thing, but it can be tricky to know where to draw the line between which types of revenue generation strategies are effective and which aren’t.
The first rule about defining revenue generation is to think very carefully about what you want your definition to include and exclude. For example, letting go of the word “make” in the phrase “making money” is important to note since some definitions of revenue generation include only things that “make” (or produce) money.
This could potentially confuse people who believe that offering valuable services and products will always make your business money. By using more precise terminology, you can help clear up any potential misconceptions.
Productivity tools are great ways to generate income. You can create free or paid resources that help others make money online by offering them as services or products.
Running an eCommerce store is another way to generate revenue via online sales. By investing in high quality SEO (search engine optimization) and marketing strategies, you will attract more traffic to your site which could result in bigger sales.
By giving away related content or educational materials for free, you can start building a large audience who may purchase something later.
By creating and selling personal use items such as books, apps, or gadgets, you can earn passive income without too much effort.
A record seller is someone who has enough of a following that when they post a picture or video, people are motivated to purchase their products.
A record seller might just post an album that day or videos of them singing or dancing!
Their followers buy the product because it’s for sale directly from them, not through another source.
This is called direct marketing and it’s one of the main ways large businesses make money. By producing your own content you can generate revenue via this method.
By creating engaging content and sharing it across various media channels, you will eventually reach a critical mass where most of your audience purchases what you recommend.
That’s how indirect marketing works.
Direct and indirect marketing both rely on influence to succeed but which one is more effective depends on whether your audience or follower is more influential.
If yours are less inclined to spend than others then indirect marketing won’t work for you. But if they are spending money like water, then you could profit by incorporating some indirect strategies into your business model.
#3 Use incentives to gain attention
I know, I know, we have talked about this before but there is no better time than now to give it another go!
Incentives can be in the form of discounts, freebies or entertainment to draw in new customers.
One of the most common ways to generate revenue is through online sales. This can be done via sites or apps that sell products, services, or both.
Running an online store isn’t too difficult a process, but it does require some money up front. Fortunately, there are many ways to get started with no investment needed!
Many people start their own stores by offering discounts at merchandise they already have in stock. By doing this, you will need to create a website and marketing materials to describe the sale, but you don’t have to pay for pre-made templates or professional looking websites.
You can also begin by taking free ecommerce courses on YouTube or other educational resources. Many of these teach you the basics of setting up an online shop and giving you enough information to get started.
Product sales are one of the most basic revenue generation strategies in business. This is also probably the least complicated, but still important!
Products make up the vast majority of what we refer to as “businesses” or companies. A company is defined as anything that exists for more than just you (the individual) and something else (other people).
A restaurant is a company, for example. You can eat there and be done. It will likely do well because it has food and drink!
But if they only have food then…you get my point. Companies that depend on product sales are those that offer things that people want and need.
Think about it- computers were once the size of a room with lots of wires everywhere. Now a computer is an appliance like your phone or TV that you use every day.
Software comes and goes, trends come and go, but products like Windows or Mac OS never seem to lose their market share.
This is due to two main reasons: 1) They provide enough utility that people need them, and 2) People believe these types of software are better than the alternatives at this time.
Market leaders understand how to generate demand for their products through marketing and advertising.
A lot of business professionals will tell you that direct-mail marketing is dead. They say it’s not effective anymore because people get too many emails, most of which go unread or are deleted without action.
This perception may be due in part to the fact that some marketers still rely heavily upon direct mail for success.
But direct mail isn’t going anywhere. In fact, there are several powerful reasons why it can’t disappear completely.
Here are five top reasons why direct mail is still king when it comes to B2B sales.
The second way to explain revenue generation is by understanding your audience. This is very similar to why you are writing this article topic and bullet point. You want to give them information they need to know.
Your readers come from all walks of life with different experiences, educational backgrounds, and career paths. They have various strengths and weaknesses and perceive things differently.
By being aware of these differences it makes creating messages more effective. Messages that work for one person may not work for another.
People use different language when talking about the same thing. For example, if someone mentioned their favorite food then people who like that food could talk about how great it is or what ingredients make it taste good.
For others, it might be something totally new so they compare it to other foods to find similarities and learn how to make it themselves. A lot of times, people’s favorites can’t be just said easily because they don’t exist in the words we use.
The second part of defining your business is determining who your ideal customer is! This person will be spending money in your product or service, so you need to know if you’re targeting them well or not.
You can do this by looking at the stats for your product or service — how many people use it, what features they use, and whether those features are valuable to them.
By doing this, you’ll get an idea of who your customers are and whether they're willing to spend money. If they are, then great! You've identified a potential revenue source.
If there aren't very many users, however, then you may want to consider re-evaluating your marketing strategy or finding new ones that appeal more to that audience.
On the other hand, if most people enjoy your product/service, but don't seem to use all of its features, then you may want to add some more depth to make it more appealing.
