In this digital age, there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria. Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin said “Scarcity breeds clarity”. What he meant was that if and when times are tough businesses of all sizes need to maintain a start-up mentality – forcing people to think creatively and rise to the challenge when resources are scarce. Inventive and entrepreneurial people use challenging times to take risks, launch businesses and grow existing enterprises.
Our generation’s industrial revolution is digital and the Internet has broken down trade barriers so effectively that small businesses can now compete for new customers, from home. Even the smallest company can have national and even regional success, providing it has a good product or service that consumers, somewhere, will pay for. Entrepreneurs born during hard times will not be limited to selling products in their locality, but can expand quickly and with smaller risk. The Web has given entrepreneurs access to a live focus group which they can tap into to discover trends, build business plans and test their products cheaply. Whether you sell at a trade fair, or own a shop in Ikeja or sell goods online, it’s invaluable to know where and when there is demand for your product.
As recently as five years ago, SMEs and entrepreneurs would have had to invest in expensive market research to discover gaps in the market, but now the same research can be undertaken with a few clicks of a mouse. If you wanted to know which products to display in your shop window next Christmas, why not compare the volume of search interest in each product, using Insights for Search and discover the winning product? Or why not find out whether there is a bigger demand for your product in Abuja or Port Harcourt instead of risking money by launching it on a whim? Or set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and canvass opinions for free.
Entrepreneurial mindsets are exploiting new business niches and are driving Nigeria’s economy. As such, we need to prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs to meet the challenges brought by the global nature of enterprise. We need to help them understand that their future competition in business may not come from their neighbouring store on the high street, or even a competitor in the same city or country, but from an equally talented entrepreneur in Nigeria, or India, or elsewhere.
So why not take a few minutes this week to think about how you can sharpen your entrepreneurial skills online and grow your business?
Here are a few steps that businesses can take to begin building their smartphone Internet strategies today:
- Keep layout simple
Keep mobile Internet layout simple so mobile users can navigate easily on the small screen.
Use clear and concise headlines, keep scrolling simple (top to bottom) and make search easy for the user by ensuring that search boxes are visible and search results are clean and easily filtered.
- Prioritise content
Make it easy for customers on-the-go to find content that is most relevant to their needs.
Select valuable content for users on-the-go and understand the limitations of the mobile attention span by providing an experience that is more transactional and action-oriented, rather than browsing based. Ensure that site navigation and load time is as fast as possible.
- Use uniquely mobile features
Users can interact through touch, sound, sight, and location on their mobile device. Take advantage of this functionality to maximise user experience.
Offer users the most relevant information based on their location and leverage other functions on mobiles such as GPS, cameras and notepad. Building for feature phones is important, but smartphones allow for a rich user experience.
- Design for thumbs, not mice
Remember that most smartphone users will be interacting with your website through a touch screen.
Design your site to prevent accidental clicks and avoid hover over menus. Distinctively coloured buttons and stand out conversion buttons should be larger and more prominent.
- Make it easy to convert
Make it easy for users to convert on-the-go.
Shorten the conversion process by keeping forms concise and reducing unnecessary fields. Keep call to actions clear and make account access and log-in processes quick and easy. If you have sales people: remember a phone is a communication device. Utilising a click-to-call option is the best way to connect sales representatives to consumers looking for specific products and services.
We’re in the earliest chapters of mobile’s history. As the mobile web expands, the opportunities available for marketers to reach consumers and grow their businesses will increase as well. Businesses are boosting sales, brand-awareness, and purchase-intent through effective mobile campaigns. It’s not too late to be early to mobilise your business.
