When you think of your business, what usually comes to mind is what you sell or offer. It can range from a consultancy oriented to very specific services to the sale of a product in your neighborhood store or maybe you have a bar where you serve your customers. Something that they usually have in common is that they have a single source of income, and if this is reduced (by the crisis, it goes by periods, … sure you hear expressions like this) your entire business is shaken …
That is why you should look for alternative second income sources from what you already offer. This applies to any type of business, no matter your size or location, you can always find new avenues of income. In the beginning, these may be much smaller than the main one, i.e. your current business, but over time it will grow and in those bad times you may notice the fall less because you have attracted new customers thanks to the diversification of income.
You may be saying, “OK, but how do I get this new online revenue for my business?”. Read on and we’ll tell you:
- Internet revenue source ideas by industry
- Benefits and drawbacks of diversifying your business revenues
4 Ideas to get new customers and increase your revenue
If you have read this far we understand that you are interested in growing your business, congratulations, and courage! Just as when you start a business it is hard at the beginning, now that you are going to go in search of diversifying your ways of earning money it will be similar, but with a big difference, you can help your main business to boost and smooth this startup.
Therefore, we are going to try to “create” new businesses (metaphorically, you do not need to constitute a new legal company) that have a certain link with your main activity with the objective of creating a chain of businesses (they are linked to each other). Now, let’s get down to those new sources of income:
Sell products or services on your website
Just as your physical store or office is on the street and people see it as they walk by, something similar happens when we are searching on the internet and Google suggests to the person searching which web page you should access by showing it in the first positions.
Now you may be asking yourself, what can you show on your website? Absolutely anything you want:
- Portfolio of products and services is to be consulted without any intervention.
- Online sales through platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce. The entire payment process is done automatically if you wish and then you will receive notification of a new order that you will have to process as usual.
- Show demos of your products (video, software, etc) and facilitate contact so that you can get in touch with these new potential customers.
Plan your meetings with new customers and suppliers with a click of a button
Many companies carry all their reservations by phone call and others by email, as I guess you have happened there are times when it takes (or takes) up to days to respond, this can make us lose customers … ie revenue.
For them, there are tools like Calendly that help us with this task, once the available hours for reservations are configured.
This can be very useful in bars, dentists, consultancies, etc. since it allows semi-automating this task (then you can suggest modifications). Another option is to include a contact form from the website mentioned in the first section so that we can answer you when we can.
Capturing new customers through social networks
In this case, the alternative is to sell directly from within platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, without having to go to your website. With all this, your brand will become better known and you will be able to attract customers from competitors.
How to get new customers on Instagram
Set up your personalized store in your own profile from which your services and products can be purchased in just a few clicks.
Attract customers on Facebook
There are two ways to sell through Facebook, the first would be related to physical products through its marketplace.
The other alternative would be to offer your services on your own business page that you have created on Facebook, indicating, the price, price range, and any other relevant information.
Getting customers on TikTok
As in the other cases from TikTok, you can make purchases (TikTok has partnered with Shopify to add this functionality). A couple of clicks and the purchase is done, you “only” have to worry about getting the products or services through the platform.
Generate new customers on existing online platforms
There are a great variety of platforms that offer services and products from many suppliers taking advantage of the monthly traffic and the users that are registered.
Online revenue sources for restaurants and bars
If what you want is to sell beyond the people who come to your establishment (or the one that fits, in the end, the physical space is limited) you should look for platforms that can offer your products (they take care of the shipping in many occasions, you only have to worry about delivering the order to the delivery person). Some examples in Spain would be:
- Uber Eats
- JustEat
- Glovo
New revenue streams to offer digital services
This time we refer to all those jobs that can be performed remotely. Digital marketing tasks, programming, technical support, and customer service would be some of those that would fall into this section. The main platforms to find customers would be:
- Fivver
- Upwork
- Kwork
Find new customers for your physical products
This is applicable for most businesses, from a neighborhood store to a multinational company that can showcase its products on platforms, some of which I’m sure you’re familiar with, such as:
- Amazon
- Aliexpress (B2C)
- Alibaba (B2B)
- Free Market
- eBay
Alternative sources of income for real estate or travel agencies
Haven’t you gone on a trip or heard of someone you know who has gone on vacation by booking an apartment online? You can find a wide variety of solutions through platforms such as:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
New forms of income for transportation companies
If you have transport vehicles but you find it difficult to fill the maximum load in your vans or trucks or you find routes only seasonally you can take advantage of the people who publish their daily needs on platforms like (there are many, it varies between countries):
- Uship
- Clicktrans
- Glovo
Benefits and pitfalls of diversifying your company’s revenues
The benefits are clear, you will increase your company’s turnover and the market’s awareness of it, in the end, they will see you in more places and you will be more familiar to them.
Of course, let’s discuss some of the disadvantages of these business development strategies:
- You will have to administratively manage the new platforms and orders coming from them.
- You’re probably thinking, how nice, social networks and platforms let me sell everything in a simple way! Yes and no. They let you sell in a simple way but they take a commission on your sales, you have to take this into account when pricing your products and services online.
- To get orders to your website you need digital advertising strategies or organic SEO strategies, especially in the beginning if you are not known digitally.
Do not be afraid of these inconveniences, in the end, the benefits will make you forget any incident, in addition, you can outsource these steps to suppliers such as MORHE, if you have any questions we are at your disposal.