For the next 6 weeks, my friday blog will be dedicated to a chapter in my just released book; Think #Digital First. I won’t be sharing too much information from each chapter as it’s important you read the book from cover to cover, for your business to really benefit from what I have written.

Last week’s blog was all about the first chapter; YOU: There will only ever be one. Have you ever asked yourself; “What am I doing wrong?” or “What’s Important to ME?” You have to question yourself, find out what you love, invest in yourself as an entrepreneur and find your own voice. Don’t get caught up in the fear of business and know that there will only ever be ONE of you, and if you don’t #ExpressYourself, you won’t be able to take that next step on your business journey.

One thing which I say to every business owner that is sat in front of me as a client, or as an audience member at one of my talks is social media will not fix a broken business. If you don’t have the framework in place, to allow social media to become a piece to your business puzzle, it won’t make the perfect picture.

What was once a simple tweet or Facebook post, now needs a much longer and more structured vision. The way we market online has evolved and businesses have had to develop to keep up with the digital evolution.

You will need to ask yourself some very difficult questions when dealing with the framework of your business;

What is your business vision?

Your business vision statement is a prediction of where the business will be in the future. This can be an emotional driver for those in the company and can be a powerful and purposeful driving force to success.

What’s your USP?

What is your unique selling proposition? When I was defining the USP for my eCommerce platform, I had to create an “elevator pitch” which included my target market, what made me unique, what my business does and the benefits of using my business over and above my competitors.

Who is your target market?

Your target market is a group of customers who you would aim your marketing efforts towards. A well-defined target market is the first element of business an effective marketing strategy.

Have you done your SWOT Analysis?

A SWOT analysis will help you identify your positives and negatives inside your business. You identify, measure and analyse your strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and threats. Doing this will help you improve your decision-marking and redefine strategies.

What do you do best?

As the business owner, you need to know where your expertise lies, so that you can bring the right people into your business, with the right experience to help drive it forward. Really think about where your strengths and weaknesses lie within the business and build the right team around you.

These are just five of 10 very important questions. To find the other 10, purchase my book Think #Digital First.

Another part of building a strong framework for success, is knowing who you need to bring into your business. Are you a leader? If yes, this is YOUR job to find and work with every team member in your business effectively and efficiently. A happy workplace, is a working workplace.

Chapter 2 of Think #Digital First is all about building your framework for success and understanding where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Next week I will be writing about Chapter 3; Protecting your time: Focus on sales #InsaneInTheMembrane.

If you would like to purchase Think #Digital First, you can do so here.