By Ben Bierman
JOHANNESBURG - Covid-19 has taught businesses that the diversification of revenue streams is crucial to long-term commercial sustainability.
Not relying solely on one product, market or service spreads and reduces the risk of failure significantly. After all, you never know when one of these streams will suddenly stop flowing – or be blocked – amid a new iteration of lockdown regulations.
For business looking to mix things up and diversify, herewith are five tried-and-tested ways to create additional revenue streams:
Products
There are always add-on products and services that can forge a new stream of revenue.
A simple example is how a yoga studio can add the sale of exercise mats and workout clothes to their portfolio. Examine your current service offering and brainstorm what products could potentially complement your business.
eCourses
With people spending so much more time at home these days, online courses have taken off.
From chefs and creatives to specialists and professionals, businesses are taking their knowledge online and sharing it with peers. There are websites and programmes that make the course development process as simple as possible. While developing the actual content may be time consuming at first, it can be recorded and reused countless times – making this a potentially lucrative revenue stream over the long term.
Webinars
Invite other specialists in your industry to contribute or even facilitate round-table discussions through webinars.
Discuss and debate issues that impact on your industry. Not only is this a great way to create an additional revenue stream (by charging attendees a fair price), but these sort of events also help in reaching new customers or clients.
Consulting
Consulting is an excellent way to leverage your professional experience and know-how to generate more income. Besides creating an additional revenue stream, assisting industry peers also builds your reputation and brand authority. It could also set up some good future client leads.
Customers
Always look for ideas from people who count in your business – customers.
Look through past reviews and interactions to see if your customers have ever asked for something that your business was not offering and consider adding it. There is also the option of creating a customer survey or running competitions to obtain feedback on what they would like to see in the future.
Bierman is a managing director at Business Partners Limited.
BUSINESS REPORT