Green startups are becoming more popular than ever. A study published by Research Gate shows that green startups are no longer a niche market. They are mainstream, as 26% of all businesses can be identified as being sustainable.

However, green businesses are not guaranteed to succeed. Green companies need to be setup for success.

Principles of Success as a Green Entrepreneur

Franchise Help has talked about the future of sustainability in the field of entrepreneurship. The market for green products has been growing 11.4% a year. It rose 900% between 1997 and 2014 and has risen at an even faster pace since.

 A successful green business must be capable of juggling a large number of tasks at any given time. The trick is knowing where you should invest most of your time and resources to yield the highest possible output. When you are coming up with a list of priorities for your green startup, accounting and advertising must be featured at the top. When you understand the nature of these functions, it’s clear why they are so important.

If you are trying to launch your green startup and set it up for success, then it is important to gain some insight into how aspects of your business model could be if you scaled for maximum impact. You should keep reading to find out why accounting and advertising are so vital to any ambitious green entrepreneur.

Your accounting is like the dashboard for your business

If you don’t have a handle of your business’ accounting, you don’t have a yardstick in which to measure your success or shortfalls. This includes payslip template optimization, a responsive accounting system and the right headcount of your team.

These considerations are even more critical when you have a new business, as you want to be starting on a fresh balance sheet (so to speak), establishing an effective financial infrastructure. If you are opening the doors to your business on lean staff in the beginning, you might even want to outsource this accounting responsibility so that you know that it is being set-up correctly from day one.

What does success look like in your accounting function?

Now that we know why it’s important to priorities your accounting, let’s define what success looks like in this department. Ideally, you want to have a business budget that includes years’ worth of projections, as well as your projected revenue and a stretch target. You also want to make your accounting is as seamless as possible, and even deploy automated functions that will save you stress at the end of month. They will also minimize the countless headaches that old school accounting has previously created for many businesses.

Your advertising gives the business a stage

There is a misconception that advertising is introduced when your business is in full swing, but the truth is you will have missed a big opportunity to kick off your business with a bang. Advertising makes up another pillar for success in green businesses. You have a lot of flexibility with advertising, because it can be managed in or out of house. It’s a way to amplify your brand message and drive home the unique selling points to the right audience. Time and time again, you will hear that a business’s best client is the one that was with them from day one, so when you are designing your campaign, ask yourself who you think is going to be engaging with your message and following through with your call to actions. Your advertising output will reflect the customer who responds to it – so take the time to get it right.

Advertising is especially important for green businesses. They need to communicate their message of sustainability as clearly as possible. Green consumers won’t buy your products or services if you haven’t told them about your company’s commitment to eco-friendly solutions.

What does success look like in your advertising function?

Your message has reached the market and you know that your target customers  are seeing it at the right time. But what results can you expect to see? Ultimately, you want your audience to do what you want them to do – follow you on Facebook, call up for more information, book using the unique code, or anything else you wish. AB testing was once a great way to track whether your campaigns have landed, and there are many modern AB testing strategies you can now put in place so that you know your advertising has resulted in what sales and engagement.

You ideally want to have the two of these successful pillars running in tandem and always on. Only then will you be able to see the fruits of your labour with a quick and detailed accounting dashboard, supported by your advertising that is automatically sending leads to the funnel of your new business.

Sustainable Businesses Must Emphasize Both Advertising and Accounting

Accounting and advertising are both essential functions in any green business. Green entrepreneurs must have a strategy in place to make sure both of these functions are taken care of.