Starting a business and growing a business are two different things. While you may feel adulation at getting your startup off the ground, and even if you have steered your fledgling company towards regular and predictable profits, you may need help. Why? Because businesses that have the potential to grow to new heights need to take those opportunities or fall by the wayside. If you think you are happy with turnover, imagine how happy you will be with triple, quadruple, or ten times your turnover.
Exploring outsourced digital marketing options could be a way forward. A digital marketing team could help you to improve your website and gain a higher ranking in Google. For example, check out https://www.fastfwd.com/digital-marketing/ for inspiration. But what else could you do? Let’s explore how to grow your small business.
Begin by Researching Your Competitors
If you’re already turning over a profit, your ego may stand in your way slightly when it comes to admitting areas of improvement. Try to treat your business growth as an exercise in testing new ideas that could benefit your company, rather than feeling like you have run out of ideas and need outside expertise to offer a way forward. Stay positive. You’ve come this far. But other people have been in the game longer. That means you can learn from their successes without having to go through personal failures to get there.
If your competition seems to be focusing on an area of your industry that you feel is irrelevant, there could be something you’re missing. Look at website design and get a feel for the user journey across their pages. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and realize where your efforts may be making things more difficult for your customers than the competition. Identifying new opportunities through researching your competitors is free – you just have to swallow your pride and do it.
Build Partnerships with Linked Brands
Let’s say you run a home t-shirt printing business. And let’s say the majority of your consumer base is from bachelor and bachelorette parties. The likelihood is that these people are going on a trip. Reach out to companies that provide travel-related goods or services (e.g., money exchange, luggage companies, companies selling travel toiletries, etc.). In exchange for placing a link on each other’s sites, both companies could stand to increase sales.
Put Yourself Online with Webinars
Not too long ago, the vacuous title of “TV personality” meant the person was famous for being famous. Typically, this wasn’t a good thing. It generally meant they were loud and annoying and a bit of a train wreck. However, fast-forward to the modern-day, and YouTube stars are a real thing with a positive career path.
Expanding your business could simply require a wider audience. If you are up to the challenge, creating a webinar series about your products can help people to see who you are, what you care about, and why they should be sending you their money.
All of these ideas will take time. But building strong foundations is a part of longevity in all things.
