So you’re running your business, and it’s doing quite well, but perhaps you feel that it could be doing a bit better? Want to take it to the next level but don’t know how?
It’s important to have a plan in place to help you grow, and here are some strategies which you can implement to help you put that plan into place, and make a significant difference to your bottom line.
- You need to be ridiculously clear on who your target market is. If you aren’t, then you don’t know if you are marketing to them correctly, even if your product or service is right for them. In fact, sometimes your target audience isn’t even who you thought it is. It’s only when you take time to work out who they are, what their issues are, and how your product or service makes their life easier and solves their problems, then you know what to do for them next. This also helps you to define a unique value proposition which is something different to your competitors. By speaking directly to them, in a way that they see that you understand, then that helps them to make the decision to buy from you, rather than your competitor
- You need to put systems in place to help you measure any changes you make, otherwise how do you know if they have worked? Sometimes, a business can fail on just that alone, as they have tested lots of different changes, something’s worked for one of them, but they don’t know which one, so the whole exercise was fruitless and a waste of time. So test, test and test some more until you can definitely say, ‘that’s the one!’
- Think about additional revenue streams. Again, this is good to think about when you have defined your target audience, as you will be able to identify any complementary products or services, perhaps a parallel market to go into. The key here is to be able to retain existing customers, and encourage them to make further purchases from you. This is key to growing your business, and it also means that you don’t necessarily have to rely on just one stream to provide your income
- Listen to your customers. What are they asking of you? What do they like/dislike? Respond to that. To make it easier, try and focus on growing the positives, rather than improving the negatives. If a few customers don’t like a certain product, then don’t do it any more, don’t try and make improvements to make it fit. You’ll be throwing good money after bad, and it’ll take you away from doing what works
- Hire people who understand your vision, and can share the journey with you. Employees can make or break a company, so if you manage to find a good one, then do what you can to keep them!
- Don’t scrimp on the marketing. And if you don’t know how to do it, then invest in someone who does. You need to get out there, be seen amongst your target audience, so that you are naturally the first person to go to. You won’t be able to do this without a proper marketing strategy in place.
Of course, every business is different, but these general growth strategies should help prepare your business and give it the foundations to take it to the next level. Good luck!
And of course, this is what I do! So if you want some expert advice on how to make that transition in your business, then please get in touch.
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