Table of Contents
Building a thriving business, in the long term, means laying down a structure that will support your future expansion. If you expand on an ad-hoc, scattershot basis, then you risk running into trouble later on.
Why does growth matter?
The larger your business, the more profitable it can ultimately be. If your competitors are larger than you, then they’ll enjoy several significant technical advantages. Growth will allow you to reinvest your earnings, expand more, and expand your earnings available for future reinvestment in the process. It’s a positive cycle that will make your business bigger, better, and ultimately more prosperous.
Strategies to Grow and Expand your Business
Digital Marketing
Very few modern businesses can afford to overlook digital marketing. A presence on search engines is vital, and that means optimising your online presence to appeal to search engines. This practice, known as Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO), involves providing content that search engines will favour. You’ll find plenty of online resources that will point you in the right direction, here.
Business advice
If you’re running a very small business, then you might have highly specialised knowledge in a certain area. But there might be plenty of things you don’t know about how to sustainably grow a business. That’s where bringing in a business adviser can be hugely useful. They’ll be able to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, and identify opportunities for growth. But you’ll also want to vet your advisers thoroughly, since there’s the potential for bad advice to cause more harm than good.
If you’ve had a bad experience with a business adviser, then you can seek compensation through a professional negligence case – but it’s better to avoid the mistake in the first place.
Social media marketing
The right kind of presence on social media can be a considerable boon. It’ll help to drive awareness of your brand, which will, in turn, entice your would-be customers to buy from you. It’ll also allow you to foster a community, from which you can gather valuable feedback. Choose a social network that matches your target demographics, but maintain a presence on all of them.
Competitor Analysis
If you don’t know what you’re up against, then you’ll find it very difficult to grow your business. Analyse the competition, and determine what they’re doing right and wrong. Then, use the information to inform your business strategy. This kind of analysis shouldn’t just be a one-off event, but an ongoing process. Look to review and rewrite your business plan at regular intervals, taking into account the changing shape of the competition. It might be that you need to make a few course corrections, or even steer the ship in an entirely new direction, in response to new threats.
