When it comes to business, very few things are certain. The first few years of a start-up business are by far the most stressful, fun, confusing, and come with the most significant learning curves.
In order to start your business, you will have had to go through all of the processes about refining your idea, making a business plan, sorting out your finances, starting your advertising, etc. But where do you go from there? Maybe you know that your business has been doing OK, but believe that it could do even better.
As a business owner, you will likely never be fully satisfied with your business’ situation, as there are always higher steps to take to make it even bigger and better. So, if you are looking to grow your business, here are a few simple steps to help you along the way.
Take good care of your existing clients
Although it may seem like a pretty simple idea, it is vitally important to remember. Some businesses focus so much on getting new clients that they forget about their existing ones. Nothing will drive away customers more than to feel like they are being ignored. Remember that your current customers are the reason that your business is in a position to grow.
Moreover, the more satisfied your customers are, the more likely they will stick with your company for years to come. This can help to guarantee the business’ longevity better.
Finally, a happy customer is far more likely to write a glowing review about you online or to tell their friends and family about your business, which is a sure-fire way to grow.
Use social media
As you may know, small businesses all around the world use social media to promote themselves. Using social media as one of your means of advertisement is an excellent idea as it is (mostly) free, in your complete control, and accessible 24/7.
With social media, you are also far more likely to reach your target audience. If your existing clients agree to follow you, their friends and family will notice if they interact with your posts, thus introducing them to you.
The more attractive you make your social media pages, the more likely you are to get good exposure. So make your social media pages a good representation of your brand!
On most social media platforms, you can also pay to have sponsored posts. This can be a good way of reaching more people; however, it does cost money, and not everyone stops to look at sponsored posts. If you are considering paying for one or more, then do make the posts stand out! Make them something that people will want to stop scrolling to look at.
Invest in a better website
As a start-up business, you will most likely already have a website. However, if you are looking at growing the business, then now is the time to take a good hard look at your web presence. Is it getting enough traffic? Why not?
You need to take a good look at your website structure…
- Is it easy to navigate?
- Are the different sections clear?
- How long does your website take to load? (page speed)
With literally billions of websites online, very few people will spend longer than a few minutes looking at a website that is aesthetically unpleasant to them. Instead, they will continue their research until they find what is seemingly the same thing that they were looking for, but on a better website, i.e., your competitors.
If you are unsure about the changes that you should make to your website, it may be a good idea to hire a web designer who will have the knowledge and experience that you need to make your website better.
Look at your current advertising techniques
Aside from having a website and using social media, what are your other advertising techniques? Are you really doing everything to ensure the exposure of your business?
Another essential marketing aspect that is vitally important for every business owner to take on nowadays is SEO.
In short, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the idea of using the right content (keywords, photos, helpful information) to encourage search engines such as Google and Bing to place your website among the first results that people see when they type in something in reference to what your business does, stands for, etc.
Again, it is worth taking the time to look into SEO, as it is free and has proven successful. When you think about it, you rarely go beyond page one to find what you are looking for when you Google something. And so, those initial result pages are the ones that are far more likely to get the traffic that they need to create a buzz.
Look at your competition
Looking at your competition by no way means that you should mimic their business strategies. However, it is a good way of determining your individual business success rates and to notice what makes their business so successful.
- Why are they your biggest competitor?
- Is their advertising better?
- Are their ideas more attractive?
What works for them will likely work for you. However, mimicking their strategies exactly will give you, above all else, a bad image for your brand.
Things to avoid
Don’t bombard with emails
Having a client list is excellent, but using it to fill your customers’ inboxes with constant promotional emails will drive them crazy. Although they may not take the time to unsubscribe from your mailing list, they will surely reach a point where they do not even look at your emails before reading them.
Sadly, this will not encourage a positive feeling about your brand, which may spark them to warn others about your business and for them themselves not to use it in the future. By all means, do send out promotional emails, keep in touch, and every now and then, remind them that you do exist and what your company is capable of; however, do make those kinds of emails sent through every few weeks as opposed to every week or even daily!
Avoid black hat SEO
Although SEO can be an extremely beneficial thing for any business, you should avoid black hat SEO at all costs. The terms that we used earlier to describe SEO can also be seen as being white hat. This means that they are considered ethical, and organic.
Some, however, who do not want to invest the time into researching the best way to use SEO, will instead use it poorly. They will use the keywords that they think best suits the search questions and bombard their content with repetitive keywords in the hopes that this tricks the search engine into believing that their website is what best suits a particular search.
They will also include links to various other websites that make them seem as though they are a part of something bigger. In truth, this can indeed work initially, but only for a very short period of time. Usually, after a few short days, the search engine will figure it out and block the website. In certain circumstances, they also blacklist the owners.
Don’t spend money frivolously
In a few of these examples of ways to grow your business, there have been some tactics that would demand a bit of spending. Of course, if you are sure about the direction in which you would like for your business to go, and you have done the research required to ensure that you are choosing the correct form of promotion, then absolutely go for it!
However, it will require time, patience, and research. Simply throwing money at the problem will not guarantee a solution and will more likely leave you without the money that you need. In fact, some of the better, more specific ways of growing a business, as you have seen in this list, are completely free.
Are you ready to grow your business? We can help raise your profile on our various platforms in print, online and through social media. Contact us online today or give us a call on 01604 267677.
