10 Actionable Steps to Grow Your Business

The idea of a business venture might sound passionate and cool initially, but when it comes to expanding and scaling a business, we know it is tiring. Business entrepreneurs make a ton of mistakes during this journey and end up winding up for no valid reason. Hey, don’t worry; it doesn’t happen with everyone, especially the one reading this valuable post. You will find hundreds of reasons to continue and grow your business with this post. 

Usually, the biggest mistake that a business entrepreneur makes is that he doesn’t map out the business once it is set into action. We know you have a business plan ready, but it needs to be followed and ignored. Set milestones as per the business plan and aim for those. For instance, instead of focusing on your website and online presence, if you pay more attention to your brochures, it won’t help you earn sufficient clients. 

Hence, your focus shouldn’t be concentrated in one place but must be divided equally to all the significant aspects. Your foundation should be strong, and you must work really hard towards strengthening it. 

Here are a few actionable steps that can help you scale your business. These aren’t something related to your mindset, as we believe that action is vital with a strong mind. 

1. Research the competitive forces

It is okay to be laser-focused on your work, but you ought to know what is going on in the market. You don’t have to visit their places, mere checking and screening through their online profiles is sufficient. You can observe the current trends adopted by your competitors. Studying the competition is not always imitating what others do; it is to form your own patterns. 

Just observe how they market their products and services, the kind of landing pages they use, the kind of words they use while describing their products. It all matters. You can develop your own tone and voice as you go through your competitors’ work. 

As you probe into your competitor’s advertising strategy and marketing plans, you can determine what works for the customers and what does not work. Accordingly, you can plan your own advertising and web campaigns and create ads that really work and attract customers. Since something has already worked for a reputed brand, the chances of the same thing working for you are considerably higher. 

2. Develop a strong online presence

The world knows that every business should have a website of its own. But mere building a website is not sufficient; you need to upgrade it regularly. If you have an eCommerce website, ensure that the content is apt and entices customers to buy your products. A website is one of the elements of a company’s online presence. 

Apart from an interactive web portal, you also have to be active on social media channels. Choose the mediums as per your business nature and the time available to update them daily. Your social media channel should be telling about your business every day to the customers. It should not look blank but filled with appropriate details. 

Hiring the right web design and development agency is the crucial thing to do for your business. If you are tight on time to maintain your social media channels, you can hire an intern or outsource the task to a social media management firm instead. 

3. Create a compelling brand

In the digital age, a business is a brand that distinguishes itself from other business organizations and makes it stand out in the crowd.  A brand is not only about the logo; it is also about the font style used on the website, the images you upload on the Insta handle of your business, and the voice your content speaks to the audience. 

A brand strategist can really help you in this process, but if you are willing to research your business pattern, you can surely come up with something of your own. Business entrepreneurs make a mistake here while setting up a brand. They simply focus on the logo and think they are done. Hey, your brand conveys your company image, and you shouldn’t do this task in a jiffy. Take your quality time, and you will soon develop effective brand ideas. 

4. Harness digital technology properly

If building a website and having an Insta account was sufficient, every business could have earned millions of dollars by now. Mere having it is not enough; you have to harness it effectively. 

Do you know SEO? Do you know how to optimize content with the right keywords? Do you know how you can top the search engine results and attract customer attention? If you do not know any of these, you probably do not know how to utilize digital technology. As you formulate an IT plan for your business, include this part completely. You can learn about SEO practices, hire a firm proficient in handling these tasks, and observe the trends continually. 

Another way is to create a webinar of your business. Webinars are great ways to describe a product or a service. Customers prefer to have an in-depth look at what you are trying to sell, and a webinar can convey a clear picture of the same. 

5. Hire the best talent

No matter how small your business is right now, and the requirements might seem to be very low, you will need a workforce at some point in time. Maybe you will need skilled staff to carry out the production task, or a web designing agency or a digital marketing firm. You will need to invest time recruiting the best talent, even if it is outsourcing a specific task to someone. 

If your business is service-oriented, we will recommend you to hire staff with the highest customer standards. Your employees speak about the business and display the appropriate image. Hence, you should not be compromising on the quality of your customer service standards in any way (just to save costs or save time whatever). 

6. Prepare a business acquisition strategy

Business acquisition happens between tycoons and giants; it can also happen amongst small businesses. For example, if you are planning to open a bakery with an online presence, and there is a cake shop around the corner that is popular, but the owner seems to be moving out of that area. You can acquire their business while you incorporate the same cake-making strategies in your business. You will gain his customers and recognition without making much effort. As he is no more interested in the cake shop, he will be more than happy to share his business secrets with you. 

7. Create more products

If you deal with hand-made organic soaps, you can add more related products to your shop. For instance, hand-made body lotions, creams, and lip balms. In this way, customers won’t have to wonder about other organic products in various stores, but they can buy all the organic body care products under one roof itself. 

Expansion doesn’t always happen in the number of shops a business owner has or how many enterprises he owns. It also happens with the expansion of the product line and what he is trying to sell. 

8. If you have a product, create a service and vice versa

Let us give you an example. If you own a book café, you can conduct book writing workshops and arrange book launch events at your place by charging a nominal fee. On the other hand, if you have a salon or a spa, you can sell beauty care products of a particular brand or made by yourself. 

In this way, you expand your business from a product to a service and vice versa. You don’t have to speak much for your products or services as customers will know about it eventually. They will be glad if they can avail of the service or buy the products from you as you are a trusted person in their eyes. 

9. Establish yourself on global platforms

If you are a copywriter, you should not limit yourself to the city where you live, like Chicago. You can provide your services to any client living in Romania or Russia; it depends on you. For this purpose, you have to establish your presence on freelancing platforms. 

Similarly, when you sell art products or any other products, a retail shop is not sufficing. You should be on web platforms such as Etsy and Amazon and spread your talent. 

10. Build a customer retention strategy

You are a reputable brand, and you have a few clients. But if you do not let them stick to your brand, they might divert easily. Loyalty programs, discounts on purchases and for existing customers, releasing coupons for repeated purchases, newsletter signups are all excellent ways to retain your existing customer base. 

This strategy applies to both product sales and service providers. You will notice your sales skyrocketing eventually. 

The above steps will help you grow your business or let it remain stagnant. You might need most of the above steps, but you might have to tweak some of these for your* benefit. 

FAQs

1. What are some actionable steps to help grow my business?

Some actionable steps to help grow your business include creating a strategic plan, developing a strong marketing strategy, focusing on customer service, creating an effective website and increasing your online presence, investing in networking and developing partnerships, monitoring your competition, and expanding into new markets.

2. How do I create a strategic plan for my business?

A strategic plan lays out your business objectives and tactics for achieving them. It should include your mission and values, market analysis, financial plan and capital structure, organizational strategy, product positioning and development, and a marketing plan.

3. How do I develop a strong marketing strategy for my business?

A strong marketing strategy should include researching customer needs, analyzing the competition, setting clear objectives and defining how success will be measured, and formulating a plan to reach your target market and achieve your goals.

4. How can I focus on customer service to improve my business?

Focusing on customer service involves creating a customer service plan, treating customers as individuals, implementing feedback systems and responding to customer complaints, and providing value above and beyond what competitors offer.

5. How can I create an effective website for my business?

An effective website should be responsive, load quickly, be structured for SEO, be visually appealing, have clear calls to action and easy-to-find contact information, and provide customers with the information they need to make an informed decision.

6. How can I increase my online presence?

To increase your online presence, you should establish a presence on all major social media, create trustworthy content across all platforms, invest in SEO, invest in PPC advertising, use email marketing, and engage with other businesses and influencers in your niche.

7. How do I invest in networking and develop partnerships?

Investing in networking and developing partnerships involves attending industry events, joining related industry organizations, seeking out mentors, collaborating with like-minded businesses, and forming strategic alliances.