It’s no secret that many markets are oversaturated with competitors. To stand out in a crowded business environment, you must find new ways to grow your business.
Growth is always important but is essential if you’re just starting a business. It’s one thing to write a business plan for a new business. But scaling a new business requires a great deal of luck and brand strategy.
Identifying and executing growth strategies in new and existing businesses comes with its fair share of challenges. Still, it’s a process that you can learn, and using that knowledge could help you get ahead of competitors.
Through data analytics, attention to detail, patience, and time management, you’ll set your business up for success. Let’s explore some steps you can take to discover new growth opportunities so you can thrive in a competitive environment.
What is business growth?
It’s no simple task to clearly define business growth, especially if you’re a small or medium-sized business (SMB).
In simple terms, business growth is the expansion of a company in one or more ways. This could mean hiring more employees or dipping into new markets yet to be discovered.
Business growth can be measured in numerous ways. Here are some examples of metrics used to measure business growth:
- Sales Growth
- Gross Profit
- Cost per Customer
- Free Cash Flow
- Lead Conversion Rate
To know if your business is growing, you’ll need to analyze your current metrics. If you begin to see increases in some of this data, you’ll know that your business is expanding, and it could be in more ways than one.
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How to identify and capitalize on growth opportunities
Below are steps you can take to identify business growth opportunities.
- Analyze your existing customer base: To understand why your customers chose your business over your competitors, analyze the customers that come back time and time again. You’ll be surprised with what you learn, and you could even send out a survey through email to gain more feedback, both positive and negative.
- Perform Direct Competition Analysis: Market research plays a vital role in determining what areas in which your business could grow.
- Turn to Other Industries: Seeing what’s working for other businesses across sectors can help you identify growth opportunities. Consider consulting other business owners or business professionals in your network who can shed some light on how they experienced growth.
These are only some examples of what you can do to jumpstart your business growth. Continue reading to learn more and see some specific examples of other methods you can use to expand locally, nationally, and globally.
Local business growth opportunities
For a small business, the local market is a great place to start. Before jumping into a global expansion strategy, looking right around your geographic location will pay off. You can participate in geotargeting or community building. Let’s explore what those concepts are and how you can leverage them to grow your business.
Geotargeting
Geotargeting involves leveraging existing and potential customers’ locations.
Using these locations to offer personalized discounts, rewards, and other benefits can help customers come through your door.
The ultimate goal is to spend resources on geotargeting to see sales increase and the number of customers entering your store rise.
Some examples of geotargeting include custom landing pages, ads in nearby stores, and geotargeted text messages that get sent directly to customers.
Community building
Building a sense of community between you and your customers can bring an array of benefits to your business. For one, your loyal customers will essentially become brand advocates and engage in word-of-mouth marketing (WOM). This could positively impact your growth metrics, and you’ll see sales improve as well.
You can begin community building locally by hosting in-store events, collaborating with other local, small businesses, creating and executing a content marketing strategy, and establishing a strong presence at local community events.
National business growth opportunities
Once you’ve completed your local community assessment to identify your growth opportunities, you’ll be ready to participate in the national community.
National outreach
As a small business, you’re able to receive some of the benefits from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA provides loans and small businesses grants for research and development.
The SBA also offers face-to-face training for small businesses and assistance for companies owned and operated by women, minorities, veterans, people with disabilities, and foreign business owners.
Improved brand recognition
If a small business can garner enough national recognition, it can open up more future growth opportunities. Earning national brand recognition can increase sales from various parts of the country and drive more customers to your business, and e-commerce sales are no exception. Use an effective public relations strategy to get shape public perception of your brand.
Brand recognition can make or break your business, so it should be a priority for you.
Global business growth opportunities
While it will take time and patience to take advantage of global growth opportunities, smaller businesses may have a more challenging time strengthening their global presence. Still, it’s certainly worth the time and effort.
Increasing global sales
Before strategizing ways to reach a global audience, you must do your due diligence and research what global markets you could enter. Without conducting primary research, it would be too intimidating to offer sales worldwide.
You could start your research by creating a heat map, a visual analytics tool to help identify which global markets could lead to the most profit.
Keep in mind that increasing worldwide sales to improve overall profitability is challenging. Only one-tenth of 1% of small businesses ever reach $250 million in revenue. While the odds may not be in your favor, it’s still worth offering products and services to global customers.
Create International partnerships
Another way to grow your business is to foster valuable partnerships with companies across the world. Don’t ignore your business vendors – they could be terrific international partners.
One method to create an international partnership is to consult an experienced business professional. This way, you’re getting the most sound advice possible.
These examples highlight some valuable tips that can help you grow your business in more ways than one. Consider starting with some of the local examples before diving headfirst into global expansion ideas. Your future self will thank you.
Examples of potential growth strategies
Developing a viable growth strategy is critical for any business looking to expand vertically or horizontally. Whether it’s entering a new market or taking on international partnerships, understanding the different types of growth strategies can help your business in the long term.
Here are examples of growth strategies that could potentially transform your business:
Market penetration
A market penetration strategy includes increasing sales of a product or service without making significant changes to the products or services themselves. It can also include targeting new segments within the market you serve. The ultimate goal with market penetration is to dominate the industry and maintain the majority of the market share.
Product improvement
Making continuous improvements to your products or service is a feasible growth strategy that you may consider implementing. While it can certainly make your customers more satisfied, it can also help reduce your churn rate, which can negatively impact your business’s success.
Fortunately, high-quality product design doesn’t have to be expensive for small businesses.
You want your customers to perceive your products or services as relevant, necessary, and worthy of their attention, and more importantly, their hard-earned cash. By making essential product improvements, you’re working to ensure your customers find value in your offerings.
Cost optimization
Every business struggles to cut down on business costs, whether it’s an inefficient use of cash flow or spending less on employee luncheons. It’s easy for business expenses to pile up and quickly become overwhelming.
One growth strategy you can use to drive your business forward is to optimize your costs. That could mean streamlining your operations, automating internal processes, or joining a collaborative working space to save on rent and utility costs. Find ways to cut costs, and you’ll likely see growth as a result.
With more knowledge of business growth and some strategies and methods you can use to experience growth, you’re setting yourself up for future success.
Create a growth strategy and see your business thrive
There’s no better time to take advantage of potential growth opportunities than right now. Do your research and capitalize on programs and initiatives that can fuel small business growth. Stay competitive and consider implementing these changes into your business operations.
