Our 20 Ways to Grow

20 Ways to Grow A Business

When it comes to starting a business, you will be surrounded by lots of people giving you various advice on what to do and how to grow your business. You will soon realise that not only are you responsible for carrying out the actual work (so creating the product or service), but you are also have lots of other hats too. Things that you wouldn’t have even thought of, such as general administration, finances and accounts, sales, marketing…the list is endless. You will be responsible for all different aspects and knowing how to take your business to the next level can be a challenge. That is why we have decided to put together a quick guide about 20 ways to grow a business. So, grab a yourself a coffee(!), and start planning your next steps today.

1. Build a Customer Relationship Management system (or use one that is readily available).

A CRM is where all of your customer data is stored and managed, and by having everything in one place it makes the data easily accessible. This will help to maintain relationships with your current and new customers, and easily track how far along people are within your sales funnel. It also means that as your team grows and you start employing more people, everyone is able to access the same information at the touch of a button.

2. Create a subscription system

This does depend on the type of service or product that you are selling, but by building your business around a subscription system this will allow you to generate a continuous stream of income. By having a reward or loyalty program for your customers this will help to create brand advocates, and people will be less likely to purchase from one of your competitors.

3. Join trade associations

Networking is key for any business, whether you are just starting out or are a few years in. By becoming a member of a trade association, you will have easy access to contacts within the same industry as you, which is great for collaboration. You will also be seen as a more trusted supplier within your field if you have the backing of a well recognised trade association.

4. Call editors of magazines & pitch your ideas

No one is going to know about your product or service if you don’t shout about it, and what better way than to get some media attention? By connecting with some magazine editors you may be able to get some advertising space at a reduced rate, and sell your product or service to a wider audience.

5. Write articles for your website

Not only are blog articles great to help your website rank better on search engines, but they also help to identify you as a voice of authority within your industry. If you are regularly creating content about the latest releases or news, people will begin to realise that you are knowledgeable and trust that you do know what you are talking about.

6. Employ a digital marketing agency

Whilst the traditional methods of advertising within magazines still does have its place, if you want to make a real impact your business needs to be visible online. Digital marketing is the only way that you are going to grow your business in this day and age, and if you don’t have the budget to bring someone in-house, have a look at some local marketing agencies.

7. Join online forums and share your expertise

In a similar way to creating blog posts, regularly interacting and commenting on posts in forums that are industry-specific will really help to increase the awareness of your brand. It will also show people that you are an expert in your field, which will help to encourage them to purchase your product or service.

8. Go to meetings and conferences

Even if these conferences are not industry-specific that is ok! Sometimes just connecting with other business owners and talking through how they scaled their business will help to give you some inspiration. They will also be keen to tell you their mistakes in order to prevent you going through the same things too.

9. Set up your own community

If you find that there aren’t really networking events in the sector you are working in, create one yourself. This will really help to get your business noticed and will also give you the opportunity to bring together like-minded people who you may even find yourself doing business with.

10. Make sure your Google My Business profile is complete

When people launch their business, they often don’t think about how visible they are on Google straight away. This often comes into play further down the line once they have launched a website. However, you don’t need a website in order to have a Google My Business listing. This will make your business visible on Google Maps straight away, which is essential if you have a bricks-and-mortar store.

11. Ask for Google reviews

The best way to build authority and trust with potential customers is to show them your stream of 5-star reviews. Google reviews is free and easy to use, and by getting people to review you on this platform it will also help to improve your Google My Business listing too.

12. Ask for testimonials

Don’t be afraid of asking customers or clients to put together a testimonial about the level of service your business provided. These are great to add to your website within a case study about the project you worked on, or alternatively you can share them on your social media channels too.

13. Create a podcast

Podcasts are the rage at the moment, and you can see why. In this ‘Generation Z’ world that we live in, time is of the essence. By creating a podcast you are giving your audience the opportunity to learn more about your business, while they are carrying on with their daily tasks such as going for a walk.

14. Collaborate with others

Collaboration is becoming more and more important nowadays, and not just with businesses that are offering different services to you. People who you may have always seen as your competitors could actually provide services that you are not so skilled at. Meaning that by working together you could tender for much bigger projects.

15. Add a ‘chatbot’ to your website

People expect responses immediately, and it is great customer service to respond to customers straight away. Of course this isn’t always feasible, particularly out of hours, but there are lots of automated solutions out there that can help you with this.

16. Ask for LinkedIn recommendations

LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for business, and if you are looking to grow your business you really need to be regularly active on it. Ask people for recommendations as this will show which areas you are strongest in, which could help to lure in new customers.

17. Consider a referral scheme

Your current customers are your best sales tool. What we mean here is that they are clearly very happy with the product or service you provide as they keep coming back, so why not reward them for recommending your business to others? This will incentivise them to shout about your business, helping to bring more leads in for you.

18. Add value to your existing clients

This is more applicable to service-based businesses, but can also refer to upselling with a product-based business. It may seem like a strange concept, but it is always worth asking your current clients if there is any more work that you can help them with. Try to upsell another service to them and explain the benefits this will bring to their business. They might say no, but what have you got to lose by asking the question?

19. Send out regular, targeted emails

Emails are one of the most effective ways to engage with your customers on a regular basis. The important part here is that you need to send targeted emails. There is no point in sending one generic email to your entire database, you need to split the emails up into categories. This will allow you to send segmented emails to specific audiences, which are much more likely to convert into sales.

20. Create a monthly newsletter

By sending out a monthly newsletter to your customers this will help to keep your business at the forefront of their minds. It is also a great opportunity to tell people about any future plans that you have for the business, and what you have been working on during the past month. Pop a link to one of your blog posts within the email too, as this will encourage people to visit your website (increased traffic is always a good thing).

We offering training on automating your accountancy to provide management accounts swiftly to your inbox each month so you can keep your eyes on the numbers.

So there you have it, our top tips on how to grow your business.