The tough economic period, changing market trends and limited resources etc. all contribute to making difficult for newly established businesses to expand their operations. But at the same time, the situation brings growth-opportunity. Remember, where there’s a problem, there is always an opportunity waiting for you!
Noticing the growth patterns of most successful companies today we find that if a company can achieve growth during particularly challenging economic times, it steps up on the ladder of successful companies faster”.
How can your company survive during tough times and emerging as a successful company depends totally on your business and industry specific strategies. However, this article will discuss 7 basic practical areas where you can work to bring your small business or startup on growth track.
7 Essentials of Small Business & Startup Growth
1- Update the Business Website: This is the place where you convert your visitors into customers, so the first and foremost step to grow your business is to have a flawless, engaging and responsive website that has all what the current and prospect customer is looking for. In case of services based website, make sure to invest time and effort on landing page optimization.
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2- Invest in Business Blogging: Whether it’s a B2B or B2C business model, your company blog is the most authentic information source for your customers, so make sure that you have a content rich blog.
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3- Focus on Lead Generation: The ultimate goal in any case for a business is to have more sales, and for that you must have more leads. Remember, your marketing plan must identify the lead generation and benchmarking process clearly.
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4- Review & Update Your Marketing Plan: The industry trends and the technologies keep on changing and so it is important to stay updated. You must update your marketing plan based on the external factors and the recent performance. Thinking out of the box can bring a lot more options for better performance; however, you must not forget the contents of the box as well.
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5- Include Content Marketing in the Plan: Content Marketing is gaining popularity especially in the B2B sector, where plays all in one role for brand awareness, lead generation, and customer retention. If you still have confusions regarding Content Marketing, you must explore the related guides below and devise an effective content marketing plan with an actionable editorial calendar:
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6- Get Your Business Holiday Ready: Although the actual Holiday season occurs in the last two months of the year, but being “Holiday Ready” means, having something special for your customers for all “Days” that fall throughout the year, i.e. Valentine Day (though it’s not a holiday).
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7- Spend More Time in Organized Business Networking: Getting connected to the target audience directly and personally is not just business networking, but a complete business development package. This is ideal option for B2Bs and top executives of B2Cs. Having direct connection with a key person of the target industry is certainly a big plus within it.
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Depending upon the business model, market conditions, product specifications, and above all your business health; you may look for some more situation specific strategies, but, the above seven are must haves and will certainly work in all situations.