7 Strategies To Grow Your Online Business In 2022, 15 Strategies For Quickly Expanding Your Business

Maria Baranowska, Graeme Caldwell, Jeanette LeBlanc, Jennifer Leslie, Nate Medina, & Meredith Wood

According to lớn the National Small Business Association’s 2017 Year-End Economic Report, small business confidence is at an all-time high. In fact, 59 percent of respondents to the NSBA’s survey said they anticipate economic growth throughout 2018, & a third of respondents (“the highest level in more than a decade”) said they felt very confident about their business’s future.

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Grow Your Business

Clearly, the future is bright.

Regardless of the current size of your business, it"s best to plan và structure so that you’re ready for the future. When it comes to growing a small business, a little proactivity will pay off in the long run. Here are 16 tips on how to lớn how khổng lồ grow a business.

1. Invest in systems

You’re a badass at this whole business ownership thing. We already know that. But if you’re trying to bởi vì everything on your own, you might be limiting yourself for potential growth. A business powered by systems is one that can handle the multi-layered demands of expansion.

Have robust systems such as a solid CRM or powerful e-commerce software in place can help you focus on the important parts of growth và expansion. Review your current operations lớn see what aspects are repetitive or monotonous and make it your goal to lớn automate or outsource as much as possible, so you can remain focused on small business growth.

2. Improve your homepage

In addition khổng lồ doing things lượt thích improving SEO & making signing up or purchasing easy, make sure your homepage looks as perfect as possible.

Consider this: 96 percent of visitors khổng lồ your website aren’t ready to lớn buy something. Your homepage is most likely where they’ll land. If it’s cluttered or hard to lớn navigate, they’ll go elsewhere. If the website copy is bad or doesn’t show the value of your product, they’ll be turned off. Sometimes a simple change can boost revenue tremendously. Tandberg, a video conference company, increased lead generation by improving their call-to-action. Through A/B testing & keyword optimization, Tandberg established a call-to-action on its homepage that delivered 50 percent more leads in just the first month.

3. Focus on analytics

The big data analytics market will surpass $200 billion per year by 2020. Clearly, many companies, especially tech giants lượt thích Facebook và Amazon, realize the value of utilizing data. & you should, too.

As a report in The Economist notes, “the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.” The good news is that data can benefit any company, unlike oil. Even better, you don’t have khổng lồ splurge billions of dollars (though some companies are). As a business owner with a website và social truyền thông pages, you can employ không tính phí or freemium tools to gain insights on your customers.

For instance, google analytics shows bounce rate, page visits, average time on site, and how your audience is arriving at your website, which can provide insights into where lớn focus your kinh doanh efforts. Unbounce is another analytics tool worth considering, especially for figuring out how to lớn optimize landing pages và increase conversions.

4. Make your blog shine

It really not surprising that 53 percent of marketers state blog posts are their most important inbound kinh doanh activity. Corey Wainwright, a nội dung marketing expert, writes that good blogging can drive traffic to your website, convert that traffic into leads, establish authority in your industry, and achieve long-term results for your business. When you consider that 81 percent of shoppers conduct research online, good blog posts can bring your business a lot of value over time. Potential customers will naturally find your site once your blog has an established online presence. So make sure the bulk of the content is evergreen. Such posts will only require periodic updating, bringing you better value for your investment.

On all these sites, địa chỉ cửa hàng in pictures, link to blog posts, and relevant information about your company. Interact with customers—and respond khổng lồ their needs & questions. This will improve your brand image.

What’s most beneficial about social truyền thông media and digital advertising is that you can leverage ratings & reviews. In fact, 92 percent of consumers trust recommendation from family và friends. If one customer gives your company a “like” & says something positive, it will get the attention of people in their network, creating a word-of-mouth effect that could grow your business.

5. Make a plan khổng lồ grow your business

From email marketing campaigns to optimizing your trang web for mobile, to encouraging online reviews—there are many ways khổng lồ grow your business. The key is first having a plan that you can execute. Unfortunately, nearly half of businesses are doing digital sale with no clear strategy. Once you have an idea of what you want to lớn do, don’t blindly stick to lớn it. As Matt Rissell, CEO of TSheets, attests, “the best way to grow your small business is to never become complacent and always be testing. Identify your customers’ needs, thử nghiệm your hypothesis, iterate, & test again.”

6. Focus on scalability

When money, time, và expertise are in short supply, it can be tempting to lớn go with the quick (or cheap) fix, and investing in basic solutions that don’t require a huge financial investment or learning curve can seem wise.

But things are not always what they seem.

Yes, that dream solution may be a stretch và have an intimidating learning curve. But ending up in a patchwork maze of multiple inexpensive & inefficient systems that only appear economical will over up costing money in the long run.

7. Always have a backup plan

When you"re a one-person shop, you"re usually able to lớn pivot quickly when things vì chưng not go as expected. As your business grows and becomes more complex, these quick adjustments are more difficult. Have a plan in place for emergencies or unforeseen contingencies so that you can giảm giá with the inevitable bumps in the road.

8. Take calculated risks

A small business expansion is not without risks. To make the right decisions it will sometimes be necessary to move outside your comfort zone. After all, guillemot chicks will plunge off of cliffs with unformed wings khổng lồ meet the rest of their flock, risking almost certain death if their jump goes wrong.

We"re not saying you should rely only on good luck. By focusing on the end goal và proactively identifying potential roadblocks, you’ll mix yourself up for success, even when your next move feels lượt thích a risk.

Take kftvietnam.com"s Lifecycle sale Assessment to identify growth opportunities for your business.

9. Invest in staff & culture

Growing beyond solopreneurship is a big step. But if you talk to lớn others who have grown their small business to include employees, contractors or freelancers you"ll soon learn just how vital the right people are in making your expansion dreams a reality. Any significant staff expansion will come with an adjustment period và require devotion và effort from everyone, but establishing a culture and a staff of devoted employees will pay off in the long run.

10. Forecast for intentional growth

Sometimes business growth takes you by surprise; sales suddenly increase or an unexpected opportunity falls into your lap. In these cases, you"ll find yourself scrambling in a stressful trò chơi of catch-up. But expansion can be carefully considered and planned for. By taking a slow-and-steady approach & planning ahead for each step along the road, you’ll phối your business up for successful proactive growth, instead of a stressful reactive response to an immediate need.

11. Stay focused on your chip core strengths

What is the one thing you bring lớn the table that others bởi not? Keep your focus on that. If you make the most amazing widgets on the planet, then vì just that. As many things as you may feel like you should/could/would vì chưng in a perfect world (where time was unlimited and sleep was not required), what you NEED to vì is keep making your widgets better & better & better. Hire or purchase other solutions, staff, và expertise lớn take care of the rest.

12. Be financially savvy

Even the most successful business need lớn watch the bottom line. Always leave extra padding in your budget for things that you overlooked or didn"t tài khoản for in your expansion. Even small things can derail your budget. Keep your eyes on the bigger picture and the bottom line. Ensure your investments make sense for your dreams và your bank account, and always overestimate the projected costs lớn ensure you don’t end up in a tight spot later on.

13. Don’t forget the value of annual strategic planning

“If you fail khổng lồ plan, you are planning khổng lồ fail!” - Benjamin Franklin

Strategic planning is the liên kết between a great idea and true success & growth. More of a philosophy of operation than a one-time event, it requires ongoing attention to detail and time investment.

Not sure where to start? No sweat—we’ve got you covered.

Step 1: Identify the vision (purpose, mission, & core values) of your businessBusiness naturally breeds chaos, but your role as a leader is lớn set the vision to lớn breed confidence. Your vision is the foundation of your strategic planning. At kftvietnam.com we use this equation to lớn define vision: Vision = Purpose + Mission + core Values.

Once you define your vision, you need to create a purpose statement. Your purpose statement is “why” your company exists & is your guiding star. At kftvietnam.com, our purpose is “to help small businesses succeed.”

Next, comes your mission statement. It’s “what” you are going to lớn accomplish in the next 3 khổng lồ 5 years & is in support of your purpose. kftvietnam.com uses the acronym BHAG , a term coined by Jim Collins. Our 2030 BHAG is composed of five three-year missions. Our current mission has five categories that measure our mission’s success:

Customer SuccessEmployee EngagementFinancial FitnessPartner PrideEconomic Impact

In order to be successful in attaining your vision & mission, you must know your vi xử lý core values. They are “how” you get the work done and represent the bộ vi xử lý core beliefs of your organization. kftvietnam.com has seven chip core values that guide our culture:

We genuinely careWe own itWe learn alwaysWe build trustWe kiểm tra egoWe dream bigWe win together

Congrats! You now have a vision with a three-to-five-year mission và core values that guide your culture.

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Step 2: Analyze past results to lớn create context for future annual (or quarterly) prioritiesNow let"s go back to the three components of the kftvietnam.com Leadership model under set the Vision: visualize the future, co-create plans that align, và declare goals & inspire commitment.

After completing step one, you’ve effectively visualized the future for your team. Now it"s time khổng lồ co-create plans that align. Before we jump into planning mode (Step 3), however, it is crucial to reflect on the business’s past accomplishments, lessons learned, strengths, weaknesses, & upcoming trends in the marketplace.

Why? Strategy is nothing more than how you leverage, capitalize, và or exploit available resources và core competencies lớn create a sustainable competitive advantage. In order khổng lồ effectively begin strategy planning, your team must be in alignment with what resources and core competencies the business possesses & which are priorities to leverage, capitalize, and or exploit.

Accomplishments: What have you accomplished since your last planning? When you reflect on all your accomplishments, you can take confidence in what’s to come. Positive energy from this will set the tone for the rest of your planning.Lessons Learned: What Lessons have you learned as a company? There is nguồn in articulating lessons you’ve learned so you don’t have to lớn learn them again.Strengths : What is the company good at? At kftvietnam.com (600+ employees), everyone does the SWOT exercise with their team and that information is compiled for our leadership team to reviews before they execute on these exercises.Weaknesses : What are the areas for improvement? Don’t think good vs bad but instead working vs not working.Opportunities : What’s happening around you that you could take advantage of?Threats : What’s happening around you that you may want to lớn guard against?Strategic Issues: What are the most important issues to focus on that will move the needle? Take the information from the previous questions & use the following format to identify your business’ đứng đầu 3 khổng lồ 5 strategic issues. Then ask, “How vị we achieve X outcome, given Y situation or obstacle?”Example: “How vị we improve our lead generation, given our low marketing budget and no clear owner?”

Step 3: Convert Strategic Issues into Annual Priorities và Assign Owners

Now that you have your vị trí cao nhất 3 to lớn 5 strategic issues in question formats, it’s time khổng lồ convert each issue into an annual priority statement and assign an owner.

Example: “Build out content marketing machine using partners to lớn grow our marketable danh mục to X# of e-mail subscribers (Owner’s Name)”.

Finally, establish a meeting rhythm to kiểm tra in with priority owners on progress and challenges.

14. Focus on your branding

One of the biggest struggles small businesses face is maintaining the image that they can stay afloat và demonstrate growth, và be able to support that image with actual results. Having a brand that represents this is crucial for any khổng lồ cement trust in their investors and customers alike.

With a combined effort of effective relationship management, networking, strategic design, & marketing, it’s possible khổng lồ create a cost-effective strategy lớn create and sustain this image.

Your network

Customers

The importance of customers shouldn’t need lớn be stated. It is, however, important to lớn consider how you manage your Rolodex (a figurative object today), and utilize your contacts like a well-established organization, from day one.

Customer relationship management strategies should be in place before you start to lớn build your database. Spreadsheets are not an adequate & scalable measure to lớn store your customer data because once you get past double digits, your data is less and less accessible and, crucially, safe.

There are many CRM platforms out there and most have inexpensive options when starting out. When selecting the right one for you, make sure you consider scaling up in the future. But, why is it important to have a system to manage customer data? A solid, reliable, CRM system will help you not only with servicing your customers with your product, but also manage future sale initiatives và help with retention và therefore growth.

If you don’t think lượt thích a business with thousands of customers when you have only a few, chances are you’ll never achieve that success.

Partners

As a startup, it’s important to lớn use those in your ecosystem to lớn develop bonds and, simply, get your name out there. It’s not about giving away your trade secrets khổng lồ your competitors before you’ve been allowed to flourish, but having a positive impression among those who exist within your market is crucial. Burnt bridges are never good, especially early on. Moreover, what can be learned from those around you is immeasurable.

Do your research và be a presence at industry events in your area. Attending these and becoming a familiar face will help build a profile for your organization within your market. Building a digital profile can help with networking online. LinkedIn is great for connecting with business leaders & is a good platform to have in place for further down the line when you may be interested in hiring. Don’t underestimate the nguồn of using yourself, the business owner/representative as a sound quảng cáo technique.

Design

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of design, let’s consider what it facilitates: communication. As Neil Robinson, an in-house designer at Mason Frank International, believes that “business communication is an octopus of sprawling messages.”

“By keeping a visual consistency throughout your communication, you’re adding brand authority and strong identity,” he says. “Business strategy must align with brand strategy.”

While this may seem like an abstract aim, it’s in fact very easy khổng lồ execute. A consistency within communication can be achieved through creating brand guidelines và sticking to them. If you don’t have the skill set khổng lồ create a strong visual brand, invest in hiring some talent to make your vision come to lớn life. Depending on your budget, you can take this as far as you want. For any growing organization, a strong biểu tượng logo is a crucial starting point. This can then be rolled out across your website, thư điện tử signature, letterhead, & anywhere you have a presence. It’s very important for this to look professional and not quickly thrown together on MS Paint. Remember to lớn keep it consistent throughout and use a uniform màu sắc palette. These are simple but often neglected measures.

Modern PR

Your kinh doanh approach is infinitely more complex than can be described here. But one thing which is crucial for sustained growth is positioning you as a market leader before you are one. One simple & cost-effective technique lớn achieve this is thought leadership.

Thought leadership practices are an effective method of promoting business. This involves becoming a trusted source of information for your field of expertise, whatever that may be. This practice will take time but ultimately can result in large audiences organically stumbling across you & your business. Thought leadership is often considered an exercise for businesses far into their maturity. That being said, the sooner you begin the practice, the more your knowledge can help excel further. In many ways, thought leadership is a size of lăng xê that’s beneficial lớn you as much as those affected.

15. Avoid these growth-hacking techniques

There’s a tendency khổng lồ refer lớn any new company as a startup, but when the term was popularized by Paul Graham it had a more precise meaning: a company intended to lớn grow very quickly, funded by external capital, and not necessarily intended khổng lồ be profitable at first. Just as we apply the concept of a startup more broadly than originally intended, it’s also become popular to think of rapid growth as the most important metric of a business’s success. Hence the rise of the growth hacker—a marketing professional whose sole aim is business growth.

When a single metric is used khổng lồ represent success, incentives & behaviors can become distorted. For most businesses, growing as fast as possible isn’t the optimal strategy. Excessively rapid growth can kill a business if revenues don’t scale in line with resource consumption—a common cause of failed startups. If growth is a company’s major—or only—measure of success, ignoring other metrics lượt thích profitability & customer satisfaction can damage the reputation of what might otherwise have been a sustainable business.

The drive khổng lồ grow at all costs manifests itself in various ways, but here are three growth-hacking behaviors to lớn avoid that may drive growth in the short-term, but could result in long-term costs.

Pillaging users’ contacts

When the average user installs an application & allows it to lớn access their contacts so it can “suggest connections,” she doesn’t expect to lớn get angry emails from her friends complaining that the company behind the tiện ích is spamming them. And yet, this is a common growth hacking technique.

Companies that put growth first hunger for email addresses, & there’s no richer source of e-mail addresses that the contacts of users who have already shown an interest. But if a new user gives a company privileged access to lớn contacts, does it seem right that the company abuse that trust? Is it likely to cultivate loyalty? In 2015, LinkedIn lost a lawsuit, part of which concerned just this technique. If you pillage user’s contacts, you might find yourself faced with more than a few disgruntled users.

Freemium with a tweet

This is a clever & simple growth-hacking technique that can leave a bad taste in users’ mouths, simply because it looks lượt thích a bait and switch. The user is tempted by a không lấy phí tier and happily uses the service. That is until the service threatens khổng lồ cut off access unless they send out a tweet advertising the business.

Unroll.me, a service that filters subscription emails from users’ inboxes, tried this technique, và unhappy users kicked up quite a fuss. You might argue that the users weren’t paying and, as such, there’s no problem with asking for a little help. You might also argue that it works (this was the response of many admiring growth hackers). These points are worth considering, but you should pause for a moment và ask yourself if that’s really the sort of company you want lớn be.

Shady SEO

The black-hat SEO industry has fallen out of favor in the last few years, so many professionals who made a living trying khổng lồ trick tìm kiếm engines have had to rebrand. They did so by trying lớn fit it under the label of growth hacking, albeit with an unchanged bag of old SEO tricks. Rap Genius, a service that had a superb brand reputation, was bitten by this particular variety of growth hacking a couple of years ago.

Trying khổng lồ trick Google and other search engines with links schemes, paid links, misleading information architecture, and spam isn’t a good idea. You’ll be penalized sooner or later. Google doesn’t care whether you điện thoại tư vấn what you vì chưng SEO or growth hacking.

16. Trust yourself

All the advice in the world is no substitute for your finely-honed instincts. This is your small business. These are your dreams. Và there will be times where opportunities come along that fall outside of your plans và projections. If you’ve phối yourself up for success with strategic planning, scalable systems, và a solid bottom line, you’ll be in a position to listen to lớn your gut and make that leap of faith in a way that feels secure và sensible – not risky and rash.

Growth is scary. Sometimes it may feel easier khổng lồ stick with the status quo và not take the risk. But you’re ready for this. You’ve done the groundwork and your foundation is steady và strong. You’re set to lớn meet your growth objectives.