8 Business growth strategies for Small Businesses
This article highlights sustainable business growth strategies for Small Business Owners, Solopreneurs, and Side Hustlers.
What is a business growth strategy?
A business growth strategy is an action plan of the activities you will implement as a business owner to achieve your business goals. Furthermore, a business growth strategy is a customized guideline for you to follow to grow your small business or side hustle. Business growth doesn't only mean sales and profits. Culture, innovation, and mindset also contribute to the growth of your business.
Here are eight business growth strategies that will help your small business survive and thrive in the long run.
1. Vision
A business starts with an idea, a problem, or inspiration. Our 1st business growth strategy is vision. We believe every business owner has a vision. You have thought countless times about the ideas and future of your business. Other business owners have exceeded their plans, others are halfway through their ideas, and others have just begun. Regardless of the stage in your business journey, what you have in common is a vision for your business, and you want your business to grow.
The vision for your business is sacred. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone but yourself. It will keep you going when things are not going your way. Keep your business vision very close to you, especially when facing challenges. Your vision is your strength. It is your superpower, and you have it for a reason. Your vision will guide you along your business journey. The vision for your business is the second most crucial growth strategy for any business. As a small business owner, your job is to believe in your vision and consistently work towards your long-term business goals. Remember why you started your business and where you want your business to be in the future. You can take breaks along there way and change how you excel in your industry. Whatever you do, never let go of your vision.
2. Customer Psychographics
In the olden days BC, we were joking! Several years ago, marketing relied on demographics to define an ideal customer for a brand, aka target market. Demographics include age, race, employment, income, education, and location. However, due to the rise of technology and people evolving. Defining/segmenting customers solely on demographics is not enough. As a small business owner, you should consider using psychographics and demographics to define your ideal customer. We strongly believe that it will be easier to connect with your customers when you understand their psyche. Furthermore, you'll be able to offer products and services that align with their needs and desires. Understanding your customers is a business growth strategy.
So, what is psychographics? Values, lifestyle, personality, attitudes, and interests make up psychographics. Understanding your ideal customer's psychographics will help you create a strategy, processes, and marketing activities that align with your customers in a meaningful way. In addition, psychographics will help you form deeper connections with your customers. For example, if your customers are early birds interested in skincare. You can schedule Instagram or Tik Tok posts about a general morning routine, inspirational posts, or a skincare routine early in the morning. The best way to learn more about your customers is to interview them or spend a day in their life. In this way, you'll learn more about their lifestyles, interests and more.
3. Customer Experience
There are three ways for customers to experience your brand. Firstly, through marketing and advertising, for example, social media posts on Instagram. Secondly, customers experience your brand when they purchase your products or services. Thirdly your customers experience your brand after using it. A customer journey starts from the moment your customers see your Instagram post or advert to when they use your product. Investing in the customer experience will contribute to your business growth. Make it as easy as possible for them to buy your products and services, and depending on the business you're in, integrate communication. For example, if you have a skincare eCommerce store. It should be easy for customers to track the delivery. You should optimize the packaging by listing ingredients for customers who have allergies or sensitive skins and make it easy for customers to contact you if they have any queries.
4. Strategy
Every small business needs a strategy. A strategy is an action plan to help you achieve your short-term and long-term goals. A strategy supports the vision you have for your business and allows it to come to fruition. Several types of strategy can contribute to the growth of your small business, such as a business strategy, brand strategy, and marketing strategy. Therefore, we created a one-on-one strategy call for Small Business Owners, Solopreneurs, and Side Hustlers. The one-on-one strategy call will support you in either your vision, business growth, brand, or marketing. Make sure you have a short-term and or long-term strategy for your business.
Book a 1-on-1 Strategy Call for Small Business Owners, Solopreneurs, and Side hustlers.
5. Systems and Processes
Systems and processes keep the business engine running and contribute to the business's growth. When you don't have systems and processes, your small business will not be sustainable. It's essential to document, record, and share your day-to-day operations so that your team can follow the instructions. Systems are also beneficial to Solopreneurs. You don't need a team to start implementing a workflow. You can categorize days of the week to focus on specific tasks. For example, you can schedule Mondays for creating content for social media. You can dedicate Tuesdays for online or face-to-face meetings—Wednesdays and Thursdays for business operations. You can plan Fridays for business development, networking, and wrapping the week. It's essential as a Solopreneur to diversify your day or week; otherwise, you may feel burnout or bored. We are also in the technological age, so make the most of marketing, project management, productivity, and financial software to automate and streamline your processes. These will also save you time.
6. People
"if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together" African Proverb. Every business owner needs a vision, a strategy, and a team to implement the business's short or long-term growth strategy. You may be starting as a Solopreneur running the business by yourself. Then transition into a Small Business Owner running a small team. After that becoming a CEO or only operating as The Founder of a company. Build a dream team to elevate your vision, business, and strategy regardless of your business stage. These should be people that believe in your vision. They should have the skills and traits to help your business grow in ways it could not if they weren't part of your team. The dream team should include people responsible for the business's day-to-day activities as well as other specialists such as lawyers and accountants.
Our recommendation for Solopreneurs is to outsource/automate at least as a small position of your day-to-day activities because it will free up your time. For example, when you have a social media manager, you will spend less time on social media and focus more on the growth of the business. Think about your weaknesses in business or marketing and outsource or automate those activities.
7. Support System
It's a basic human need to feel cared for, loved, understood, and seen. Surround yourself with a healthy support system. It can be a friend, a family member, a therapist, acquaintances, a business coach, or a partner. Running a small business requires a significant amount of mental, emotional, and physical strength. That's why it's so vital for you to have a support system that is there for you in your good times and when you're going through difficult seasons in your life. We firmly believe that a sound support system is a business growth strategy. Living a wholesome gives you extra strength and courage to make your vision come true and to be resilient. Make time for your loved ones, have shared experiences with your acquaintances, book a therapy session, and invest in your social well-being. "Surround yourself with people who are only going to lift you higher" – Oprah Winfrey.
8. Self-care
Our 8th and most important business growth strategy for Small Businesses is self-care. Business self-care includes having a strategy, the dream team to elevate your business, and the correct systems in place. As a business owner, you need to prioritize personal self-care. Your emotional, mental, and physical health is far more important than anything else. Health and time are two things that you can never get back, and they are so valuable. While you're building and growing your business, make sure you make time for the things and the people that make you feel happy, peaceful, and relaxed. Create No agenda days in your weekly or monthly schedule. A no agenda day is when you don't work on your business and don't have plans or a to-do list. It's a day where you follow your intuition, do what feels right for you, rest or play. Self-care is a winning strategy for any business.
We shared our top 8 growth strategies for Small Businesses, Solopreneurs, and Side Hustlers. Remember that a growth strategy may differ from one business to another. We want to know about your strategy to grow your small business. Share your strategy in the comment section or share with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest.