Four strategies for business growth

If you have ever started your own business, you’ll know that launching is just the beginning of your journey. After a year or two, you have gotten a feel for your markets, products and consumers. You might even be hitting the stage where you seek growth opportunities to meet the ever-evolving needs of your consumers in order to stay relevant and increase your profits.

If you are just learning about growth strategies, here is a good starting point to assess which approach would best suit your business.

What kind of growth strategy would suit your business:

1.?Market penetration to increase your market share through price drops and promotions

This growth strategy focuses on increasing sales of your current products or services in the current market or introduce a new product/ range. Market penetration is one of the best business growth strategies for small businesses. Your focus is to attract customers from your competitors, increase your loyalty with existing customers to buy more by initiating marketing tactics like sales/ promotions/ special deals (price drops) or offer free trials. This strategy can be good for a short-term expansion strategy in a competitive market.

2.?Market Development to attract new customers and keep your existing ones

Market development is a strategy to break out into new markets. This can be across provinces, countries or even continents in some instances. You should first conduct some market research to see if there is an appetite for your product and adjust your marketing strategy to speak to the new audiences. Another approach could be a product you only sold to households, consider branching out to reseller models.

Often market development as a growth strategy is when your sales have stagnated in your current market and you want to explore new supply chain models.

3.?Product Development to meet the needs of current customers in new ways

Product development is the improvement of existing products or the introduction of new products into a market. Essentially it is creating new products to meet the demands of your existing customers. Your approach should be through conducting market research, gaining the insights of your customers, testing the product to a small audience and then launching into your existing markets. Remember you can also develop new products by acquiring existing companies, brands and products or establishing partnerships. This growth strategy is aimed at increasing your turnover.

4.?Alternate channels to reach your audiences

It’s about taking a step back to assess which channels you can find your target audience on. Test new channels to expand your reach and find innovative ways of marketing to your customer. It could be a simple move like selling your product online or setting up an eCommerce site. Or moving from a once off purchase model to a subscription or membership programme to generate a more consistent stream of revenue. Another example of this growth strategy is to create a mobile app for your online platform.

There are a few more growth strategies that you could potentially adopt in your business. For more advice on growth strategies or how to expand your business, reach out to me or join Startwise to speak to one of our growth mentors.