How to Stay Ahead of Shifts in Your Industry

Last year, global customer growth and innovation guru Tiffani Bova (Salesforce) gave the world a peek at the strategies in her book: Growth IQ. She did this by briefly discussing some of the concepts in an interview with Marketing Journal. In this inspiring interview, she discussed what she believes to be the 10 paths to growth for any company. She touched on everything from customer base penetration to sales optimization. 

My key takeaway: she reminds us all that there is no singular path to success. All too often, we get caught up in the idea that there’s just one thing we need to implement or change. We trick ourselves into completing the easiest task on our to-do list so that we feel accomplished. Or we search for one move to make that will change everything for us. 

Once we do this one thing, then we’ll find success. But that’s not how it works! The path to success is a long and winding road, not a singular task picked out of a hat. Even after we find the strategies that work, we have to remain vigilant; the work is not done yet. As industries evolve and grow, so must our methods, strategies, and goals. 

In her interview with Marketing Journal, Tiffani shares an astonishing statistic: in companies earning over $5 billion in revenue, 94% of executives admit that internal rather than external obstacles prevent their company from growing profitably. Even in business, it’s possible to be your own worst enemy. 

So, how do we fix it? How do we approach paths to growth and use them to stay ahead of shifts in industries that are constantly evolving? Start by using LinkedIn to bridge the gap. Here’s how: 

Connect with your customers 

Three of Tiffani’s 10 paths to growth begin with the word “customer,”: Customer Experience, Customer Base Penetration, and Customer and Product Diversification. The success of any business relies heavily on its customer base, so it’s important to start here. 

When you connect with regular customers on LinkedIn, it’s easy to show them additional products or services that you offer. This is one of the strongest and fastest marketing strategies. You can inspire customers that already trust your company to make additional purchases by sharing posts and showcasing the ways that your products or services can help them.

Ask your favorite customers to advocate for your company by sharing your posts or sharing their experiences. Their stories will inspire other customers to follow their lead. This is a great way to increase your reach to new customers, as well. Social media can spread your message across the world in only a few seconds, so let it.  

Work on expansion and acceleration 

By first fostering a community of happy customers on LinkedIn, you can now turn your attention to accelerating and expanding your company. The best time to expand is when you’re experiencing success. 

Use your expanded reach to work your way into new markets with existing products. The more you connect, post, and share, the more people will find you. You can also use it to start selling new products in the markets you’re already successful in. With all of your new connections, client success stories, and interesting reading material, you’ll gain trust and interest. Your new products will be spotted quickly by eager customers who are waiting to see what you’ll come up with next. 

Tiffani’s suggested paths of Market Acceleration and Product Expansion are brilliant steps to take. There’s no easier way to do so than through LinkedIn. They are the largest professional networking site in the world. From ages 18 to 80, there are over 600 million members on this platform. It’s time to take advantage of that!

Implement unconventional strategies

This was one of my favorites of all of the suggested paths to growth. Don’t waste your time trying to imitate what other companies are doing and hoping to mirror their results. You’ll be much more successful if you focus on your own path(s), strategies, and customers. 

When you use LinkedIn to connect to customers, reach out to new ones, and share information on current and new products and services, you’re breaking away from the pack. Other companies are spending millions of dollars and hours on marketing strategies that may not be as successful. 

LinkedIn can easily connect you with customers all over the world. They can find your information and updates in seconds and share them with their friends and families. Be sure to have your marketing or sales team post regularly, keep the page updated, and connect frequently. 

With the time that you’ve saved on lengthier marketing strategies, you can have a meeting of the minds to discuss more paths you’d like to take. Each of the paths can easily be aided with the (proper) use of LinkedIn. Use it to involve your employees and customers in the conversation. Ask them what products and services they’d like to see, what information they want, what you’re doing right, and how you can improve. Never stop striving for more. 

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Kim has attracted an audience of over 235,000 professionals from around the globe on LinkedIn and is the CEO of Linkability, Inc. She is a dynamic Entrepreneur, Global Business Communications authority, and three-time business founder. Linkability is a strategy and consulting firm that provides world-class Intrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs, and organizations with consulting, services, and products that helps to grow robust networks and drive tangible results in sales, marketing, and thought leadership positioning.

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