Top 10 Growth Strategies — According to Established Entrepreneurs

Marine Dupuy
Sep 4, 2018 · 6 min read

Do you know what’s the difference between a Start-up idea and a Start-up company? Customers. Find out how to market your business following established business owners’ experiences.

1. Network at Live Events

Live events are definitely one of the best ways to generate leads and start to build relationships, but it’s important to follow those up afterwards. We do post-event email marketing campaigns and divide the leads out per region so the managers can work on them with the sales teams. We have regular calls after the event with the sales team to make sure they know where they are with the leads. Once you build up the relationships you can go back to the events and people come over and say, Oh hi, I met you guys last year.. This is the massive advantage of events over email marketing; it’s more personal and you’re not just a faceless recruitment agency.

— Nicola Lloyd, Frank Recruitment Group

2. Know your Customer & Create Customer Personas

This may seem like an easy job, but I recommend my fellow marketers to sincerely focus on this step. A lot of times, I’ve seen people on my team just assume the buyer persona that seems fine to them, which is the worst way to do it, because no matter how amazing is your marketing strategy, if you are not targeting the right audience, it’s useless. So, create buyer persona based on real data of your customers and market research (If you’re new). Once you’re able to put a face and personality to your buyer, it’s easier to meet their needs.

— Preksha Madan, AdNabu

3. Make Inbound Marketing a Priority

Inbound marketing is focused on attracting leads through relevant and helpful content and adding value at each stage of the buyer’s journey. With inbound marketing, prospective customers find your brand through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media. Inbound marketing is hands-down the most effective strategy — specifically, content marketing (on-site and off), search engine optimization and social media. There is no magic to marketing — it’s all about attracting clients with helpful, relevant content that addresses their pain points and/or needs and provides value.

— Crystal McFerran, Velo IT Group

4. Consistency is Key

Don’t try to do everything and don’t try to be everything! Pick a few key tactics and do them consistently. You don’t have to be on every social media platform and you don’t have to do every single marketing method you come across. Find what works best for you and concentrate on becoming the best in that particular method.

— Amber Phillips, Amber Phillips Design

5. Focus on Building Relationships more than a Revenue

I’m not a flashy, slick salesperson, nor should I want to be. I’m an introvert. My marketing approach mirrors my personality so it comes across as natural and genuine. I like to think of business relationships in the context of romantic relationships. If you are on a first date and the person you meet asks you to marry them, you’d probably run…fast! Same thing in business. Don’t try to close the deal on the first meeting. It’s awkward. Have a first date. (Check out my website.) Then ask them out for coffee. (Want to download my free report?) If things click then you’ll want to ask them for dinner. (Purchase my entry-level product.) And, then yes, if all goes well…marriage. (It’s time you bought my high-ticket offer.) And, don’t forget — schedule date nights after you’ve closed the deal.

— Michele Daae, Daae Consulting

6. Know your goals

My biggest marketing tip is, know your goals! I know that answer lacks fancy buzz-words and may sound simple. However, it’s the basis for any successful marketing strategy. I’ve worked with many business owners over the years who look at marketing as a “quick fix” rather than a long-term solution. They want to run one social media campaign and have instant success or do one email blast and think it’ll build a robust customer database. Marketing has many moving parts and you need to understand and communicate your business goals in order to know where to allocate your marketing resources. Do you want to get more leads? Do you want to sell a certain number of products? Do you simply want to raise awareness in specific markets? Odds are, it’s a mix of all of the above. Laying this out first helps you or whomever is handling your marketing understand the needs of the business and from there you can build a thoughtful marketing strategy to help you reach those goals. Without it you’re going to waste a lot of time and money!

Kristen Harold, KMH Marketing

7. Always give people more value than you take

That means not just asking people to do business with you, but providing them with something of value instead. Maybe it’s hosting a free seminar to educate people on something related to your business. Maybe it’s offering your existing clients an exclusive discount on one of your other services.A great place to start is answering some of the FAQs you get about your business in the form of blog posts. For example, let’s say that you own a pool and spa business. If someone searches “how much shock to use in the pool” and they find an article that you wrote on your businesses website explaining how much shock to use in their pool, there’s a good chance they’ll come to you for further business since you already helped them before and established yourself as an expert..Bottom Line: Always provide value first in your marketing. Build a relationship with your potential customers by giving them more value than you receive.

Andrew Schutt, Elevated Web Marketing

8. Test different tactics

The best marketing tip that I can offer is to *test* different tactics until you find something that resonates with your customers. Social media, for example, is a very cost-effective way of getting your name and company in front of the right people however it is not a “set it and forget it” strategy. Business owners need to test different content topics as well as different target demographics when advertising online. There are so many combinations possible that these tactics must be done in a very organized and methodical way. This idea of testing can apply beyond social media of course but adjusting your strategy online can be done very quickly and efficiently once some analytics are known.

Jeff Magnuson, Jeff Magnuson Consulting

9. A dedicated landing page

Pairing your Google Adwords or Facebook Ad campaigns with Dedicated Landing Pages. I can’t tell you how often online retailers simply point their Facebook ad campaigns to a home page. A dedicated landing page is crucial to get decent conversions and to make a better user experience. You just worked so hard to get that customer to click on your ad, why wouldn’t you lead them to a targetted product offering?

Sam Sternweiler, Opasite

10. Always have an engaging elevator pitch ready

Since you never know when or where your potential customers or investors may cross your path in life, you need to have an engaging elevator pitch ready to share at any time. The average adult attention span is under eight seconds, so you should have something compelling to offer about your brand that shows value, and does so quickly.

Kelley Lauginiger, American Freight Furniture & Mattress

Source: Rescue A CEO


Wondering how to transform strangers into faithful customers? Join my LinkedIn group “Inbound Marketing 101” for daily tricks!


Liked this article? Gimme some claps 👏 and connect with me on Twitter 🐦

Marine Dupuy

Written by

A Nat King Cole fan who does Inbound Marketing, in that order. Helping biz owners turn strangers into loyal customers.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade