10 Business Growth Tips For SMEs
Running a small business can be extremely tough, and growing a small business can be even tougher. Without the back-up of huge corporate infrastructure, it can feel like a constant uphill battle to make ends meet, let alone trying to expand.
But growing your business doesn’t have to be impossible. With some careful planning and a bit of “working smarter not harder” you can grow from strength to strength in no time.
So what exactly can you do to help grow your business?
Stay Focused
Don’t try and do too many things. Huge companies might be able to sell smartphones and fridges in the same stores as freshly baked goods and world-class violins but if you’re a small, local shop, chances are you won’t be able to compete.
Don’t try and keep up with massive corporations. Figure out your identity as a company and stick with that. Growing doesn’t necessarily have to mean diversifying. Whatever it is you do, do it well.
If you’ve recently expanded your business too fast and feel that you’re struggling to provide a quality service to your clients across all the different areas, don’t be afraid to go back to basics to ensure that whatever you provide is top quality.
Keep Tabs On The Competition
Although you shouldn’t try to keep up with giant corporations, you can and should know what your competitors are up to. Competitive intelligence is key to remaining relevant, noticeable and profitable within any market.
Research your competitors, find out what they are doing and what they aren’t. Find gaps in their products and services and highlight your products or services to potential customers as a better alternative. You can also get inspiration for your marketing campaigns and strategies (providing that you are not breaking any laws of course) by keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing.
For example, if you’re a small, local coffee shop, you should not only know what other small coffee shops in the area are up to but also about trends in the wider market. For example, Starbucks’ omnichannel approach is changing the way customers consume their coffee by allowing them to pay, accumulate rewards points and order ahead to pick up at their chosen location directly from their Starbucks app. These are all fantastic improvements to the customer experience that you could emulate in your own coffee shop.
Google My Business
This is a free tool by Google that could help drastically improve your online presence. From business descriptions and event posts to customer reviews, opening times and service listings, this tool can help make you more visible to nearby and relevant customers who are searching for a company like yours online.
Google Maps Optimisation
This is one of the most important aspects of modern SEO. Today’s internet browsers use Google Maps to locate a nearby business to fulfil their current needs. Making sure you rank highly is, therefore, key to attracting new customers.
Go Mobile
Most internet users now engage with websites and online advertisements via mobiles devices. And as of March 2018, Google officially rolled out their mobile-first indexing system which means that mobile versions of websites are now ranked higher on search engines than their desktop counterparts. If you have any hope of attracting new customers online, you, therefore, must make sure that all your content is optimised for mobile devices.
Social Media Marketing
Whether you love it or hate it, social media is here to stay. With over 3 billion social media users worldwide, it offers a huge audience that you simply can’t ignore.
Marketing on social media is also generally considered more cost-effective than traditional types of outbound marketing like TV and billboard ads. It also enables you to target your audience more effectively. For example, Facebook Advertising allows you to select your desired audience based on factors like location, gender, age, relationship status, interests and browsing habits. This ensures that your advertising budget goes towards the people who are most likely to purchase your product.
Outsource
If you’re trying to grow your business, win some new clients or take on some new projects but don’t have the infrastructure to take on new staff or up-skill your current ones, outsourcing to freelancers could really help.
When hiring freelancers, the money paid will cover all the labour, consumables, software and anything else required to complete the project. This makes it a fantastic way to increase your revenue without increasing your overheads.
Go Paperless
Making your business paperless will help you save time, save money and increase productivity. By removing the paper from your day to day operations, you are saving money on not only paper but also on other stationery, expensive machinery like copiers and storage space for old paperwork. Managing all your data and communications electronically will also help your staff find information faster, communicate with clients and other staff quicker and complete projects in a smaller time frame. All of this opens up time, effort and money you can spend on growing your business.
Stay Well Connected
Everything in today’s business market is done online. Make sure you are up to speed with your customers, clients and competitors by ensuring your internet connection is top notch. There are business broadband plans available for all sorts of businesses and operations. Make sure you select one that is robust enough to keep up with your business so you can focus on gaining new customers.
Focus on Customer Service
You can grow your business as quickly and as much as you want but if you don’t look after your customers, it simply will not last. Make sure that customer service is an absolute priority in all your operations. If you look after your customers they will stay loyal, and a loyal customer base is a key to any kind of business growth.
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