After overcoming the start-up of a project, undertaking or business strategies, its growth and consolidation in the market is required. To achieve this there is no magic recipe or steps to follow, it is rather a series of actions that we can take individually or jointly to expand the business, for which there are multiple alternatives and / or combinations of them.
Theoretically, four ways to develop a small business can be visualized:
Market penetration
Business growth is achieved through the products that you currently have on the market, by increasing your share by deepening the strategy. It is achieved through promotion and advertising policies , sales price reductions , offers, membership or frequent buyer cards, and the like.
The development of new products to the line
This strategy promotes an increase in the volume of sales through the increase of new lines of products of the company, with this, the destination of a greater budget of expenses is sought by the regular customers, for example, when they add tables and chairs to a cafeteria and desserts are included on the menu.
The development of markets
This strategy seeks to attract the attention of other segments that are not yet customers of the company. To attract the attention of this new group of customers, without modifying the current products offered by the company, marketing strategies and their repositioning are used, either through an expansion in their distribution, through the opening of new locations. or new branches. A clear example of this is offered by franchises.
Diversification
This concept differs from other strategies in that it does not deal with the same product or the same market, it goes further since it implies the modification of both simultaneously. It is a method that the company compromises due to the risk it entails, since new paths are crossed both at the level of production and at the level of geographical location, however, many successful cases have not stopped having similarities and contacts between the new businesses and old businesses, a case that can exemplify this concept is a restaurant chain that invests in a chain of motels.
To stay operational, small companies must survive within the constantly changing environment, therefore they necessarily have to be flexible in order to adapt to this situation, be more competitive and boost their sales. These tips can help your growth.
To improve their business performance, it is important for small businesses to determine what their actual sales goals are, what benefits they expect and how long to achieve them, as well as how long it will take to achieve their goals. Starting from this point, the strategic activities that will punctually serve to achieve the specific objectives that you have formulated and proposed can be defined .
Based on the above, four business strategies can be identified that can help a company achieve its business growth objectives:
- Improving customer service : new technologies give rise to new solutions and products designed to meet customer needs. This implies greater competition between the brands in the market. The translation of this is that customers will buy the product that is closest to what they really need, want or want, what best suits their requirements and the company that listens to them and gives them better service. This strategy is one of the safest to achieve the growth of any company, it is an extremely important factor to achieve the acquisition of new customers and maintain the loyalty of existing ones, this is what is known as brand loyalty, product and in this case to the company.
- Offer additional services : current customers need their shopping experience to be complete, they will always choose the products of a company that, in addition to their sale, offer after-sales services, home deliveries, installation service, preventive and corrective maintenance , as well as the longest warranty time. In all these cases they will choose the one that is free or the one with the lowest cost, what they are looking for is the best price - quality - benefits ratio.
- Take advantage of the magic of the Internet : to boost the growth of a small business, increase its sales, improve its positioning, optimize its profits, increase its client base and project into the future, the Internet is one of the most valuable tools that can be used. Its global characteristic allows anyone in the world to know the company, what it does, what it markets, what it distributes ... they can communicate with it and buy what it sells, therefore, it has a captive market at its feet, potential buyers without need to finance the opening of new branches. However, you must always consider that you must maintain a close relationship with each client or potential buyer, something complicated, but not impossible thanks to the possibility of creating a portal for the company for this purpose, developing its social networks and maintaining direct contact with each of them, which results in a dedicated customer service.
- Advertising: advertising should always be used, either through conventional channels such as the press, radio or television or through the not so new digital channels using digital market tactics such as email marketing, inbound, content marketing and the like. All very efficient to accompany a small company in the achievement and achievement of its strategic objectives of commercial growth.
Last but not least, every small business needs to keep an eye on its progress by monitoring, controlling and evaluating its business activities and growth.
Posted by: Abdul Rimaaz