A Business Owner’s Guide to Developing an Effective Growth Strategy
Company owners have always been focused on creating business and marketing plans to reach their specific customers and sales targets. But one aspect to also give attention to is the business growth strategy. This helps both big organizations and small enterprises to determine and evaluate marketing opportunities.
A growth strategy can encourage you to think long-term and keep your entire team focused. In developing a solid strategy, you’ll need to consider factors like value propositions, brand relevance, big expansion moves, customer experience, and growth pace. With tons of aspects to consider, it’s not surprising to see many businesses struggling to develop a successful growth strategy. Explore how to create your own strategy in the tips below.
1. Set SMART goals
SMART (Specific,Measurable,Attainable,Relevant, andTimely) goals is a popular concept used by both individuals and companies. This simple guide can help you set goals that suit the type of your business, as well as the resources you have. Breaking down the big growth goals into smaller ones is a simple tactic to keep you on track.
For instance, if your main goal is to achieve a growth mark of 20% before the new year, you need small mile markers to reach that. You can work on closing 15 sales or converting at least 500 leads every month. Setting these smaller goals can make it easier for your team to track your progress and evaluate potential changes you need to make to reach your big goal.
2. Determine your KPIs
The next task is to figure out the key metrics and results for every goal you have. Understanding your key performance indicators(KPIs) allows you to gauge your progress. Are you hitting your smaller or bigger goals? Start by determining your North Star Metric, which tells you about the level of value that customers receive from your brand. A few examples of these metrics are monthly recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, and total watch time.
Choose one that aligns with your company and revenue goals. You’d also need to set yourOKRs(Objectives and Key Results) for your business growth planning. For example, you can choose to focus first on the acquisition, which often includes both paid and organic traffic by the end of the year. You can then forge your goal based on that, like scaling your paid and organic traffic up to a certain number of visitors per month. Be specific with yourOKRs.
3. Seek consulting services
In most cases, you’ll need an expert consultant to help you develop an effective growth strategy. If your business goals are to build online authority and run successful digital ad campaigns,digital marketing consultation services are your best bet. These services can guide you in creating accurate and relevant marketing processes that align with your business goals.
They can identify gaps in your current strategies and offer informed and unbiased opinions. Furthermore, if you’re a new business, investing in a consulting service is worth the money. It gives you access to experienced marketers’ skills and knowledge about the industry.
4. Identify growth requirements
Before rolling out your growth strategy, ensure you have the necessary tools and requirements to meet your goals much easier. For example, you might need to acquire services from other professionals such as marketers, consultants, or business advisors. You might also need to obtain funding for internal budget allocation or capital investment.
The most popular funding options for business are bank loans, crowdfunding sites, credit cards, bootstrapping, venture capital, and angel investors. The third category is the software and tools for your team’s technological needs. Examples are content management systems, website platforms, social media tools, SEO, and email. Complete your growth tools and resources can reduce hiccups in your growth strategy implementation.
5. Benchmark against competition
Measuring your company against your competitors is a natural thing to do when developing a growth strategy. Or, you have to benchmark your products and services against peer companies’ offerings. Pay attention to their strategies and see how yours measures up to them.
Are there unique variables that you’re not seeing? What are the different marketing moves your competitors are using? How do their success metrics stand against yours? Constantly benchmark to better assess your progress. This gives you a clear idea and a better understanding of how industry leaders achieve their goals.
Creating a business growth strategy can be challenging in several ways. You must evaluate the customers’ pain points, assess the growth move’s feasibility, maintain alignment, and set accurate prioritization. Minimize the hassle your team will go through and prevent the pitfalls by following the strategies in this guide.