Growth and expansion are key goals of every business owner and entrepreneur. But how can you expand your business in today’s slow-growing, coronavirus-affected economy?
Here are six valuable strategies you can use to expand your small business and take it to the next level:
- Add new products and/or services to your mix
This strategy, though simple, is actually very effective. But to do it properly, you have to figure out what your customers want and how much they’ll be willing to pay for them. Then determine whether it’s profitable to sell these products and services. The best way to do this is to conduct thorough market research of what your customers think about your new product ideas, including potential prices.
- Sell more products/services to your existing customers
This is the other side of the first strategy – diving deeper into your current customer base. Your first step is to perform a market segmentation to identify which customer segments are more likely to buy so you can focus your marketing efforts towards these existing customers. Such an analysis will divide your customers into segments based on various criteria – for example, age, gender, location, etc – and help you analyze their profitability when it comes to selling them your new products/services. With such valuable information, you will better allocate your sales and marketing budget.
- Expand into new marketing territories
Your goal should be to access and expand into new territories (across town or across the country), selling your products/services to new customers. These customers can be in different segments, niches, or locations from where you currently operate. However, make sure to do thorough market research to see if there is enough customer demand in the new territory.
- Tap into new sales and delivery channels
The best example of how new sales and delivery channels can fundamentally transform a small business is the Internet! Countless businesses have reinvented themselves to benefit from online opportunities, from brick-and-mortar business owners switching to online stores to service providers who are able to reach a much larger audience by advertising online and using SEO techniques to rank high in Web searches.
- Target new customer markets
Businesses typically target their sales and marketing efforts to specific customer markets based on demographics like age, gender, or location, or even such things as interests and activities. The first step to expanding your business into new markets at all is to reach the right customers through the right mediums and at the right time.
- Acquire another business
This may be the safest and fastest route to growth and expansion. Merging with or acquiring another business is a financially sound decision in these uncertain times, and it also doubles the size of your business overnight, growing your sales and revenues. When choosing a business to merge with or acquire, look for synergies between the two companies that will result in a joint brand, which will be stronger than either of the individual companies.
Conclusion
No one can predict the eventual economic impact of the coronavirus. However, everyone holds to the belief that we are facing a global economic reset. Determining the right moment to expand your business, whether with your own company or merging with another company, is virtually impossible. It often comes down to your own factors when deciding the ‘right time’ to expand your business.
Get your creativity going, be prepared for some problem-solving along the way, be persistent, and build a great team around you that can help you get noticed and be valued. If you need help with becoming a successful entrepreneur, feel free to contact us!
