Growing Your Small Business

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Millennials often contemplate abandoning a nine-to-five job and establishing a separate business. However, it isn’t easy becoming an entrepreneur! Statistics indicate that one-fifth of privately-owned companies fail after twelve months, and 50% collapse within five years. Experts suggest experimenting with various procedures until you find the suitable method to expand your business. We call this “growth hacking,” which involves growing your company through some shortcuts with minimal investment. This term –coined by Sean Ellis – the CEO of Growth Hackers –envisioned methods to expand one’s business without spending much. These “growth hacks” ensure that you always stay one step ahead of your competitors.

Growth Hacks For Your Business Ventures

Why are “growth hacks” essential for business expansion? Well, they revolve around quick methods for growing your company. First, you experiment with several marketing techniques to judge their viability based on immediate results: less time, fewer resources. The word “hacking” refers to how these tactics can get tested without making a significant investment. Then, you can leverage these “growth hacks” to continue your expansionist ambitions. So, here are some of these smart techniques for small business owners:

• Hire the right guys:

One of the primary reasons most startups fail involves not having the right set of people working under you. It would help if you chose highly qualified individuals to join your team. Distance learning has made pursuing quality education easier. Also, now various degrees waive the GMAT requirement.

So, students can effortlessly pursue an accredited AACSB online MBA no GMAT to seek financial excellence. It’s wiser to hire such talented MBA graduates who are always prepared to contribute to your company’s success. Bring only trusted people aboard your company.

• Leverage UGC:

Don’t underestimate the significance of content marketing. Statistics show that it’s over 60% more influential than traditional marketing endeavors. You can utilize user-generated content to create high-quality content for your website and engage your target audience. Since producing unique and original content from scratch by yourself costs a lot! So, allowing consumers to generate content is a cost-effective strategy. Nowadays, health, fashion, and fitness industries leverage UGC effectively.

• Offering incentives:

Some websites offer content as an incentive to enhance their email list-building endeavors. You can provide visitors with this content – a short guide, a whitepaper, a PDF booklet – to exchange visitors’ contact information.

People willingly reveal their email addresses to get a free piece of content. We can also “gating” as another “growth hack.” This tactic involves offering some portion of your content for free and then locking the rest. This gated/locked part is accessible by giving an email.

• Write guest blogs:

You can leverage the popularity of a well-established platform to drive some traffic to your website. Many organizations allow guest blogging now where your content gets published on their portals. In exchange, you get permitted to insert hyperlinks to your webpage to acquire more audience. Only write for websites that have a similar audience and refrain from over-promoting your brand. You need to ensure that your content is informative for your readers. It’s an inexpensive “hack” for business growth.

• Retarget visitors:

Statistics show that only 2% of shoppers convert when they visit your website for the first time. So how do you advertise to the remaining 98%? Retargeting enables you to bring back visitors who left your website without purchasing anything. You place a JavaScript tag in the site’s footer, and it’ll continue using browser “cookies” to create a list of visitors. This list will display advertisements to people who abandoned their visits without converting. Retargeting is sometimes also labeled as remarketing.

• Influencer marketing:

Another “growth hack” involves partnering with Twitter or Instagram influencers to promote your products. These influencers control the purchasing power of millions of online shoppers. So, making them advertise your brand can potentially skyrocket your marketing results. In 2015, some experts even declared that you receive an ROI of $6.5 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing. Work with influencers who are relevant to your product and also have a sizable social media following.

• Referral marketing:

Referral marketing has been termed as the most powerful form of advertisement in existence. As revealed by Nielsen, people are more likely to purchase from a band referred to by friends or family.

So, companies leverage their existing customers to bring more consumers. If your current customers are satisfied with the services they receive, ask them to refer you to their contacts. Also, incentivize by offering discounts, e.g., Dropbox rewarded customers with 500 MB of space for inviting friends.

• Get reviews online:

This “hack” is associated with UGC since it’s your followers who write reviews and testimonials about your services. Don’t take these reviews lightly; research shows that 84% of customers trust online reviews when buying a product. So, ensure that customers can read all positive reviews you receive online. Display testimonials by important consumers prominently on your website. You can even turn negative reviews into positive marketing by responding to the author courteously.

• Optimize for phones:

Almost half of the internet users are online via a smartphone. So, unless your website gets optimized for these users, you’ll lose a significant portion of website traffic. Over 60% of mobile visitors won’t return to your site after encountering a poor web design. Also, ensure that your site loads in 2-3 seconds because slow-loading sites also drive customers away. 

Google now also ranks sites based on their smartphone performance. Don’t neglect to invest in mobile optimization for business growth.

• Build an app:

Mobile users spend 90% of their time surfing different applications. So, it makes sense to create an application for your target audience. It’ll give you a competitive edge against your rivals. These apps must be lucrative enough to attract more visitors to your website. Making a smartphone app keeps you relevant for the rapidly-changing business industry. It’ll improve communication with clients & customers. In the end, it’s better to build an effective app instead of going for mobile optimization.

Conclusion

Since the ‘90s, people have been fascinated with entrepreneurship. It almost looks like an alternative to your traditional occupations. But some 90% of small businesses fail! Only 10% of startups barely make it alive. But why are most entrepreneurs unsuccessful in their business attempts? In 2019, CBinsightsstated some reasons why businesses fail within a year. Most of them collapsed because their products weren’t needed, they faced cash shortages, or they lacked the right team. “Growth hacks” enable entrepreneurs to survive such failures and keep a business afloat.

These shortcuts ensure that your company continues to expand even in a competitive environment. So, don’t forget to experiment with these brilliant hacks.

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