What will it take to grow your small business? Do you need a marketing strategy? What about social media?
You’ve definitely got options, but for some reason, the things you’ve already tried haven’t been working. How do you figure out why you’re not growing, and how do you change that?
At CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve worked with small business growth strategies for over 50 years. That means we’ve advised thousands of small business owners who wanted to know:
- What is small business growth? What is a growth strategy?
- What are good growth strategies to try? What are things to avoid?
- What prevents small businesses from growing?
Small Business Growth & Growth Strategy
Most people think they want to grow their small business – but what is “growth”? Usually, when business owners talk about growth, they are referring to their revenue or number of customers.
Some business owners say they want to grow their small business into a large business – but what does that mean? There are many different definitions for what a small business is versus what a large business is.
Each state has a different definition, and the SBA says it varies by industry. The U.S. government says small businesses have less than 500 employees.
Personally, we agree with the IRS’s definition of $10 million or less in annual revenue being a small business. Anything over that is a large business.
Now, for growth strategies. What are they? Essentially, a growth strategy is a method of getting more people to know who you are or expanding your business’s capabilities.
Good and Bad Growth Strategies
When it comes to specific growth strategies, there are good ones and bad ones. To get started, you need to figure out your lifecycle stage and your goals.
Good Growth Strategies
If you’re just getting started, you need to make sure that people know about you. Brand awareness should be your main focus, so you should use at least three to five methods at the same time. Some options include:
- Print advertising. Don’t knock the tried and true methods! This can include posting flyers on local bulletin boards, participating in local newsletters, and running ads in local newspapers.
- Digital marketing. Figure out the social media channels that your target audience uses. Then, make posts that offer them incentives to visit you. Don’t be afraid to pay for social media ads if you have the budget for them, either!
- Word of mouth. Boots on the ground! Where does your target audience go? Participating in events where you can get face-to-face with them can make a huge difference, and it can spark them to talk about you to their peers. (So can a great advertisement or experience working with you!)
If you’re already established, you may have hit your capacity and want to expand. This can look like:
- Adding a supplemental product. If you offer a product but the market has become saturated, adding another product line can help increase your sales.
- Hiring more talent. When you hire different skill sets, it helps you expand what you’re doing. Extra employees can mean more help with processing product orders or even offering a larger variety of services.
- Expanding your workplace. Sometimes, opening another location can take pressure off of your existing location. With proper staffing and product supply, you can also increase your sales.
- Increase your prices. If you don’t want to expand your product lines, staff, or building location, this is a method that allows you to grow your revenue.
Bad Growth Strategies
When you’re considering growth strategies, there are also a few things to avoid. Here are some rules of thumb:
- Don’t rely on just one strategy. As we mentioned above, if your focus is on brand awareness, one growth strategy just won’t cut it. One strategy may work initially, but the results will decrease over time. You need to branch out and use three to five different advertising methods at the same time.
- Don’t count on immediate results. It takes time to grow! Giving up on advertising or expansions too early is a waste of money and opportunity. This may be hard to see, so a third-party perspective can be helpful here.
- Know when to try something else. It’s also important to know when a strategy isn’t working and move on to a new one. This is another thing that may be hard to see, so a third party can help.
- Never use daily loans or micro loans to fund a growth strategy. These short-term loans have extremely high interest rates. There are many other loan options that are much better.
- Don’t run coupons regularly. Don’t frequently use discounted coupons to get people in the door. This may work at first, but it’s not good in the long term because customers will only wait for the coupons.
- Don’t be fooled into thinking growth is easy. It’s not as easy as everyone says. “Oh, just get on Instagram!” “It would be so easy for this to go viral on TikTok!” “Wait, why aren’t you posting on LinkedIn every day?” Unfortunately, posting on a social media account is never enough to gain much traction.
- Focus on what you know how to do. If you’re struggling with growth strategies, it may not be beneficial for you to be running them! Luckily, there are options to outsource help.
What Prevents Small Business Growth
If you’re not growing, do you know why? Consider these factors:
- Your location is not right for your target audience.
- Your market is too saturated. There is too much competition.
- You lack funding for growth.
- Your target audience lacks awareness of your brand.
- You are in too niche of an industry.
- You don’t have help from a trusted advisor.
Are you familiar with running growth strategies? Do you know which ones your business needs? Do you know if you’re ready to grow?
If improving profitability or expanding your operations is your concern, a monthly accountant can help. They can talk you through topics like this and more! How?
Monthly accountants work with your financial data year-round to help you make the most informed business decisions. Then, when your accounting is taken off your plate, you’ll have more time to execute the recommended growth strategies!
Plus, if you work with CSI Accounting & Payroll, we’ve been advising small businesses for over 50 years. Since we’ve worked with thousands of clients, we’ve seen all kinds of growth strategies work (and not work) in a variety of situations. Maybe we’ve even seen a situation like yours before!
Give your dedicated accountant a call, text, or email with one-off questions about growth as much as you want… for no additional fee. That’s what truly makes a trusted advisor.
Gain Expert Advice & More Time to Grow!
Now that you know about what small business growth is, examples of growth strategies to try and ones to avoid, and what prevents growth, are you ready to check out monthly accounting services?
If so, please consider CSI Accounting & Payroll! To see if we can be a good fit for your business, click the button below for a free consultation:
Not ready to talk? That’s okay! First, learn more about what it’s like to work with CSI by clicking the image below:
