What Are the Greatest Tips for Growing a Small Business?

Did you know that there are nearly 32 million independent businesses in the United States? If you own a small business, you know what a challenge it can be to grow your brand.

Often you’re so focused on staying afloat that the idea of growth can be the furthest thing from your mind. That’s why we made this guide for growing a small business.

In it, we’ll be going over some simple small business tips for growing a company quickly. That way, your brand can do more than survive; it can thrive under any economic conditions. Let’s get started!

Know Who Your Customers Are

Knowing who your main customers are gives you the ability to expand and target them more effectively. Unfortunately, you would be surprised how many small business owners respond with “everyone” when asked who their target audience is.

Even if this fact is true, it’s important to remember that it’s not helpful. The more specific you get with your customer profiles, the more use you will get out of the process.

Once you identify who your main customers are, you can begin targeting that group through ads.

You can also survey them to get advice on how you can improve your business. Lastly, you can add new products or services that might appeal to this demographic.

Hire the Right People

One thing that can kill small business success quickly is a revolving cast of employees. If you’re hiring people that only stick around for a few months, you’re likely losing a lot of time and money with hiring searches and training costs.

You can avoid this by looking for potential employees who believe in the mission of your small business. They should be willing to grow alongside the company. In order to entice these candidates, you likely will need to offer some benefits or a reasonable salary.

However, remember that it’s always better to go for quantity over quality when it comes to small business employees. So make sure you do your research before you bring on another team member.

Join the Community

Remember that as a small business, you’re relying on your community as a steady source of business. Because of this, it’s important that people see your brand as a member of this community, whether it’s small or large. So how do you do this?

Easy: get out there! First, you can consider sponsoring local non-profits or initiatives that you care about. Or, you can host community events. This is great because it gets your name out there while establishing your presence in the community.

Lastly, you can partner with other businesses like yours to rally around. Make sure you’re also supporting your employees with a liveable wage and safe working conditions. After all, they’re part of the community, too!

Network With Other People

Networking can be a stressful process for many people. Unfortunately, it’s a vital part of running a small business.

Probing your network, whether it’s college alumni or neighboring small businesses, is a great way to discover new opportunities. This could be in the form of the following:

• New partners, customers, or clients
• Industry insights
• New trends
• Best practices

So, attend community events and put your name out there. Or, reach out privately to the other businesses in your area. The sooner you can grow your network, the more successful your small business will be.

Use Social Media

Social media is an invaluable tool for many small businesses. Not only is it an inexpensive form of marketing, but it also puts you directly into contact with your customers.

If you use social media correctly by creating engaging content, talking to your customers, and promoting events, it helps your brand image.

Loyal customers will begin to see your business as a staple in their everyday lives. So, make sure that your business doesn’t just have social media pages but also uses them correctly.

Don’t Skimp on Marketing

Many small businesses often avoid any of these types of marketing because they don’t have enough money in their already-slim budget for it. Unfortunately, this can be a death wish for many owners. Why?

Because, as a small business, not many people know about your brand. If they do, it’s probably from word of mouth. And while we would love to rely solely on word-of-mouth, the reality is that this just isn’t an option for most businesses.

The good news is that there are different types of marketing services for every type of budget. So even if you only have a few hundred dollars to put toward marketing, that’s better than nothing.

We recommend investing in a company like Kobie that can provide you with valuable market insights. If you want to see their offerings, you can find out more here.

Track Your Success and Failure

It doesn’t matter if it’s a new line of products you’re launching or an ad campaign; you should track its success or failure. Why? Because it allows you to determine what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Remember that failures are valuable lessons, but only if you learn something from them. If you keep doing something that’s not working, it’s a one-way track to a stagnating small business.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. But remember that you always need to learn from them.

Appreciate Learning About Growing a Small Business? Keep Reading

We hope this guide helped you learn more about growing a small business. The best advice we can give is to reach out to other professionals to grow your brand.

All too often, small business owners will try to wear multiple hats when marketing and running their businesses. Unfortunately, this typically draws their attention away from aspects of the business that need their attention.

So don’t be afraid to search for help. Enjoy learning about this business advice? Keep scrolling through our website to find plenty of similar topics you’ll enjoy.