3 Strategies to Boost Small Business Growth

Starting and growing a small business requires a lot of hard work and a lot of knowledge. Many entrepreneurs who take the leap to start their own business fail to recognize that not only do they need to be a master in their own expertise of what they are offering as a product or service, but they also need to know how to run a business.  Bookkeeping, marketing, sales, operations, and managing a team are all essential pieces to building and growing a small business. But where do you focus if you want to ensure you can boost small business growth?

While managing all areas of your small business is essential for overall success, there are three specific areas that we will talk about today that can help you boost small business growth.

3 Strategies to Boost Small Business Growth

Boosting Small Business Growth through Online Sales

Earlier this year, we talked about how small business owners should reimagine their businesses for 2021 in light of the pandemic. As a part of that, we talked about the need for all types of businesses to sell online.

When it comes to selling online, you need to consider a number of different things to find success and boost sales. First, you need to know the basics of eCommerce. Hence, you have a general understanding of what is involved, from setting up your eCommerce platform to marketing your products to selling through advertising.

At the SmallBizLady University, we just launched a course on ‘How to Sell and Market Online‘ that walks business owners through everything they need to know in just six short weeks.

To boost sales online, here are five quick tips:

1. Make sure your Unique Selling Point is clear so you are set apart from competitors.
2. Make sure you have an SEO strategy in place to help increase being found in search engines.
3. Make sure your profit margins are correct and include all costs associated with selling the product, so you are making money and not losing it!
4. Sell on different platforms, if it makes sense. Sites like Etsy and Amazon provide great opportunities when used in conjunction with your own website.
5. Make the buying process SIMPLE!

Boosting Small Business Growth through Social Media

Another solid strategy for boosting small business growth is by fully utilizing social media as a powerful marketing tool. If done correctly, the various social media platforms provide the opportunity for you to land directly in front of those prospects ready to buy your product or service.

However, one thing to remember when it comes to social media is that it’s all about starting a conversation and providing information and value. Social media is a place to build trust. So don’t just use it to sell, sell, sell!

Here are five tips for boosting your small business through social media:

1. Make sure you are utilizing the right social media platforms for your business.
2. Use strong visuals that enhance your brand and encourage people to engage.
3. Use social media advertising to reach a bigger audience and to promote your products or sales. Here are 9 Hacks to Sell More with Social Media Advertising.
4. Make sure you are setting goals and using effective strategies to achieve those goals.
5. Make sure the content you are using educates, inspires, and engages the audience. Doing so will help you build trust, which helps turn prospects into life-long customers.

Want to become a Social Media Ninja? Check out the How to Become a Social Media Ninja 2.0 6-week course that launches in May at the SmallBizLady University. It covers everything you need to know about using social media to build and grow your small business, including:

• Which social media platforms are right for your business
• How to find and engage your ideal audience
• How to create a social media strategy
• How to use engagement strategies to woo your ideal audience
• How to master the latest online ad strategies

Boosting Small Business Growth through Email Marketing

Social media serves as a way to introduce yourself to new prospects and drive them to your website and hopefully get them on your email list. In that case, email marketing is the tool to turn those prospects into buying customers. With an effective email marketing strategy in place, you can continue to ‘court’ your prospects and provide more value and information while you nurture them to a sale.

As with all areas of marketing, to be successful, you have to have a well-thought-out strategy. Email marketing is no different.

The strategy starts by thinking about how you’ll get people onto your list. This could be through a valuable lead magnet offer or via a landing page. Once they are on the list, you need a strategy that leads them to a sale. We talked about many of these strategies in a recent post – How to Grow Your Small Business with Email Marketing. Here are five tips to help you take your email marketing to the next level:

1. Segment the prospects on your list. By segmenting your list, you can send emails with more targeted language around the prospect’s specific interest or pain point and direct them on a clear path to the right product or service you offer.
2. Educate before you sell. If all of the communication you send to a new prospect is sales-focused, you can easily turn them off and lose them. Instead of concentrating on selling, concentrate on educating and providing value-based content. This helps build the trust factor by establishing you as the expert in the area they need help with.
3. Make Automation Your Best Friend. By automating the email process based on actions that the prospect is taking, you can create a better user experience.
4. Get Personal. You are dealing with real people – so get personal in your emails and use information that you know about them to make a deeper connection. This could be their name, where they live, age, birthday, etc.
5. Perfect the Copywriting Process. Writing effective emails for email marketing campaigns is a skill. If it’s not a skill that you possess, find someone who is trained in writing copy that converts.

Want to become an Email Marketing Ninja? This is another new course that will launch in May of 2021 and is designed to teach you everything you need to know to use email marketing to grow your business in just six weeks. Learn more HERE.

By using the three strategies above, every small business has the opportunity to increase sales and grow its business. Just make sure you have set growth goals for your business and have the right strategies in place to reach them. And for those areas that fall outside your expertise, educate yourself on what you need to do to be effective or hire the right team members to help.

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