Top 14 Proven Growth Hacks to Grow Your Small Business

The owner of a small business must successfully manage a lot of tasks simultaneously. As an entrepreneur, you must overcome resource restraints and at the same time focus on growth.

Statistics indicate that growing your business at the initial stage is not easy. Nearly 20% of businesses do not last for a year and 50% of them don’t make it to the fifth year.

 It is a bit tricky to fight a battle on every front at the same time. You need help to boost sales and grow your business. That’s where growth-hacking comes in.

In the piece, we will see what growth hacking actually is and how it is useful for small businesses.

What is growth hacking?

Growth hacking involves quick experimentation across various areas of your business to identify the most efficient methods for achieving growth. The term was coined by the CEO of GrowthHackers.com, Sean Ellis after he found the absence of focus on growth in traditional marketers. In Ellis’s own words, “A growth hacker is a person whose true north is growth.”

The use of word “hacking” in the term suggests that it’s a clever way of producing higher growth results through a few shortcuts. The main aim of an ideal growth hacking strategy is to increase your customer base by keeping investment to a minimum.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the proven growth hacking tactics that every small business owner should know to grow their business.

Best and proven techniques to growth hack your small business

• Prioritizing content marketing

Content marketing is one of the most valuable marketing strategies for businesses. Statistics cite that it’s 62% cheaper than traditional marketing and generates three times more leads.

Create a blog with content that is properly optimized with trending, high-volume, and low-competition keywords to present your business as an expert in the industry. These blogs generate heavy traffic on your website and produce more conversions.

Blog posts and other informative content is meant to educate readers with high-quality information. Users visit your website to gain important, helpful knowledge, which helps in building credibility and enhances brand awareness.

• Online reviews matter

Online reviews are essential when it comes to building brand credibility. According to a survey, 84% of users trust online reviews and testimonials when considering purchasing a product or service.

Make it easy for users to view and react to all the praise you have received online. Present the top quotes and testimonials on your homepage as comments from satisfied customers. It is helpful in encouraging your prospects to make the purchase.

• Integrating calls-to-action with your social media platforms

In order to boost growth, you need to encourage your prospects to take a specified action. Integrating your calls-to-action across various social media platforms is the best way to motivate your customers to take action.

Ask users to sign up for your product or share or like your posts. Ensure that your call-to-action is precise, clear and easy for customers to understand and take action.

• Requesting feedback

Listening to your customers is the best way for any brand to grow further. Ask users for their feedback on their experience your product or service. Improve your business accordingly to present a best-in-class user experience, which ultimately is helpful in boosting sales.

For better interactivity, use popups to ask for users’ comments after making a purchase. The aim is to capture insight and feedback from customers so you can improve the customer experience.

• Offer freebies

Offering free downloadable or viewable assets is one of the most effective ways of growing your email list quickly. You may try offering a free ebook in exchange for the user’s email address.

Ensure the freebies you are offering are aligned with your marketing strategy and the theme of the product.

• Use customer retargeting

Retargeting simply means bringing your customers back to your website in an attempt to sell to them again. The best way to do it is by showing targeted ads to customers who have been to your website previously.

Google and Facebook retargeting contains optimizations, which show targeted ads to your previous customers and encourage them to make the purchase.

• Offer discount coupons

Another effective way to build your email list is distributing discount coupons, which also encourages users to make the purchase. Adding the feeling of urgency in your deal also helps boost conversions as users don’t want to miss interesting deals.

You can use exit intent pop-ups containing information about your coupons. The system detects a visitor, who is about to leave your website.

Use pop-up creator tools to create best-in-class customized pop-ups, which instantly catches customers’ attention.

ADVERTISEMENT

Implement organic SEO strategies
Using organic SEO techniques is an effective strategy for engaging prospects. Data suggest that 70-80% of users ignore paid ads altogether. Moreover, organic traffic is the most effective way to drive traffic to your website.

Upgrade your SEO strategies and go organic as much as you can. Pure SEO techniques help you bring more traffic than social media outreach and helps in increasing conversions.

• Create an app

Having an app gives you a significant competitive edge over the competition. Mobile apps are becoming extremely popular as apps account for a whopping 89% of mobile media time.

Build an app with advanced capabilities with the help of a popular app building service in order to bring more visitors to your site.

• Take mobile optimization seriously

As 48% of users use mobiles to search on the internet, it’s extremely important that you optimize your website for mobile devices. 61% of mobile users won’t be visiting your website again if they have trouble accessing it. Considering its importance, Google also emphasizes making your website mobile friendly.

Ensure that your website and marketing emails are fully compatible with mobile screens to get the most out of mobile traffic.

• Gamify the onboarding experience

Gamification is used by various businesses as it makes the whole customer journey interesting. Gamifying the onboarding experience involves rewarding new users for using the product and referring it to friends and colleagues.

Incentivise users as they refer your brand to their friends and colleagues in order to increase your user base. Offer various milestones as the customers use your product.

Gamification helps to make the whole customer experience interactive and encourages to the customers to use and recommend your service or product.

• Use deep analytics for decision making

Data and analytics are at the heart of every business. Measured data helps in maintaining complete insight into the results of your business.

You can use data to trim all your unnecessary expenses, identify areas which need improvement and the places where you are committing resources without any results. Measure and use the data for intelligent decision making.

• Make freemium products

People like to use free products. Making a freemium product helps you attract a lot of attention from potential reviewers as they don’t need to buy the product to review it.

However, freemium does not mean the product lacks best-in-class features. A freemium product with amazing features is what you are looking for.

You can then encourage the users to go for the paid version of the product for more seamless support, additional features, and unlimited integrations.

• Keep experimenting

Experimentation is a scary topic for small businesses. Usually, small businesses don’t have enough room to experiment considering budget limitations.

However, experimenting opens new doors for new growth opportunities so that you can bring in more customers.

Sometimes, your strategies may fail but in the long run, your gains could be much higher and worth the time and amount you are investing into it.

Conclusion

Growth hacking is all about finding new shortcuts to grow your business and bring in more consumers. It is a completely ethical and efficient practice. Small businesses must try innovative ideas to make growth-hacking simple and easy.


Follow the tips above and get the most from your growth-hacking strategy. This will help in taking your business to the next level.


Source: https://www.business2community.com


ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

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Use These Growth Strategies to Build a 6-Figure Business

I built my first business to multiple six figures fairly quickly in 1999. It was a service business that filled a major need for a select industry. It's a business that many entrepreneurs can still start and build successful today. I sold that business and started a lifestyle business in 2011. I heard good things about generating income online and doing it passively, so I figured I could get to six figures or more quicker. I was wrong. 

For the first year, I made less than $10,000. I did everything the industry leaders advised to do. Yet, no forward progress. It was frustrating. I chased leads, I worked hard every day, and I felt like giving up more times than I can count.

In 2012, I did "crack the code." I focused and understood four important growth strategies. They've helped me build a six-figure business that gives me freedom and financial security and that pays me to travel to 25 countries a year. These strategies can apply to any type of business. Use them.

Build your audience with more than posting on social media.

The major social media platforms get billions of users daily. The opportunity to reach them and tell them about your business is exciting. While this has opened many doors for us as entrepreneurs, it's also created a crutch. It's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to build their entire marketing strategy around posting on social media organically. You've probably seen a fellow entrepreneur posting constantly about their business. It repels potential leads.

The major social media platforms are publicly traded companies that have to make a profit for their shareholders. The way they do this is by always changing. If you build your foundation on their platforms, your business will suffer when they decide to make a change that benefits their bottom line.

Social media marketing should only be one part of a diverse and ever-evolving marketing plan for your business. Email marketing still works well. Media exposure grows businesses. Webinars, joint ventures, public speaking and many others ways help you market and grow your business. Don't put all your eggs in the social media marketing basket.

Understand and execute consistent lead generation tactics. 

The way any business grows is by getting new customers. But more than that, you need a system that brings in fresh leads on a consistent basis. Too many businesses don't succeed because they're dependent on the few customers that they already have, or worse, on one major customer. Both of these scenarios can be a scary place to be. You're one decision away from having no income. 

To grow a six-figure business, your lead generation should be stellar. We live in the digital age. You can generate leads through your blog, podcast, videos, on social media, through webinars, training in large groups, local business chambers, media exposure, getting articles published online and many other ways.

While you generate consistent leads, you'll build multiple revenue streams and passive income along the way. Doing these two things helps you build a stable foundation and creates financial security. You can build a business that's more than just you.

Understand your value and don't give it away. 

Self-limiting beliefs can be the kryptonite of any entrepreneur. It could be a few negative words from haters or even someone you like. It could be a comment left on your content or customers that want refunds. There are situations that take a knock at your confidence and those instances lead to you undervaluing your knowledge and expertise. Don't do it!

You give away enough of you through your free content and the ways you pay it forward. You should charge more because there are customers who would gladly pay because they understand the value you provide. Charge based off of value and raise your prices as necessary. Don't hop on calls or answer messages when your gut is telling you to ignore the requests. Do what makes sense for you.

You can build a six-figure business this year by understanding and by implementing these strategies that have withstood the test of time and change. Start by adjusting your mindset to what's possible and put in the work daily.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com
Image Credit: Getty Images



ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

15 Tips for Growing a Long-Lasting Contractor Business

Freelance contractors are a major contributor to the economy because they’re absolutely a necessity. Without them you can be certain that homes and offices would literally fall apart.

The result is that starting your own contracting business can be lucrative.

But, before you get too far involved, here are 15 ways that you can build a contracting business that’s going to last or grow the contracting business you already own.

1. Operate with best business practices.

One of the most common problems that contractors run into when they to attempt to improve efficiency and grow their business is agreeing on what’s considered the industry's best practices. After all, they already have some sort of system in place that they’re familiar with and believe is working just fine.

To put an end to this debate, you can use whatever system you prefer to handle everything from bookkeeping, scheduling and invoicing, to training and task management, as long as that system contains basic knowledge of the task and helps each employee by providing step-by-step instructions for each employee.

When you have an effective system in place. it allows you to not only maintain your current level success but also helps you be prepared to scale properly when it’s time to grow.

2. Assess your internal organization.

After settling on a system that uses the best practices, you next want to conduct a comprehensive assessment of your company. This includes asking questions like;

• Is your business stable financially?

• Are you getting repeat sales?

• Do you have customer referrals?

• How do people rate your business and customers service?

• What is your employee turnover rate?

These questions can be answered by reviewing your books, paying attention to what people are saying about your business online and talking with employees and customers. If there are areas that need improvement, then focus on those areas before you grow your business too much.

For example, if you don’t have employees who excel at customer service, and that’s your number one complaint from customers, then you may want to consider hiring people who do excel in customer service or can provide proper training for your current staff.

3. Make yourself available.

Speaking of customer service, your prospective customers want to talk to an actual human being and not a robot during normal business hours. I understand that it's asking a lot to have someone handle the phone all day, but if you don’t want to lose customers to your competitors, then that's necessary.

One way to get around this is by sending business calls to your cell phone when you’re out of the office. Even if you can’t get to the phone, you can probably call the customer back faster than waiting to get back to the office.

To avoid any confusion, clearly state your business hours on your business cards, website and social channels, and of course state your physical location. If you close at 5 p.m., then a customer shouldn’t be upset that no one is answering the phone at 8 p.m.

I would also recommend that you set up automated email and social media messages during off-hours. A simple message informing customer that their message was received and they’ll receive a response within 24 hours should be enough to keep them satisfied.

4. Join an industry association.

Industry associations, such as the Associated General Contractors, aren’t just great for networking. They can also help you develop essential business skills, ranging from how much to charge for clients to how to write a contract. They also recommend which products you should use for each type job and where to find sub-trades.

5. Step up your marketing game.

Successful marketing campaigns aren’t just about landing new customers. They’re about securing more profitable projects and keeping your current customers happy.

Today, that means having an online presence and interacting with your specific audience through email, social media and blog posts, where you demonstrate how your business solves their problems.

Unlike what strictly online businesses do, though, you should also focus on marketing your business locally. Start by making sure that your address, phone number and hours are available online and easily searchable. After that, network in your community both online and offline by attending chamber of commerce meetings or answering questions in a local newspaper forum. And, don’t be afraid to spend a couple of bucks advertising your business on social networks like Facebook.

6. Attract more funding.

If you’re like many small-scale contractors, you probably don’t have financial pull to support your expansion. Cash-flow struggles due to delayed payments from customers are actually common. This means that it’s your responsibility to find various ways of accessing lines of credit, obtaining loans and securing overdraft protection.

Remember: If you want to attract funding, you need to keep detailed and organized records and do your research on the best type of loan for your business based on your current needs.

7. Be flexible.

Even if you’re a general contractor, you’re probably not an expert in all fields. That’s why you provide specific services for your customers. However, when you go above and beyond for a customer, you'll probably earn a lifelong oner. For example, if you're doing electrical work and notice that a pipe has a minor leak that you can easily repair, you can fix the pipe instead of having the customer call a plumber.

8. Find a mentor.

The best thing about a mentor is that he or she can guide you in solving problems. The mentor can teach you how to manage your money and customers, and introduce you to vendors or investors. The reason: The mentor has "been there" already. Sometimes this person can be a family member or retired contractor; other times it may be someone you have to hire.

9. Hire people smarter and more talented than you.

This is your long-term answer to any micromanagement problems that you may have. By hiring people who are smarter and more talented than you are, you can trust them to handle any assignment on their without your supervision. This gives you more time to focus on growing your contractor business. Plus, you’ll learn a whole bunch from them along the way.

10. Watch your finances.

Plenty of construction businesses go under because they simply can’t cover the costs of their overhead. That means that you have to pay close attention to overhead expenses and be aware of any additional costs before you accept a job. When sending out bids, factor in the costs involved with the project, particularly materials and labor, and give the customer a ballpark estimate.

Another way to handle the cost of your overhead is by creating a budget. This shows you how much money you have coming in and how much is going out. If the amount going out surpasses the amount coming in, then you have to start making some changes by cutting unnecessary expenses and raising your rates.

And, always stay on top of your invoicing.

11. Be unique.

Does your business have a particular specialization or cater to a niche market? Then definitely capitalize on what makes your business different from the others in town. It could simply be your ability to provide services specifically for offices, as opposed to other contractors, who solely focus on residential properties.

However, make sure that you offer a healthy balance of products of services. While niche markets can give you a competitive edge and help make you stand out, they’re not always as large as businesses that reach a wide audience.

12. Choose the best customers.

I wouldn’t recommend turning away a customer. But the hard truth is that some customers are better than others. Is it really worth chasing down a couple of hundred bucks from a deadbeat customer who only asked for some minor contracting work? Or, would you rather land a major project from a client who pays you upfront?

Always keep in mind that you want customers who deliver a solid ROI, instead of those who give you headaches. To save you this aggravation, learn how to spot these customers before agreeing on a project. For instance, you can ask some of your fellow contractors if they’ve had any experience with this customer in the past. Other signs of troublesome customers are if they’re rude or abusive to you or your staff from the get-go or refuse to give you a down payment.

13. Outsource when needed.

Here are a couple of facts that you need to accept: There are only 24 hours in a day. And you aren’t perfect. Once you realize that, you can start outsourcing certain tasks so that you can relieve some stress and focus on growing your business steadily. For example, accounting can be nerve-wracking and time-consuming. So, why not contract out all of your bookkeeping and accounting needs to a freelancer or CPA?

14. Be prepared.

No matter what size your business is, being prepared is what can make or break you. For contractors, however, it’s the little things that can determine whether you’re going to survive or not. After all, being prepared is the key to efficiency and profitability.

For instance, let’s say that you’re almost done with a bathroom renovation and find out that you’re missing a $5 part you need to finish. That part now can set you back a couple of hundred dollars because you have to overnight it. Even running to the local hardware store costs you time and money. And, you’ll probably have to eat that cost because it’s not included in the original quote.

You can’t plan for every scenario, but always go over your proposal before jumping in, to make sure that you have everything that you need to complete the job.

15. Don’t be afraid to stay small.

A lot of contractors get stuck in this middle area where they’re forced to hire more people because they can’t handle the workload, but profits aren’t any higher. For many contractors, it’s easier for them to stay small. This ensures that they have a positive cash flow since it keeps their expenses low. Staying small also reduces stress since the workload is easier to manage.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com
Image Credit: Shutterstock



ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
Stay Connected with WNFP!