Companies aren’t built overnight. It takes time, work, and planning to get your business up to your ideals. That’s why a business growth strategy can make all the difference in your company.
A business growth strategy is a plan for improving your company, earning more revenue, and building your reputation. If you want the best chance at success with your company, you need to plan before acting.
This page will cover the following topics to help you understand company growth strategies and create your own:
- What is a business growth strategy?
- What makes an effective growth strategy?
- Types of business growth
- Types of growth strategies
- 7 steps to creating a business growth strategy
- Bonus: 3 tips for success
Read on to learn more and contact a strategist at 888-601-5359 to dive into your business strategy today!
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What is a business growth strategy?
A business growth strategy is a plan for expanding your business to earn more customers and revenue. Every business likely has expansion goals to keep afloat, but a dedicated growth plan can help set you up for success.
Say that you run a local bakery. While the overall goal might be to sell as many goods as possible to keep earning profit, a growth plan could outline ways to expand your customer base, open new locations, and have a bigger impact on the community with your branding.
What makes an effective growth strategy?
A growth strategy should be unique to the business it’s meant to help. However, all businesses can benefit from following a few basic steps to create a solid growth strategy.
Your growth strategy should accomplish the following to be successful:
- Consider short-term and long-term goals for your company.
- Work within your budget, existing technology, and staffing capabilities.
- Avoid risky expansion tactics that could be detrimental to your company.
- Include small, achievable goals that put you closer to expansion.
Types of business growth
Business can pursue a few different types of business growth, including
- Organic
- Strategic
- Internal
- Partnership/merger/acquisition
Let’s break down each one below.
Organic
Definition: Growth achieved through increasing output and sales internally with no outside acquisitions.
Organic growth is the most ideal form of growth that happens naturally over time. If you experience growth organically, that generally means business is going well without major planning or external influence.
Strategic
Definition: Growth that comes from a strategic initiative rather than uncontrollable market forces.
Strategic growth is part of any growth strategy. While organic growth is natural, strategic growth happens when you plan and create prospective business opportunities.
Internal
Definition: Growth achieved from expanding activities, such as launching new products and services or testing new markets.
Internal growth looks at what you can do within your company to earn more revenue. Creating new products and internal opportunities can help you attract more clients to your company.
Partnership/merger/acquisition
Definition: Growth achieved from collaborating with or absorbing another business.
Working with or acquiring new businesses can help both companies see success. In many cases, companies will choose related or adjacent businesses to collaborate with to earn more revenue.
Types of growth strategies
Along with the different types of growth, there are different types of growth strategies you can harness. The following company growth strategies can help you shape your plan for expanding:
- Customer: A plan to boost customer acquisition over a set time.
- Product: A strategy to boost product purchases or sign-ups and expand product lines.
- Marketing: A plan to increase the company’s total available market and expand into other markets.
- Revenue: A plan to increase revenue over a certain period.
7 steps to creating a business growth strategy
Below are seven steps to creating the ideal growth plan for your business:
- Evaluate your current standing
- Select your target growth area
- Research the market and industry
- Outline goals
- Create a timeline and strategy
- Gather any tools or resources
- Execute your plan and evaluate the results
1. Evaluate your current standing
Before you start developing a growth plan, you must understand how your business is operating currently. You should look at the following factors to see where your company stands:
- Revenue
- Sales
- Existing customers
- Customer reviews
- Marketing channels
- Budget
Be sure to investigate trends over time and look for patterns in your sales history. You can also look at competitors to see where they stand in the market.
2. Select your target growth area
Once you get an overview of your business standing, you can select a target area of growth.
You might find that you aren’t earning any sales on certain products, even though you have been paying to advertise them. Or, you might see that revenue falls during certain times of year. Regardless, you should base your growth around realistic needs for your business.
3. Research the market and industry
Once you establish an area of need, look to the market to see if this growth is achievable. Understanding market health can prevent wasted time on unachievable growth.
You can run focus groups with your own customers or use other data-backed research from industry names. This step will help you see where your business can fill gaps in the market and strengthen its assets.
4. Outline goals
Creating goals will define your strategy for the time being. Ideally, these goals should be where you see yourself at the beginning, middle, and end of your growth strategy.
Be careful with the goals you set for yourself. This step is where setting SMART goals can help you see the most success:
5. Create a timeline and strategy
Pick a timeline for when you would like to see the peak results from your plan. Make sure that you give ample time to allow your changes and approaches to take effect.
Break down your timeline and strategy into the following:
- Action items with deadlines
- Teams or persons responsible
- Related resources
6. Gather any tools or resources
Before you can execute your plan, you’ll need to collect the tools, resources, and assistance that your plan requires. Some of those things include:
- Software: Do you need to track and store data? Evaluate the tech and software available to you and research options that could be helpful for your project.
- Funding: Outline your budget before you start investing. This step helps you determine how much you can spend on your plan.
- Services: Do you have all the personnel necessary to complete each task? Some tasks — like design, for example — might be best executed when outsourced.
7. Execute your plan and evaluate the results
Once you’ve accomplished the steps above, it’s time to launch your strategy!
As you go through the steps of your strategy, be sure to evaluate your progress and be flexible along the way. If you aren’t seeing the results you want, you can take a step back and evaluate the weak spots in your plan, so you can reoptimize it to be more effective.
Bonus: 3 tips for success
Now that you’ve seen some growth strategies with examples and learned how to create your own, you’re almost set. Here are a few more tips to help you develop your growth strategy:
- Use a strategy template: Having a template for your strategy can make it easier to get started. There are many free templates online you can use to outline your approach!
- Evaluate your progress regularly: Progress is not linear or stagnant — you need to monitor key performance metrics (KPIs) that tell you how well your business is doing.
- Do a competitor analysis: A competitor analysis can help you see how your competition is doing at any given time. You can learn from their success and start implementing changes in your own company.
Work with digital marketing professionals for your company growth strategy!
Having a business growth strategy can ensure years of profitable changes for your company. Whether you’re ready to write your own strategy or need some guidance, WebFX is here to help.
If you want to get ahead of competitors, you need to stand out online, and that’s our area of expertise. We offer multiple digital marketing services that can help you expand your business’s online presence, earn more revenue, and build strong client relationships.
Check out what our clients have to say first, and then contact us online to see how we can drive your business growth!
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Abbey is a digital marketer, copywriter, and lead editor. She has worked on over 200 client campaigns and WebFX, and she specializes in marketing strategy analysis and industry-specific digital marketing plans. Outside of writing and editing, you’ll likely find her taking pictures of her cat, making a new playlist, or tending to her houseplants. -
WebFX is a full-service marketing agency with 1,100+ client reviews and a 4.9-star rating on Clutch! Find out how our expert team and revenue-accelerating tech can drive results for you! Learn more
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