Imagine the following situation.
Your company was launched some time ago. Your idea ignites and you have been able to celebrate considerable initial success and generate solid business growth. You are proud and a little euphoric. You now know that there is a market for your product/service and you are planning the steps for further expansion.
The Plateau
But suddenly your company is not really getting off the ground. Growth stagnates and your plans come to a halt. You have reached a plateau and need to open up new growth channels.
You are researching possible growth measures and want to use the possibilities and potentials of digital development and the internet. But even a first search makes it clear that you are overwhelmed with the number of possible options. The list of possible measures ranges from
- SEO
- Invest in Google Adwords or Facebook advertising
- Start a corporate blog
- Social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Snapchat)
- sell on Amazon
- Start email marketing
- Introduce marketing automation
- Marketplace sales
- launch a crowdfunding
- Website redesign
- Introduce CRM system
- and many more
There are a myriad of ways to move your business forward.
Here you can find an e-book as a PDF download in which we explain over 40 of the best free tools.
Due to the developments of the digital revolution, marketing software has become established in recent years that also enables small businesses to use professional tools.
These tools, when used correctly, can be extremely successful and may give you the impetus for the next stage of growth.
The problem, however, is to find the right application for your specific problem from the number of possible tools.
The chart below explains the rapid development of so-called marketing technology. These are software tools that can help you market your business.
Marketing technology for digital business growth
Source: chiefmartec.com
The number of providers of so-called marketing technology software has thus increased twentyfold.
Click on the image and download the high-resolution graphic from chiefmartec.com
Or download the PDF version below for a better view
Your most important task now is to recognise which measures you are not taking
Before you introduce a specific growth tactic, you should look at where your company stands and which steps and measures are really relevant for you.
The advice of marketing agencies should often be taken with a grain of salt. Agencies recommend measures that you know and understand. Very often these measures are not relevant to your business at this time or they do not fit your very specific problem. When talking to agencies and service providers, pay particular attention to how interested the provider is in your specific business model and define clear objectives.
How to create a SMART marketing plan is explained in this article. article.
If you put a lot of energy into the wrong action, your chances of success diminish dramatically, especially during the early stages of business development. 8 out of 10 small businesses fail early on. Often a strategic mistake causes a crisis that spreads and leads to ultimate failure.
"Use the map before setting off into the forest".
Companies are like living organisms. They are 100% unique, yet they grow and thrive through stages of development that follow predictable patterns.
During each new stage of development, a company has to deal with a number of specific challenges. How well or poorly a company deals with these challenges has a significant impact on the success or failure of an organisation. It is neither easy nor obvious how to lead a company through these different stages.
Test here which level your company is on
The same method that leads to success in one stage can cause failure in the next stage.
For this reason, standard solutions should be taken with a grain of salt as there is a high probability that you will focus on the wrong measure. You must try to find the right approach for your level and implement it with a minimum of stress. Your goal should be to anticipate the problems ahead and then react immediately instead of slipping into an unexpected crisis. Your task is to search, find and implement the right solutions with a minimum of stress for the company.
Most problems occur in predictable patterns and have similar triggers. But first we would like to explain with a brief description of the typical growth phases:
- Incubation phase: The idea is developed
- Start-up phase: you get the company up and running safely
- Stable phase: You reach the plateau
- Growth phase: Stormy and exciting
During each of these phases, there are certain key points you should look out for
- Strategy describes how your company will achieve its corporate purpose
- Checkpoints are the key development milestones that your company needs to overcome at each stage as a prerequisite for making the leap to the next level
- Accelerators are tactics that work particularly well at the particular stage and accelerate your growth at that stage
- Stumbling blocks are typical problems that occur in the respective phase and that you should avoid if possible.
Now you may be asking yourself how you can go about defining key growth drivers and avoid the risk described above.
In our strategy process, we therefore deal intensively with your goals and the challenges of your customers. Only when we have defined the so-called user journey (all contact points of your customer with your company), do we start sifting through strategies and tools. Finally, the ideas are prioritised according to the 80/20 method before we start with the implementation.
If you click on the image below you will be taken to our free Greenblut Business Assessment.The aim of this self-test is to analyse the current stage of your business development and at the same time to find out if the conditions for further growth are given.After you have answered the questions we will send you the result and some recommendations by email.
You will learn
- Possible causes and barriers to growth
- Suggestions and tips for change measures
- Options for action and immediate measures
