How to scale-up your small business

Growing your business. It’s that elusive goal but it can mean so many different things. How do you turn your small venture into something that makes more money. Do you hire more staff? Perhaps you could take out a loan; or maybe you are going to expand your product offering.

There are countless scenarios for facilitating growth. So here are a few ways you could consider scaling up your business:

Focus on your website

Without going into huge details (this is a blog in itself), one thing you should certainly concentrate your efforts on is your website. Whether you are selling from it or just using it for people to find you, a great website can make a big impact on your sales. If you sell products from there, a beautifully designed user-friendly website will make it easier for prospects to purchase from you. In the case of brand recognition, a great website can help you in terms of being viewed through Google - allowing you access to a whole new customer base that you may not have had otherwise. For more detailed information, read this blog we created on how to create a great user friendly website.

Use sales/business development people

Sales and business development. These might sound different and might operate differently but ultimately people in these fields are there to help you grow your list of prospects and create opportunities for your business. Business development will focus on more strategic aspects of generating business. Someone who works in this area will work on tactics that can be used to generate more leads and communication channels for you to focus on. Sales is directly related to driving revenue. Many people who work in sales will be spending their time talking to prospects, existing customers and other leads, to try and get them to buy from you. Or in the case of people who have bought from you, it will be about retaining them and making repeat purchases. Both of these functions are important and can certainly help with business growth on a large scale. We suggest using sites like Indeed to advertise for any business development or sales position that you create.

Marketing efforts

Marketing is a very broad term, but the idea of it is to create interest in your company as a brand. And there are a lot of ways to do this. You could decide to create a clear marketing strategy that focuses on digital channels - like social media, organic search and paid search. All of these are great and will make you more visible to the consumer. You could also create engaging original content such as blog posts, which can demonstrate your knowledge of the industry. Other channels like LinkedIn are also fantastic to showcase your understanding by creating not just blog posts but even videos - where you could give prospects free advice on a certain topic or issue.

But why not be ‘old school’ and go offline? Interact with the local community; hand out flyers; send out direct mailers. You could get your business advertised in the local paper or attend small networking events - who knows you might get a lucrative new client. If you’re a food business, why not get a stall at a local food market and promote it via social media - a great combination of on and offline marketing.

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