Are You Actively Growing Your Business?

By Susan Oakes • 16 Comments

Or are you hoping it will somehow grow on its own? business growth

If you answered yes to the second one then you are taking the complicated route.

And the reason is you have taken the future of your business out of your control.

It is like planting seeds and not watering or getting rids of weeds and still expecting a garden full of colour in a few weeks.

If you are not actively working to develop marketing strategies to grow your business, it may be due to:

Short Cuts

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but here are no real short cuts to getting real growth.

There are however smart ways to grow.

If you are a service business then working longer hours is not smart.  Developing DIY products from your services is smart.

So is identifying your most valuable customers, creating a customer profile and using the information to increase sales of your products or services.

Sometimes the growth opportunities are right before you as long as you actively look and ask questions.

Time

If you say when I get some time to think about growth then you will probably still be saying it in 2 years time.

When you work for a company there is urgency and you can’t say I am too busy right now, check back with me next year. You make it happen.

If you run your own business, do you have this sense of urgency or do you use time as a stopper on growth.

Focus

Mostly when I have talked to small business owners about growth they focus on tactics. That is what they are going to do.

What they should be focusing on it the strategy first. How you are going to do it. Then it is much easier to choose the tactics.

If you look at tactics first then there is no structure and the ones you choose may be wrong.

In fact, simplicity always came into play with every brand I grew. Get the marketing strategy right to achieve your growth then simply choose the best tactics to action.

Actively growing your business is fun as in many ways as it taps into your creatively and gives you a sense of achievement as you see the increase in revenue and profit.

Do you have growth plans in place? Share your tips on how you actively grow your products or services.

I can help you get the business growth you desire. To find out more simply Click Here 


photo credit: ecstaticist via photo pin cc

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16 Responses to Are You Actively Growing Your Business?

  1. Geek Girl says:
    August 29, 2012 at 11:20 pm

    Now you have given me something to think about. I am in the planning stages of a business but I am thinking that this post applies even before the business is up and running. Thanks for the great perspective here. :)
    Geek Girl recently posted..The iPad Mini Coming SoonMy Profile

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  2. Susan Cooper says:
    August 30, 2012 at 1:03 am

    This really hit home for me. I have a stradegy of sorts to grow my blog. You would think with my background I would know better. You have gotten to really think about what I need to be doing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)
    Susan Cooper recently posted..Life’s TransitionsMy Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      August 30, 2012 at 5:57 am

      Hi Susan,

      You know what they say about a plumber and cobbler :) It is always easier thinking for a business that isn’t own. Thanks so much for your comment, really appreciate it.

      Reply
  3. Catarina says:
    August 30, 2012 at 3:28 am

    Agree with Susan and Cheryl – you really got me thinking here Susan! Like Cheryl, I’m sort of in the planning stages of a business. And that’s the time to look into growth strategies and customer profiles for you most valuable customers.

    Will bookmark this page so that I can go back to it until I master this with ease and excellence:-)
    Catarina recently posted..Social media – influence talks!My Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      August 30, 2012 at 6:02 am

      I am sure you will master it in no time Catarina :) That is great you are in the planning stage of a business and I have no doubt if you launch it will be successful. Best of luck.

      Reply
  4. Tash Hughes says:
    August 30, 2012 at 11:47 am

    Thanks for making us think, Susan :)

    It is so true that by saying “I don’t have time to think about my strategy because I’m doing stuff” is getting things backwards and will leave you doing stuff for years instead of moving forward. SOmethign I need to rmemebr and do, too.
    Tash Hughes recently posted..Who are you communicating about?My Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      August 30, 2012 at 12:03 pm

      My pleasure Tash :)

      It is an easy trap and I know I have fallen into it. I once tried the I don’t have time see me next year as a joke and got one of those looks from my boss. I had forgotten he did not have a sense of humour.

      Thanks as always for your comments.

      Reply
  5. Jeannette Paladino says:
    August 31, 2012 at 2:43 am

    Susan — here’s something counter-intuitive. The U.S. marketing gurus Trout and Reis who wrote the famous book “Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind” also wrote another book, “Bottom Up Marketing,” in which they claim all successful strategies start with tactics first.

    Think Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg’s idea at Harvard was to build a platform so students could communicate with each other. Did he think of the strategy first? Did he envision a global empire where companies could create pages and sell products and services? I’m not criticizing your POV that we get mired in the weeds. But I do think that someone can have an interest in something (a tactic) and it grows into something bigger — a strategy. I started blogging for fun. And now it’s a business. I don’t think that’s how many small businesses start. A hobby becomes a business.
    Jeannette Paladino recently posted..How Not to Write a LinkedIn InvitationMy Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      August 31, 2012 at 6:08 am

      Hi Jeannette,

      I haven’t read that particular book. Did they give examples?

      I can see what you are saying about Facebook and many brands grow differently from where they first start. And strategy is also a dynamic area as conditions change. If you take where Facebook is now their growth has stalled and from what I have read they do not have a strategy to get the real growth they need especially to keep shareholders happy.

      It is good to have another point of view. I agree with you about a hobby and how businesses start and many do not have a strategy in place. Don’t you think though to grow a business to the next level that you need to think more strategically?

      Reply
  6. Jeannette Paladino says:
    August 31, 2012 at 10:29 am

    Susan — I had the book at one time. I’ll try to find it. Yes, I think once you start a business – even if you fall into it accidentally — you need to develop broader strategies for growing it. That includes defining your goals and then developing strategies for reaching them. But the fact is that most of us still spend of our time on tactics.
    Jeannette Paladino recently posted..How Not to Write a LinkedIn InvitationMy Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      August 31, 2012 at 3:51 pm

      That is okay Jeannette, I Goolged the the book title and found some of the examples. You are right about spending time on tactics especially in the early stages. Your comment reminded me when I was in marketing. At first as a product manager all you do is tactics then as you progress through the ranks more time is spent on strategy and getting the sales and profit and you get your product managers to do the tactics. It is similar when you have your own business as it grows you employ or outsource the tactics to someone else.

      Reply
  7. Keyuri Joshi says:
    September 1, 2012 at 7:05 am

    As always, you give us food for thought… and it is delicious! I went on to read the DIY post and I really like the idea of adding that to traditional services. Lots of individuals will not puruse individual coaching but they would quite likely puruse something smaller… more tangible, and affordable.
    Keyuri Joshi recently posted..Parenting Touchdowns, A Lesson taken from NFL Commissioner GoodellMy Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      September 1, 2012 at 9:59 am

      Hi Keyuri,

      Good to see you back and hope you had a great summer break. You are right about some not pursuing individual coaching and it might be worth considering for your business. Now off to read your latest article.

      Reply
  8. Jackie says:
    September 5, 2012 at 11:03 am

    Hi Susan

    There’s such a vast array of tactics at our disposal these days that we get caught in the loop…a bit like performing monkeys or something. We’re so busy doing, that we fail to take the time to develop solid strategies, that will move the business to the next level.

    I agree that tactics can be a jumping off point that lead to the formation of strategies, but they can also turn out to be major distractions.
    Jackie recently posted..The Sky Won’t FallMy Profile

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    • Susan Oakes says:
      September 5, 2012 at 4:11 pm

      Hi Jackie,

      Performing monkeys sums it up well :)

      Your point about moving to the next level is important and unfortunately just doing tactics will not do it.

      Great to see you back and sharing your expertise.

      Reply

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