New or established, every business has one goal – to increase revenue. However, despite the availability of tried-and-true strategies, new businesses struggle to survive within their first few years of establishment.
If you own a new business, never play puppetry to these strategies. You should look away and go back to the drawing board to see what to do better.
The problem of effective scaling and significant growth is commonplace in the business world. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, In 2019, the failure rate of startups was around 90%. So, what can your local business do to stay afloat? Here are 3 sincere pieces of advice for you to scale your new local business.
Ways to Quickly Scale Your New Local Business
Build a Brand. Not Just a Business.
A lot of new business focuses on the transactional aspect of their existence. This is good but not the best thing for a business that wants to thrive in a competitive market.
Building a brand is building an experience for your customers. Beyond what you sell, it’s what people remember you for. If you focus only on the buying and selling and omit the experience, you will only have a business.
But you need branding to stand out. Why? A lot of businesses are doing what you do.
If you are not unique in any way, if nothing sets you apart, people will have no specific reason for patronizing you. This makes it easy for them to go to other businesses. After all, you are all sellers.
Branding is what makes you stand out. It’s what sets you apart from hundreds of other businesses in your niche and industry. It’s the “Why” behind people’s choice of buying from a specific brand, despite the existence of other businesses that offer the same things.
The importance of branding cannot be underestimated. Branding done well gives your local business better positioning, credibility, reputation, and authority. It’s what you are remembered for when customers think about your business.
Attend Local Trade Shows
If you are a new local business, trade shows and expositions are great places to show off what your brand is made of.
By attending trade shows in your locality, you get more leads and make more valuable connections while spending less money to do so. Trade show displays connect you with potential customers and investors.
As people come your way, make sure your team put up a warm welcome. Take them through as they walk around your station. Always stay close by to answer their questions.
You should also incentivize people to visit your station and buy your product by creating a fascinating and beautiful setup. Engage with enthusiasm when people come around. You can offer discounts and promos for people who purchase at the trade show.
One more thing, don’t forget to take some lessons away from the show. Without an iota of doubt, you will get insights and experience to improve your business. Take your time to analyze your local competitors present at the event.
Learn from what they are doing wrong and how you get a competitive edge. If you look well enough, you will uncover a truckload of actionable insights that you can work into your products, services, and marketing channels.
Focus on Your Customer Retention Than Acquisition
While acquiring new customers is a laudable achievement, retaining existing customers is even better.
A business that focuses more on the acquisition and less on retention will forever be new. The cost of attracting a new customer is five times more than the retaining cost for an existing one. A good customer experience can make retention a breeze for your business. A bad one sounds like the go-elsewhere alarm.
When your product does what you said and you treat your customers like kings, they will always come back and will not hesitate to spread the word about your business.
Do It Right
Growth is a continuous journey. There are a thousand and one strategies to grow your local business. There’s no crime in trying as much as possible out. But when you fail at these three fundamentals, chances are high you will return ground zero.
