7 proven ways to grow your small business

Many small businesses struggle to grow and become well-known, but with the right strategies, it’s possible to achieve rapid growth. One such strategy is growth hacking, which involves creative and low-cost methods to acquire new customers and promote a business. In this article, we’ll explore seven proven ways to growth hack a small business, according to OnDeck.

1. Encourage Word-of-Mouth to Increase Brand Awareness

Spreading the word about your business through word-of-mouth is one of the fastest ways to attract new customers. According to a Nielsen report, 92% of consumers trust the advice of family and friends more than advertising or marketing.

Uber is a great example of a company that achieved rapid growth by focusing on the Silicon Valley market in its early days. By organising events and providing free rides for people in the tech community, Uber’s rating model made it easy for satisfied customers to share their experiences with others. To encourage word-of-mouth, businesses should listen to their customers, understand what they like about their brand, and make it easy for them to share their positive experiences.

2. Publish Blog Content That Drives Traffic to Your Site

A well-executed content strategy can help a business rapidly scale. More than half of consumers say they purchased from a company after reading a blog post about the product.

Sales Hacker, a community of B2B sales professionals, increased their web traffic from 90,000 monthly visitors to 242,000 in six months by uncovering specific keywords that their competitors didn’t rank for on Google and producing the best possible content on the topic. Businesses should identify where targeted content can most help drive traffic and revenue, starting with those keywords that don’t have huge companies and publishers already ranking for them.

3. Run Influencer Marketing Campaigns to Attract New Customers

Influencer marketing has become more popular thanks to social media and internet culture. The industry is set to grow to around $16.4 billion in 2022, thanks in part to the rapid growth of TikTok.

Dunkin’ Donuts, for example, increased downloads for their app by 57% and boosted sales for their cold brew coffee by 45%, thanks to their influencer campaign with Charli D’Amelio. The TikToker promoted Dunkin’ with content of herself ordering from their stores, after which Dunkin’ released a limited-edition drink, ‘The Charli.’ Businesses should identify those influencers who love their brand and promote it organically on their social media profiles.

4. Use Email Marketing to Get Customers to Refer Their Friends

Marketing your business using a targeted email campaign can generate a return on investment of $36 for every $1 spent. Email marketing can be directly targeted to your products and help customers make the decision to buy.

Grooming brand Harry’s built a $400 million business that quickly scaled thanks to its email marketing strategy. It launched with almost 100,000 email addresses in its database through a referral scheme that encouraged users to share a sign-up page for free products. Businesses should give users a reason to forward their email, such as offering free products or shareable links through email and social media.

5. Encourage User-Generated Content to Showcase Your Product or Service

User-generated content (UGC) is an authentic way of sharing satisfied customers using your products at their best. Many brands turn to UGC to keep their audience engaged.

GoPro is a master of UGC, driving 30% year-on-year growth by inviting users to post their videos and sharing the best ones on their official channel, showcasing their fans in some of the world’s most beautiful locations. Businesses can create a unique hashtag on Instagram or TikTok or create a challenge involving their product for users to share content. However, remember to never publish UGC without permission.

6. Implement Chatbots to Lead Customers to Take Action

Chatbots can improve a business’s after-sales process and save money. Amtrak, America’s national railroad company, saved $1 million from their budget and increased online ticket sales by 30% with a polite, helpful, intuitive bot that directly addressed customer inquiries. By implementing chatbots, your business can provide faster and more efficient customer service, increasing customer satisfaction.

7. Focus on customer retention

It’s important to focus on customer retention, not just acquisition. Repeat customers are more profitable and more likely to refer new customers. Offer incentives for customers to come back, such as loyalty programs, referral programs, or personalised offers.

Arguably the first story of viral growth hacking, PayPal acquired 100,000 users in their first month, thanks to the decision to give $20 to anyone who opened a new account and $20 for each new user they referred. Co-founder and then-CEO Elon Musk knew that the only way to grow the company was through organic means.

Carefully decide what you will incentivise to encourage purchases, make sure your call-to-action is clear with all of the terms of the offer in writing and combine your efforts with email marketing to reach a broad range of potential customers.

Source: africa.businessinsider.com

Cc: Victor Oluwole