For every business, the ultimate and undeniable focus is always growth. But the mainstream challenge is how to attain it in the most feasible and inexpensive way possible.
Today, businesses are using technology to automate, integrate, and re-engineer most operational processes. This has led to improved scale, streamlined processes, reduced operation costs, and increased production times.
But how can you use it in business growth strategies? Well, here is where digital technology come in handy.
More than 80 percent of business owners agree that technology creates financial opportunities for their businesses. It’s just a matter of what you use and how you integrate them to ensure a seamless process.
In this blog post, we’re going to show you how you can capitalize fully on technology to execute your business strategy and ensure growth.
Let’s get straight to it.
1. Make Life Easier with Mobile
The truth is, millennials are important in SMB marketing, and they’re leading in the use of mobile devices. This is something you can’t overlook in this digital age, particularly when developing your business growth strategies.
If you have a beautiful website, consider making it mobile friendly to improve user experience and boost your SERPs rankings. In 2015, Google, the search giant, introduced the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project to help speed up mobiles pages, and this is an important thing you need to look into.
Other simple tips for making your business or e-commerce website mobile-friendly include:
- Getting a responsive theme
- Adding a viewport meta tag
- Checking your font size
- Using high-resolution images
- Improving site speed
- Using a simple main navigation
Think about developing a mobile app for your business.
Mobile devices offer the most convenient way for customers to interact with your business. When developing the app, you don’t need to lade it with features. Just make it simple to allow customers to access your information, products, and services with ease.
Still, there are more ways to go mobile, such as using text messaging marketing and enabling mobile payments to ensure a feasible payment experience.
Bear in mind that having a mobile-friendly design also impacts your SEO in a great way.
2. Rock with Social Media
Since the inception of Facebook in 2004, there are so many things that have happened in the social media’s sphere. It’s evident that social media has changed how companies develop and implement their business growth strategies.
Facebook is the biggest of them all, boasting about 1.28 billion active daily users as of March 2017. However, it’s not the only option; Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat are available, too.
Also, it’s projected that the total number of active social media users will hit 2.55 billion by 2018.
This simply means that social media is an enormous gold mine for marketers. All you need to do is to tap into it and target your potential customers while still connecting and engaging with your current customers.
Your first step is to build a robust and compelling social media presence to boost your online visibility. Let your customers know your business is now available on social media.
Next, leverage these platforms with marketing campaigns. With social media, you can:
- promote your products and services
- connect with influencers
- engage your customers
- attract new customers
- offer customer service
- share actionable content with customers
The trick here is to use three platforms that the majority of your current and potential customers are already using. This will make it easier to leverage targeted social media campaigns to earn the ROI you want.
Social media marketing has already demonstrated to be one of the best business growth strategies that can yield significant ROI. Don’t miss out on its benefits!
3. Leverage the Power of Cloud Computing
In the past, businesses would use programs and applications through software downloaded on their computers or servers to complete tasks. This is not to mean that it was inefficient. For the better part, this worked just fine.
But, cloud technology takes things a notch higher for your business. So, if you want to deploy powerful business growth strategies, cloud technology should be a top consideration.
Is cloud computing something new to you?
Think of it this way. Do you update your Facebook status? What about checking your account balance online? Have you ever shared documents via services such as Google Dive or Dropbox?
If yes, those are all instances of cloud computing.
Power your business by reaching the cloud to use solutions, such as Zoho, that offer a one-stop shop for marketing, invoicing, collaboration, and finance tools.
The benefit of the cloud is that you can manage your business operations from anywhere, anytime, and with any device. Using cloud technology eases your day to day operations, reduces costs, increases productivity, and boosts mobility.
It’s also the best backup and security tool for your files. For example, if you use cloud and you happen to lose your laptop, you can still access your data and files in the cloud.
Additionally, with cloud computing, the servers are off-premise. So, your supplier is responsible for managing them and making software upgrades. You’re free to focus on growing your business.
4. Big Data Makes You “Big”
With everything going digital, there are literally hundreds of data sources you can use to streamline your business growth strategies. Businesses are getting terabytes and petabytes of data from sources such as mobile and web media, customer service channels, and operational and transactional tools.
When you get the best tools for collecting and analyzing data, the benefits are more than you can imagine. A good example of the use of big data is Amazon’s recommendation system, which uses the customers’ purchasing history and reviews to ensure a personalized experience.
The idea is that you can have access to big data, but you’re not fully realizing its full potential.
When used correctly, big data analytics can help you to:
- boost performance through enhanced data analysis
- understand your market and competitor
- reduce risks through actionable insights
- improve your services and products
- monitor and improve your online reputation
Big data analytics has become important to those businesses that want to grow in this age of technology innovation. It offers many opportunities for businesses to understand their customers, improve performance and better customer service.
In the long run, you’re confident about enjoying a seamless operation that boosts business growth.
5. Productivity Tools Are Amazing
Maximizing your efficiency through the use of productivity tools is one of the best business growth strategies you need to leverage. Being able to get more done in less time means a lot to your business.
Productivity can help determine your performance and track your progress. Here, you can implement cloud services for productivity, too.
Better productivity in business should be an ongoing strategic initiative that supports the overall growth of the business. Today, millennial workers want access to productivity tools that feature the latest technologies.
For example, having a time tracking software helps to track tasks and determine the ones that generate revenues and those that don’t within a certain set of time. This will help you to figure out the type of tasks you can outsource, combine, improve or eliminate.
Planning tools are also important in your business growth strategies. For example, a calendar system is a must-have. Such tools will help you stay organized, set and achieve your goals, and work within your set period.
Some of the best productivity tools that you can deploy for daily use include Slack, StayFocusd, Google Drive, Producteev, TopTracker, Wunderlist, and MiniNote.
6. Try Online POS Systems
Well, I know your old cash register has been a true friend; helping you register and calculate those transactions is no joke.
But online POS solutions are the new kid on the block, and your old cash register may not keep up with their performance and efficiency. This means it might be the right time to let go, especially if you’re implementing digital business growth strategies.
iPad and Android-based register solutions are great choices for small businesses that need to streamline their processes. Unlike old cash registers, the initial costs for setting up an online POS system is quite affordable.
They’re not only easy to use, but also come packed with features such as staff management, customer data collection, task automation, inventory management, and other capabilities.
Some of the popular POS options on the market include ShopKeep, TouchBistro, Bindo, and Vend.
Moreover, some of these solutions allow third party integration, meaning you can link sales to a cloud-based system, such as QuickBooks.
7. Easier Bookkeeping With Accounting Software
Even if you have an in-house bookkeeper or accountant, accounting software still are meaningful tools to use.
The right software will help you to understand the financial fundamentals of your business through tracking and reporting transactions. Moreover, it helps to determine the level of your business’s performance and the effectiveness of your business growth strategies.
With the reporting feature, you can assess the financial state of your business at any given point. The software gives you precise data to use in making sound and informed decisions.
Another great benefit of using accounting software is that it helps to make tax preparation easier. You don’t need to wait until the end of the year to start preparing your cash returns. Some programs, such as QuickBooks, are compatible with popular tax software, which can be integrated to save you the costs of tax preparation.
8. Integrate Your CRM and ERP systems
A CRM and ERP are two different systems that businesses use in their day-to-day operations
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software helps in managing your sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, distribution, manufacturing, and orders.
On the other hand, Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps your sales and marketing departments to understand your customers, identify new opportunities, automate marketing processes, and improve customer support.
Businesses that are using both of these systems can simply integrate them to optimize operations and enhance efficiency.
This integration will give you a 360-degree view of your customers thus helping you to re-define your business growth strategies. You get a closer view to your customers’ needs, order history, habits, and preferences.
It also helps to eliminate manual tasks thus boosting productivity through streamlining processes and automating your workflows.
The long-term benefit is that you are able to identify new opportunities for growing your business.
9. Track Your Progress
The growth of technology has penetrated the domain of tracking and monitoring your business’s productivity and growth. Running a business is a long-term initiative that requires you to identify the direction your business is taking.
During the end of each period, review your performance and determine what’s working and what’s not. There are tools you can use to analyze your growth metrics in real time and make changes where necessary.
Generate reports and use them to refine your business growth strategies. This way, you can get the information you need to steer your business in the right direction.
Also, identify any mistakes that you made along the way and find ways to avoid or fix them. True business growth is realized through acknowledging a mistake and formulating a long-term fix for it.
The important growth metrics you need to keep an eye on include customer acquisition costs, operating productivity, gross margin size, customer retention, sales revenue, overhead costs, monthly loss or profit, variable cost, and inventory size
Business Growth Strategies – The Takeaway
Technology is a powerful tool for deploying business growth strategies. But, the reality is, the process of digitalization is not that simple. It takes time, and it involves learning your internal processes even better to find ways to incorporate technology into your operations. Moreover, treat this process as a strategic resource rather than an IT operational cost.
Listen to what your customers say and know your essential in-house needs. Identify tools that you can easily combine to enjoy digital value. Then, test and build technologies from the inside, levering what you have with what you need to design a robust digital capability that works for your business.
As you grow, continue to learn and keep abreast of new technology tools and trends that can benefit you through the development of effective business growth strategies. Remember, technology is dynamic and ever-changing.
Let us know your thoughts.
