Starting your own business can be an exciting venture for anyone, but also a scary one. As more than 50% of small businesses fail in their first year, new business owners always need to be on the lookout for ways to grow and scale.
Scaling is something that all business owners are interested in, no matter their size and how long they’ve been in the market. If you’re wondering how to scale a business in the upcoming year using a remote team or a mobile app, all you need to do is apply the following strategies.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Make Your Own App
There are currently millions of apps available for download on the Google Play and Apple App stores, and every person who owns a smartphone has at least a few apps on their phone. Even though gaming apps are still the most popular type of apps, there are many other categories for users to choose from.
In fact, business apps are the second most popular category in the Apple App Store at 10.11%, which means that your customers would probably want an app from you. But how exactly can this help you scale your business?
- Gives relevant information to your customers. If you have an app, you will be able to give your customers all the necessary information they need before purchasing a product. This includes things such as a product gallery, detailed descriptions, product prices, and availability.
- Provides discounts to customers. Discounts and coupons are a great way to build a good relationship with your customers, and an app will provide you with a very cost-effective and fast way to supply customers with discounts.
- Collects customer information. With every new customer that signs up to your app, you will get their personal data which you can later use to create more accurate and targeted marketing campaigns.
- Boosts sales. If your app is user-friendly and comes with great features such as push notifications and safe payment gateways, it will provide customers with an amazing shopping experience and boost your sales.
If you’re worried about the costs of hiring an app developer, rest assured that you can learn how to make an app yourself without breaking the bank. It just takes time and patience.
Hire A Remote Team
For the longest time, the only way to run a company was from an office where all of the employees worked together. However, times have changed, remote teams have become more prevalent, and now 55% of businesses globally offer some capacity for remote work.
Remote teams also offer more opportunities for scaling a business by improving on the following aspects:
- Company culture. In an office space, culture usually accrues by default in physical spaces and through casual interactions. When these elements are removed, organizations define company culture through training, writing, and clear traditions, which will give your remote team a better sense of purpose.
- Communication. Remote teams don’t have informal channels of communication, so they look for ways to improve communication from day one. Thanks to communication tools, most remote teams manage to develop a way to communicate and operate asynchronously.
- Hiring. When you hire new talent for your team, you don’t have to limit yourself to people who live in your area. Instead of looking for local talent, you can expand your horizons and hire people from all over the world who may even work for a smaller paycheck.
- Infrastructure. Your fixed costs will significantly decrease when you work with a remote team, as you won’t need to pay for things such as office space, furniture, and various equipment.
If you’ve never worked with a remote team before, you might be worried about ensuring that everyone stays productive and focused. However, as long as you follow these remote work productivity tips, you’ll soon realize that sharing an office space isn’t a requirement for a productive team.
Make Changes And Improvements To Your Products
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking the products you’re selling are already great just the way they are, especially if you already have customers who are willing to spend money on them. However, scaling a business will require your product to be perfect for a wider market, not just your existing customers.
Your products certainly aren’t perfect and may require some changes, but you’re probably too close to the picture to see what issues your problems are facing. To get a better idea of what your customers want to see from you, it’s crucial to listen to their feedback, especially in the early stages of running your business.
Don’t expect to see any growth if you offer less than ideal products. Before you focus on scaling, think about all the negative feedback you receive from customers and find ways to improve your products in a way that will ensure they meet customers’ expectations.
Experiment With New Marketing Strategies
Marketing brings attention to your business and brand, piquing the interest of your potential customers. Even though you probably already have a marketing strategy in place, you need to ask yourself if that strategy is good enough to attract enough customers in the future.
If you’re mainly focused on old-school marketing techniques such as TV, radio, and direct mail advertising, you need to change the way you approach marketing. New age marketing is mostly digital and it provides companies with many more opportunities, incorporating techniques such as:
- Email marketing. This is one of the most popular marketing techniques today, as it’s cost-effective and gives you a great way to connect with leads and customers while providing a high ROI. Just remember that you always need to send interesting and personalized emails with a strong CTA to a segmented list of subscribers.
- Social media marketing. Billions of people worldwide use various social media platforms, and you can take advantage of that by creating profiles on those platforms and running campaigns on them. You can also use social media to connect with your audience and build brand loyalty.
- Influencer marketing. Influencers are people with a large social media following who advertise various products and services to their followers. If you know how to choose the right type of influencer, they can introduce your products to thousands of people who have probably never heard about your brand before.
Find A Balance Between Customer Acquisition And Retention
Scaling a business is all about finding new customers and expanding your customer base. But don’t make the mistake of directing all of your focus to customer acquisition because. While that is an important part of scaling, customer retention is just as important.
It’s actually much more expensive to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing customer satisfied. Someone who has never purchased from your company before might be hesitant to do so, while your existing customers are more likely to make repeat purchases.
A great way to focus on retention and acquisition at the same time is to start a referral program. Your existing customers can sign up for the program and get their own referral code and every time they bring someone new to your business, they will get a special reward or a discount on their next purchase.
Final Thoughts
The year 2021 is almost here, and your main concern is probably whether your business can thrive, succeed, and scale in this upcoming year. Even though it seems like many businesses are failing at expanding and growing, that’s probably because they’re not using the right strategies. As long as you remember everything you just read about here, you won’t have to worry about whether or not you will be able to achieve your business goals.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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