Once you’ve established a business that brings revenue, it becomes responsible for the people who depend on it, such as stakeholders and employees. Therefore, you must ensure the business is stable and can take on any market fluctuation, consumer behavior change, or economic trends. And to make it stable, you need to grow your business to a state of versatility and adaptation able to overcome any uncertainty.
Business growth is any long-term increase in revenue and/or market share. But there is more than one way to get there. You can focus on increasing your revenue, customer database, market share, and product/service line. Check out the following ways to grow your business that apply to all business types at any stage of their development.
This guide is structured under four types of business growth strategies: Revenue growth, Customer growth, Marketing growth, Product growth. Let's expand into each one of them with multiple examples, tips, and best-practices.
Increasing the revenue of your business refers to money and resources that can be converted into money, such as materials, installations, and real estate. For example, you may focus on increasing the cash flow or investing in products with good forecasts. Ensure you run a risk analysis and aim for a long-term, sustainable result.
One of the best ways to ensure business growth is to expand your business by acquiring a new business, a supplier, someone in your fabrication process, or a strategic company (e.g., a competitor). Your bank account will take a hit in the short term, but in the long term, the new acquisition will increase your income, reduce costs, and improve sales.
For example, Atlassian bought Trello, Google bought YouTube, and Facebook acquired Instagram.
Selling a franchise means selling your idea, know-how, and business procedures to others who want to implement them in a new location. Expanding your brand without investing in resources is a good idea, bringing you money. Most fast food and coffee shop brands use the franchising concept, which has become an international strategy for business growth.
Examples: Taco Bell, McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks, Dunkin, Pizza Hut, Smoothie King, and REMAX are just some of the most popular franchise businesses. The business model is validated, and anyone who wants to open one in their country and has the initial capital, expertise, and interest in launching such a venture can do it.
If you need to increase the cash flow, you must increase sales. There are many sales strategies you can apply. It would be best to have thorough market research to determine the best for you. For example, you may want to focus on selling more products or services, raising the prices, better training salespeople, starting creative collaborations with shops and resellers, etc.
Review your financial and administrative aspects, such as:
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Revenue growth is the most direct approach to growing your business. But it may also be the most unpredictable and risky. Sometimes, it’s a short to medium-term solution that brings a cash flow for future investments and opportunities. The other three business growth types are slightly indirect approaches, more stable, and focused on long-term results.
Growing your customer database will reflect not only in your income (more customers = more sales) but also in your market share and industry stability. For example, your brand may be present internationally, which makes you less affected by the national economy. Also, you may diversify your customer range, ensuring customer behavior change will be less likely to undermine your business.
Taking your business to new markets requires an initial market analysis and investment. However, once you are there, it may open your business to a more extensive and diverse customer database. Promising markets boost your business, and you can sustain their interest with discounts and targeted advertising. In the long term, they increase your business stability and provide opportunities for extending even more.
An example of entering new markets can be done by translating your application or by localizing its rules according to the ones in the specific geography you’re targeting.
Customer service has a crucial role not only in keeping existing customers satisfied but also in acquiring new customers. When a customer is uncertain about your products or services but willing to try them, your customer service team's polite and helpful answer goes a long way. Not only that, but you will probably win a new customer, and chances are, you’ll get free advertising by word of mouth. As a result, your customer database will grow slowly and steadily. At the same time, your brand’s image will become stronger and stronger.
For example, you can boost customer services by extending the support hours, hiring a multilingual support team, or writing a better online help center.
Customer retention refers to keeping your existing customers happy and loyal. Upselling refers to selling more to your current customers by offering them premium access to new products and services, creating a reward system, and providing preferential prices. It is considered that it costs less and is more efficient to keep an old customer than to acquire a new one. And, again, happy customers will advertise on your behalf and build trust in your brand and company.
For example, when someone buys a product from you, as an upsell, you can also add an extra 2 years’ invoice or suggest an accessory for the product (i.e., if you buy a smartphone – consider a case or wireless earbuds).
Additional ways to grow your business on customer growth:
Like customer growth (and sometimes included), marketing growth refers to bringing your products and services to as many people as possible, thus expanding your market share. It requires thorough research that establishes the characteristics of your new audience. For example, location, age, sex, lifestyle, financial power, habits, culture, and their response to your products and services are just a few aspects to consider in your marketing strategy.
Online buyers have a different approach than regular shop buyers. As a result, marketing strategies for online shopping differ, too. You may discover that an online marketing campaign brings you an important market share, boosts your sales, and expands your business. Ensure you pair your marketing efforts with production efforts and don’t disappoint your new customers (e.g., reliable customer service, secure payment options, user-friendly website, etc.)
For example, having a dedicated website where customers find all the information about your products might be great. However, you might also create an Amazon store where a wider set of customers interested in the products you sell and more eager to buy can find you more easily. If you’re a SaaS product, add a listing into an online directory such as Getapp or G2, or if you have an app listing your tool in the Android/iOS app store.
Additionally, consider creating multiple sales funnels: Online is one; however, depending on your industry, you might do it also offline, via radio, TV, or dedicated magazines or events in your industry.
Social media is a popular way to promote your products and services. Ensure your offers match the social media user profile and tackle social media marketing strategies. You may need to learn how social media algorithms work, boost your channels to attract new followers, and set up a social media campaign. But it will be worth it in the end. Social media acts as a boomerang. Once your posts reach the target audience, they will be shared and talked about with many more people than you can predict.
Tip: Most business social media accounts are handled in the wrong way; this is why you should think about hiring an expert full-time to handle your Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook Page with concrete goals to boost your followers by 25% in a specific period of time.
Google offers many free services that can help you grow your business. For example, consider SEO when creating a website for your business to ensure a good position in search engines. Or you may want to use Google ads and pay for online advertising. Or you can use Google My Business and provide details, posts, and product descriptions for your customers to browse and review. A good online presence is a way of reaching new customers, acquiring reviews, and building a solid brand image.
Product growth refers to improving and expanding your products or services to meet customers’ needs or attract new customers. It is the slowest and probably most expensive way to grow your business. It is also more rewarding because it increases the value of your products and services. Product growth requires research, engineering, creative ideas, and financial investments. It also requires experts and hardworking employees. But the value you acquire by developing your products will never go away.
An easy way to improve your products is to look at what your competition is offering. If their products and services provide features yours don’t have, it’s time to level this up. It may be a technical feature (e.g., an app supporting a broader range of devices) or an aesthetic feature (e.g., wallpaper in a particular striking print). It may also be a feature that targets a specific audience that you didn’t consider before (e.g., including yoga classes in your online sports app).
Tip: When looking for new features to improve your products, don’t forget about the company’s values and culture. Don’t go for something against your mission just because the competition advertises it fearlessly. For example, if you have a HIIT gym business, yoga classes have no place in there. If you have a gym business with various activities, welcome as many new styles as possible.
Whether you decide based on your competition, market research, customer feedback, or have a good idea, diversifying your product and service offering is something you should consider regularly. Keep the best sellers and those that bring you the highest income and shuffle with the rest. You can either adapt them to new requirements or replace them altogether. Another strategy is to rotate the offering to increase customer engagement (e.g., seasonal products, thematic products, time-limited offers, etc.)
For example, Starbucks offers pumpkin-flavored hot drinks near Thanksgiving, retail shops stock up on pink and red items near St. Valentine’s, and Mango and H&M have pop-up collections designed by famous designers.
Many companies use social media as a unidirectional channel, thus reducing their chances of business growth. Social media isn’t just another way to advertise your products and services. It’s also a way to gather feedback, get to know your customers, and build a strong community. Use social media to start a dialog with your target audience and those who oppose your business. Try to create helpful content and not just post advertising. Engage the audience with creative contests, challenges, and discounts.
Tip: The word ‘community’ is largely used on social media channels. On Facebook, they have dedicated groups (e.g., Nikon group); on Instagram, they use dedicated tags (e.g., #luminareditingcontest).
Alternative ways to grow your business via product growth:
How do you measure business growth?
There are a few indicators of business growth that you can easily monitor. The most obvious is the revenue (how much money you get), but it needs to be correlated with the profit (how much money you have after paying production bills and taxes). You can also evaluate your business growth based on how many customers you have, the market share size, and the size of your team. To summarize, here are the most used measurements for business growth:
How do you calculate the business growth rate?
Business growth rate refers to how much your business has grown. Although you can compute it monthly, it is more relevant over extended periods, such as quarterly or yearly. Choose one of the measurements for business growth listed above and calculate the business growth rate by dividing the newest value by the oldest value and multiplying the result by 100. The business growth rate is a percentage.
For example, if your customer database had 1,000 customers at the beginning of 2024 and 1,562 customers at the end of 2024, the business growth rate is 1562/1000*100=156.2%. Remember to correlate the result with other business growth measurements and KPIs. A single value doesn’t hold all the answers.
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