Today I am delighted to welcome back Isabel Williams, who has written here before.
Isabel originally wrote me an article on New Year's Resolutions, and getting everything done. She also wrote a second article for me, which she will reference in this, her newest article, below.
Here is a little more background for you to get know Isabel.
My name is Isabel Frank William, during the day I am a Consultant and I am a Freelance Writer by night.
My aim is to spread my voice through interesting and well written articles.
Topics I am particularly interested in are well-being, mental health, self improvement, plus the beauty of millennial transitions in all aspects of life.
I love literature and philosophy, and to keep me active I am a runner, and a Tai Chi master. Although sometimes it is just enough to enjoy a really good book, smooth jazz and a cup of coffee to travel somewhere else.
Over to Isabel….
How To Expand Your Business
One of the greatest difficulties in this day and age is to establish your own business in the vast sea of new businesses; and expanding it can be even harder. But nothing is impossible, and even though it takes hard work and a lot of time, helping your business get new customers and establishing it as something other than a start-up is very possible.
One of the first stages in setting up any business – online or offline – is to have a business plan. For example – suppose you are setting up – or expand – your current gym business. You would benefit enormously from having a gym business template.
Expansion involved dealing with marketing and sales and communicating with your customers in new ways.
So, perhaps you’ve been struggling to expand your business for some time now and you haven’t been successful. Don’t worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel; you’ve been probably making the wrong choices. Take a look at this article as we list several very good tips that will help you expand your business. You might have thought of some, others might be new, but it doesn’t cost anything to try them out and see for yourself:
Research The Competition
One of the most important things that you should do before actually doing anything else to expand your business is to research the competition. Research serves as an excellent starting point as you will get to see what the advantages and disadvantages of the competition are, and you could start from there. First of all, you need to see your competitor’s online marketing strategy, as this form of marketing is the most influential at the moment. If their online marketing campaign works for them, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t work for you. Make sure that you get a second opinion on this one, and get as many ideas from your honest friends as you can.
Identify New Opportunities
Always keep your mind open, and research and identify new opportunities any time you have the chance. This will definitely help you understand your demographics a bit better, so make sure to do some research on distribution channels and analyze all foreign markets and other potential industries that you could expand your business into. If you analyze everything correctly, you should see that you have a multitude of new opportunities to expand your business.
Plan Everything Out
Planning is the key to everything, and it will definitely help you meet all your goals faster. First of all, make a financial plan – you need to know where your money’s going now, to help you plan your strategy in the future. In order to do this the right way, you should ask someone who’s good at financial planning; or if you want to save money in the future, consider obtaining a relevant diploma of financial planning and that way be your own financial boss. Moreover, keep track of all analysis and research sessions that you do – it’s always better to plan everything just to be sure of what you should do next and if it’s worth it. No business expanded and succeeded without being organized, and neither should you try to.
Consider Strategic Partnerships
One of the most effective ways to gain new customers and expand the people interested in your products is by forming partnerships with other companies. These partnerships can really prove to be something amazing. For this one, you again need to have an open mind and think about all the companies that you could benefit from and vice versa. It’s not easy, but identifying good partnerships will definitely help your business tremendously. Look for companies whose business is complementary to your own, contact them and tell them how this partnership will also benefit them.
Franchise
If you have a small but successful business, perhaps your next move could be franchising it. However, know that it does cost a lot, it’s complex, and it takes a lot of marketing expertise; but once you manage to do it, your business can grow at a very fast pace. There are many articles online that can help you go through this process, so make sure to know as much as you can about the process of franchising before opting for it. You need to plan carefully if you don’t want to lose money.
Expand Into New Territories
There are two ways of doing this.
The first one is perhaps the easiest one – new location. Changing your location, or just opening your business in a different part of the city (or a totally different city for that matter) can be beneficial. This will certainly require more money and time, but it should pay off in the end, as more people get to know about your business.
The other option would be selling your products to customers in totally different niches. This is more complicated, and it requires innovative thinking, but start by brainstorming the things you could do to expand to a new niche. It could be changing your products a little or making certain ‘packages' of your product or loyalty programs that new customers will like.
Change Your Social Media Game
Last but certainly not least – let’s talk about social media. This is definitely the most important marketing sector that you should focus on. As we already discussed, it’s also important to research the way your competitors advertise, and bring your best to the game. Know that Instagram and Facebook are the most effective platforms for advertising (especially the first one). As you definitely don’t want to spam your followers with unnecessary information and constant posts, make sure to have a good photographer that will capture the essence of your business, and you can share those photographs online. If they are very trendy and good, your photos will definitely catch the eye of certain people, and hence, your business will become better known.
Conclusion
Expanding your business is a very tricky process – it takes a lot of effort, time and devotion. But nothing is impossible, and if you have the right people by your side to guide you and give you’re their insight, things can be a lot easier. Good luck!
From Joy: Thanks Isabel, hope to see you back again with more articles. Meantime, if any reader has an interesting experiences of expanding their business, please share in the comments.
