Nearly 20% of new businesses in the US don’t survive long enough to celebrate their second anniversary. In Europe, the situation is similar. The UK statistics show that 20% of small businesses fail in their first year. Moreover, around 60% of them close their doors within the first three years.

The most common reason why it happens is a lagging business growth plan. Without analyzing the conditions of anticipated growth and creating strategies to account for them, a company can’t manage the market volatility and shuts down.

We at t-ask understand how important business growth strategies are, as we grew from a small company with just two team members into a software development and IT consulting service provider with more than 250 employees. Since 2014, we have been helping startups and scale-ups to succeed. In this article, we want to share some insights about business growth.

What is a Business Growth Strategy?

A business growth strategy is a plan to increase sales, promote a brand, improve customer service, and, as a result, boost revenue. It chooses goals for expansion and assumes future challenges.

A good business growth strategy is like a tailored outfit. As long as it is unique and suits a specific occasion only, blind copying will not help.

How to create a Business Growth Strategy?

To create an effective growth strategy plan, follow the guidelines below.

Define Growth Goals

State goals that define where to proceed and how to interpret your results. Robust business growth strategies rely on the SMART framework. The acronym stands for:

• Specific. A specific goal links to only one narrow notion, metric, or idea. For example, “increasing sales“ is too general. You should concretize it with a channel or product.

• Measurable. A measurable goal tracks progress, for instance, by 30% or two times.

• Attainable. An actionable goal is achievable. You should know how to achieve the goals contained in a growth strategy plan.

• Relevant. Choose goals pertinent to your current phase.

• Timely. A timely goal should fall within a specific time — year, quarter, month, etc.

Though the SMART framework is not the only one to describe goals, it is very popular. However, goals alone can not substitute a roadmap or detailed action plan.

Create a Roadmap

After goals are written, research the market to ensure that they correspond to the business environment. You might conduct a survey or look at existing studies. With this information, you can come up with an approximate budget, deadlines, and action plan.

Then write a comprehensive roadmap describing how to reach the goals. Specify the required measures and resources. For example, the roadmap may include the automation of some processes or customer support enhancement.

Evaluate Your Risks

Your growth business model should account for possible future challenges. You must evaluate, prioritize and address risks to make a business grow safely. Such hazards may originate both within and outside your organization and external threats:

• Human risks, such as abuse, fraud, or a situation when your key suddenly fires, can distort your company’s operation.

• Technology and operational risks include power outages, cyber frauds, system failures, etc.

• Strategic risks involve changes in the market, like underestimation of competitors, industry changes, and shifts in demand.

• Financial risks include pricing, currency exchange, or liquidation of an asset, payment defaults so on.

Competitive growth strategies should account for as many risks as possible.

Identify your Value Proposition

The next step of growth strategy development is to consider why people address your company and your product.

Start by studying your current clients. Consider which consumers are most valuable for your organization. Why do they buy your products or services? Is it fast delivery or exceptional quality of the goods? Consider what makes you unique.

Take a closer look at your competitors. Knowing their pros and cons, you can find out what adjustments in your own business to make to gain a more significant market share.

Analyze and Repeat

Analyze the results of your new market growth strategy after its implementation. How much time it will take to display its effectiveness depends on its peculiarities. You may need a month to evaluate an advertising strategy or even days if we are talking about social media promotion. However, to see the results of organic growth strategies, you might wait more than two months.

In any case, assessing the outcome, consider the entire perspective. Review both your accomplishments and setbacks.

All the steps are combined in a cycle, ensuring steady business growth. Define goals, scan the environment, choose performance metrics, implement the strategy, analyze results — and then repeat the cycle again.

What are the Types of Business Growth Strategies?

Businesses may grow in different ways. These are the most common approaches to how they do it.

Product Development

A product development strategy is required when a company wants to increase an assortment within the same market.

For example, a soda company sells regular and caffeine-free versions of one product. In this case, adding new clients and increasing appeal help to boost the revenue.

At this point, meeting or exceeding client expectations is an essential factor. Even a slight alteration may appeal to new clients. Refer to the data of your niche, and you will understand what exactly your customers want.

How can real estate be tokenized?

Tokenization of real estate ownership means converting real estate assets into digital tokens on a blockchain network. Tokenized real estate allows for fractional ownership, increased liquidity, and lower transaction costs.

There are several platforms that offer tokenized real estate investments:

1. RealT is a blockchain-based platform that offers fractional ownership of properties located in Detroit, Michigan.

2. Harbor is a digital platform that offers a range of tokenized real estate investment opportunities, including commercial and residential properties.

3. Propellr is a blockchain-based platform that offers fractional ownership in a range of real estate investments, including residential, commercial, and industrial properties.

4. Brickblock is a blockchain-based platform that offers tokenized real estate investments in a range of countries including the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

5. Blockimmo is a blockchain-based platform that offers tokenized real estate investments in Switzerland.

How t-ask Can Help Your Business Grow

Our expertise goes beyond producing high-quality code. We offer a unique service for our clients — the Product Discovery Phase. It helps business owners accomplish their objectives on schedule and within budget as part of their business growth strategies. Let’s see how this service works.

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Implementation and Management of Agile Nearshore Software Development

When approaching Agile nearshore development, consider these steps as a guide for successful implementation and management:

• 1. Choose The Vendor

  Choose the right nearshore outsourcing vendor with the required experience within your budget.

  Wherever your business is, t-ask can help. In particular, we offer mobile development outsourcing services both in nearshore and offshore formats. We have clients worldwide and know how to make them happy with our work.

• 2. Preparation Phase

  Clearly define your project requirements, timeline, and budget. Prepare documentation, templates, and all that your team needs before starting.

• 3. Set Up Communication

  Set up a virtual meeting with your nearshore team to see each other face-to-face. Get to know each other and establish boundaries. Set up communication channels and tools and choose formats.

• 4. Quality Monitoring

  Set up regular meetings and check-ins to monitor progress and address any issues promptly. Establish 1:1 with team leadership and development leads if needed.

• 5. Adjust Your Processes

  Be open-minded and audit your processes regularly. Feel free to change them to make them fit your environment better.

Final Thoughts

If any company intends to scale up, it should have a reliable growth strategy plan. There are various business growth strategies, a choice depends on the company’s objectives and market conditions.

A sturdy growth strategy comprises a set of actions to analyze the business environment, customers’ demand, and possible hazards. Moreover, the size of the company also influences the way it operates in the market.

Creating a growth strategy and implementing it can seem like arduous work. Contact us if you need a reliable software development partner to enhance the evolution of your company. Every day, t-ask helps its clients to scale up and meet their business objectives — and we can help you too!