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Growing Your Small Business
Growing Your Small Business
Add a new product or service
Adding a new product line or service to your offering is one way to grow your existing business. A new product or service offering can help you to increase revenue from your existing customer base, reach new customers and strengthen your brand.
Things to consider when you’re thinking about adding new product lines or services:
- Add products that are related to your existing products and services
e.g. If your business is a massage therapy service, you could develop your own line of massage oils.
- Grow your business with products and services that support your brand image.
e.g. if your existing business provides luxury products or services, add new products and services that are of an equivalent category and quality.
- Think about additional products and services that you can offer to your existing customer base.
e.g. If you have a pet-hotel service, your existing customers may also be in the market for pet-grooming services or dog-obedience training.
- Think about how you could acquire new customers via new products and services.
e.g. If you publish a magazine for teenaged girls, can you add a new magazine publication to your offering that is targeted at teenaged boys or another target market?
What to do:
- Create a short-list
Brainstorm new product and service ideas to grow your business and create a short-list of the best and most suitable options.
- Talk to your customers
Offer your customers a free gift or discount in return for completing a survey or questionnaire to help determine the potential market value of your new product or service idea.
- Research new markets
Conduct preliminary research to ensure that you are developing a product or service that meets the needs of the market.
- Test-market your new product or service
Use your existing customer base or target market to test your new product or service. Offer your product or service to them free of charge in return for their feedback.
Sell advertising on your website
Another simple way to grow your business revenue is to sell advertising space on your website. Real estate on your website can represent an attractive commercial proposition for the right brands and advertisers looking to reach your customers.
There are several ways that you can go about selling advertising on your website. You can sell advertising space directly through your website. Alternatively, you can join an affiliate program or advertising network.
Affiliate programs and advertising networks offer payment based on either, the number of times their ads are viewed on your website. i.e. Cost per thousand (CPM) - or by the number of referrals, sales or click-throughs from advertising or promotions on your website. i.e. Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost per Lead (CPL).
Things to consider:
- The online advertising displayed on your website reflects on your business and brand.
- Selling too much advertising space can compromise your website. Obtrusive online advertising such as pop-ups and overlays can make for a bad user experience.
- Selling advertising to incompatible brands and advertisers can be detrimental to your brand image and business.
e.g. If your business is an online web portal for children’s products and services, selling advertising for adult services will undermine your brand integrity
- Never sell advertising to your competitors.
e.g. if you are a skiwear retailer, don’t sell advertising space to other ski-wear retailers. Sell space to ski-travel specialists or ski-resorts.
What to do:
- Develop online advertising guidelines
Determine which brands, advertisers and product and service categories will be the most suitable fit for your business. Develop guidelines for the quantity and type of online advertising that you plan to sell and set advertising revenue targets.
- Invest in tracking software
Source tracking software that will measure and report on your website traffic and user statistics.
- Add an ‘Advertise with Us’ page to your website.
Provide relevant information for your advertising prospects including your website’s unique visitor and page view statistics as well as any user demographic data you’ve collected such as gender ratio, income and education levels.
- Recruit staff
Recruit or appoint a qualified staff member to handle all your online advertising sales and placements.
- Re-design your web pages
Enlist a web designer to re-design your web pages to accommodate online advertising space.
- Join an affiliate program or ad network.
Research the affiliate programs and ad networks available and join a suitable program to start generating advertising income.
Create a subscription-based offering
Creating a subscription-based offering can be a very effective way of value-adding and expanding your small business operation. A subscription-based offering simply means that rather than selling products or services as individual units, you are selling use or access to products and services for a period of time on a recurring basis. (e.g. monthly, weekly, annually).
The subscription business model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but it’s now used by many businesses and websites to convert one-off sales into recurring sales and to build brand loyalty over time.
For instance, if you are in the business of selling computer software, you can grow your business by introducing a subscription payment model where your customers pay a monthly ongoing subscription fee to access and use the software, rather than a one-off lump sum payment to buy the software outright.
A subscription-based offering can also be a more attractive option for your customers in terms of affordability and cash flow - with lower periodic payments replacing a prohibitive up front lump sum payment. Subscription models also give you the ability to offer a range of subscription packages to cater to different customers needs.
What to do:
- Put systems in place
Set up the mechanisms you need to sell and process your subscription offering. E.g. online or over-the-phone subscriptions, automatic renewal and credit card charge systems.
- Provide an incentive for your customers to subscribe
Provide a free-trial period or offer additional products and services as part of their subscription package.
- Upgrade your customers’ subscriptions
Encourage your existing customers to upgrade their subscription packages through periodic marketing promotions or special offers.
Business information service providing guidance and information for small businesses including advice on growing your business.
Small Business Development Corporation e-business information and support services for small business. A large affiliate marketing network provider. Post Click One of Australia’s leading online advertising networks. The most popular marketing BLOG in the world offering timely market insights and business development ideas. |
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