Regardless of what industry it activates in, a business will always follow the same cycles during its lifespan. All businesses need to and will grow at some point in their development – it’s something that can’t be measured, but there certainly are indicators to tell the tale.
In most cases, accelerated growth is reserved for start-ups that are looking to expand and start making profits to cover all beyond their initial investments. The more mature businesses out there will still grow, but at a steadier, albeit slower rate.
Thankfully, there are cycles and there are patterns in business development. Let’s look at what steps can be followed to support any business growth:
1. Form Strategic Partnerships
If the business found a way to and even needed to grow by itself in the initial phases, when moving onto the next level, strategic partnerships are more than recommended – they’re actually necessary. Forming strategic partnerships with other brands usually results in a widening of the audience you reach, by merging that of your business with the audience of another brand.
In this day and time, strategic partnerships like these are found all over social media and they not only consist of B2B partnerships anymore, but also of partnerships made with influencers. Having said this, working with the right influencer or brand alongside can be one of the best decisions you can make for your business.
2. Market Penetration
This business development strategy is quite common and quite traditional in its approach, as it talks about reaching out to new untapped markets. In other words, in market penetration a company will try to better promote their line of products by identifying new markets that would be a good fit.
Many of the giants that rule certain industries nowadays have used this strategy to grow their business into what was initially only regarded as a possibility. Since this kind of strategy involves targeting a new demographic altogether or a new industry, for that matter, it also means it involves a fair share of risk. However business growth is about taking some amount of risks – a typical entrepreneur knows this and gladly embraces them even from the start.
3. Acquiring New Resources
When a business is developing, it often needs more resources than it had before. In other words, it needs more resources that can better facilitate producing the line of products it’s renowned for. In some cases, this need involves acquiring new commercial spaces, storage equipment, security systems or used industrial machinery.
The list can really go on and on, it all depends on the profile of the business, as well as on the specific needs it has to operate. When the investment entails heavy purchases that can damage your budget, you can very well also invest in used equipment that you know for sure is reliable and high-quality. This will help you cut back on costs and redirect these funds to other kinds of investments that can better boost your business.
4. Considering the Acquisition of New Companies
It’s not at all uncommon for businesses that are on their way to the top to acquire other companies and integrate them into their own business ecosystem. Although there is a significant investment attached to the acquisition of another company, the payoff can be tremendous for the acquiring companies, as long as it has crystal clarity on the reasons why it’s doing this.
Acquiring a company means acquiring its physical resources, its financial resources and informational resources, among others. What a company acquisition does is improve and grow your own business exponentially by bringing forth additional expertise and resources. The public perception also takes on a different, increased positive note when faced with the fact that your company had so much power to acquire another business.
The Takeaway
In the end, these are only four of the growth opportunities and strategies that businesses can take advantage of – thankfully, there are many more to implement. Once you implement these in your business, it’s important that you also communicate them clearly across all levels of your organization, so everyone can eventually become engaged in the same mission as you long-term.
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