You need money to make money. You must have heard this statement over and over again in the corporate world. It is actually the primary reason many people are afraid of actualizing their entrepreneurship goals. But what if we told you that you can actually grow your business without spending a fortune? It’s true. Many have done it and registered massive success. Shopify, MailChimp, Shutterstock, and Grammarly are some of the examples of corporations that were started and grown with little or no money. If you want to join this list, here are five awesome business growth strategies that don’t require a ton of money.
Maximize on SEO for organic traffic
This one needs no introduction. If you really want to increase the visibility of your business online, SEO will do the trick. To do this, you need a website obviously. When starting out, go for a minimalist design that won’t dig a deep hole in your wallet. Once you’ve created a stunning website, optimize it for search engines. Many people think hiring experts is the only way to score good rankings on Google but you can learn simple SEO techniques online and get your website on the first page of Google by yourself. It takes a bit of time and commitment but you’ll get there eventually.
Choose an affordable platform for your website
Speaking of your website, the platform you choose to build it can hit your bank account hard or help you save a pretty coin. When you are looking to grow your business without spending too much, go for an affordable, yet quality platform. WordPress is a good example. It is the most popular platform for websites in the market, powering over 31% of small and large business’ websites. All you need to open a WordPress website is a domain name and a hosting account.
Utilize a user-friendly contact channel on your website
Customers aren’t patient these days. At least not when they have myriad options for what they are looking for. If you don’t make it easy for your prospects and existing customers to contact you, you might be losing on a ton of new markets. Be sure to have a contact form on your website. Although WordPress websites don’t have contact forms, you can use contact form plugins such as WPForms Lite and WPForms Pro.
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Leverage Your Existing Customers
Your current customers are the lowest cost to channel to market and grow your business. Here are a few tricks that you can use:
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Ask them to leave a review of your business:
More reviews increase the trust levels of your business and market it even further. Point your customers to Google Business Page, Yelp or comparison sites like Getapp so that they can share their experience of working with you or buying your products and services.
- Ask your customers to spread the word about your business:
You don’t need software to implement this strategy. Simply ask your loyal customers to spread the word about your business to their close associates. If you see it working, consider rewarding your customers by creating a referral program.
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Reward your customers:
Show your customers that you care about them by sending thank-you emails, adding them to your social media community, and giving them a few freebies. Giving your customers freebies, for instance, can prompt them to spend more than they might have before you had such programs in place.
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Maximize The Efficiency Of Your Employees/Team
Encourage your team to use more efficient ways of doing their day-to-day tasks without over-relying on the standard ways of doing things. For instance, encourage them to make the switch using spreadsheets to business dashboards that are easy to use and collaborate on. And instead of spending the whole day on payroll-related accounting processes, ask your accountant to start using an automated payroll service.
Similarly, encourage them to take a few calculated risks. If you only bet on strategies that are guaranteed to work, you may miss a lot of opportunities to grow your business and generate more revenue.
And if you notice any significant changes, don’t forget to reward them for their achievements. Giving your employees a 10% bonus is better than incurring a 40% increase in your operational costs. On the other hand, don’t be punitive if your team makes a few mistakes along the way.
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Be intentional about your content marketing strategy
According to the Maui Mastermind, the content you add on your website matters more than you’ll ever know. Users judge your ability to deliver your promise by what you display on your website. So if you don’t have a clear plan for your content marketing strategy, you might want to develop one. Identify what your prospects are looking for and choose your keywords accordingly. Content marketing can really help you market your business even on a tight budget.
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Create An Email List
An email list will help you communicate and reach out faster to your existing and potential customers, especially if you want them to know about a new offer or changes that you’ve recently made in your operations. However, don’t just build an email list for the sake of it. Focus on using it as a platform to not only communicate with your subscribers but also to supply them with resourceful content. And you don’t have to send frequent emails to effectively engage your subscribers—even weekly or biweekly email newsletters are just okay. Additionally, you don’t have to create information from scratch. You can still engage your subscribers with curated content.
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Take Advantage Of Social Media
Finally, social media platforms have billions of engaged audiences. Apart from connecting with friends, people use social media to shop and look for service providers. Kylie Jenner, the make-up Mogul grew her billionaire empire from the ground up through Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. That’s how powerful social media is. Create your business’ social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and post stuff about your business on a regular basis. Additionally, make sure your blog posts are shareable via social media for more traffic.
Pro Tip: Don’t stretch yourself too thin when it comes to taking advantage of social media. Do some research to figure out what platforms your potential customers use and focus on a few of them. Remember that you get what you pay for when it comes to using social media to grow business. So, don’t expect to reach a lot of customers without promoting your postings.
Final Thoughts
If you have a tight budget and want to grow your business, rest easy. These tips will make your dream a reality. Also if you can, hire a coach to help you navigate the murky waters of growing a business without money. Instead of resorting to unsustainable practices like borrowing, you can ask your coach to help you map out strategies that can help you double your profits, increase the effectiveness of your marketing, streamline your internal operations, and generally guide your business as it grows.
If you can’t figure out the best coach to partner with, make a list of 20 potential candidates. Then take your time to reach out and ask them a few questions with regards to their availability and how they can help you grow your business. From their responses, narrow down your list until you find the best mentor to partner with.
