Starting a new business is exciting and terrifying all at once. There are so many issues pertaining the company’s foundations (startup funding, location, etc.), staffing, product innovation and launch, and continuous growth for the foreseeable future.
Let’s discuss three ways to give your startup business the chance to be exceptional.
Continuous Improvement:
If you’ve already established your company and released your product, consider researching your own customers. The internet is an absolute goldmine. Visit social media channels and message boards to see how your product is received. What do customers say about you and your competitors? Listen to them. Get together with your team and brainstorm improvements/solutions.
Once you have an idea, research its feasibility. If it’s feasible, develop it. Once you’ve developed it, release it – and then go right back to eavesdropping on your customers.
Your customers purchase the products and services which keep your business afloat (or, preferably, thriving). If you make them happy, they’ll make you happy.
Hire and Retain the Best Employees:
I repeat this in virtually every blog: your employees are the backbone of your organization. Your ideas are nothing without proper implementation. Moreover, replacing an employee costs between 1.5 and 2.5 times their annual salary, depending on the level of skill required (1.5 for lower-skilled jobs, and 2.5 for higher-skilled jobs). It makes sense to channel significant time and effort into hiring the right people.
But how do you get the right people? Well, for one, you scout the best talent. Sometimes, that talent may not be trained in your field. Quicken Loans, for instance, hires based on the unteachable things, like drive and organizational fit. They scour shops and restaurants in search of people demonstrating those desirable traits. Once they’ve found them, they bring them in and train them up.
If you’d like a spin on a more traditional method, seek out the highly-trained employee you want, and then reach out to them in unique and innovative ways. Red 5 Studios created a list of 100 ideal candidates. They then sent each one an iPod with a personalized message from the CEO of the company. Out of 100 candidates, 90 responded to the tactic, and 3 even left their current jobs to join the team. It worked because they designed their overtures to appeal to their target market (highly-skilled tech workers).
Smart marketing strategies:
How often has an item sounded appealing, but then a trip to Amazon reveals a low product rating and many thousands of reviews? How do bad products sell so well? For better or worse, it’s all about marketing. With the right marketing campaign, even bad products may find success. If, however, you’re offering a great product or service, a smart marketing campaign is likely the key to rapid sales and growth with minimal effort.
You have two possible strategies:
a. Outsource your marketing to an experienced content marketing agency
b. Build your own content marketing team
If you’re a small company with limited resources, you’ll want to outsource. $20,000-$40,000 per year will get you a solid amount of content, social media postings, email campaigns, and more.
A medium-sized company seeking growth has a choice to make: do you want to spend $200,000+ per year on a small, dedicated marketing team, or $50,000-$100,000 on outsourcing content? Most will probably choose outsourcing. Large companies often hire their own marketing team.
This is a fairly basic introduction. To learn more about using content marketing for growth, click here.
If you’re struggling to grow that startup, we can help! At Hyper Growth Business Strategies, we offer a free 30-minute consultation to review your strategy and provide you with actionable items you can put into place immediately. So, if you’re feeling stuck, start growing now!