At the beginning of each year, it’s not just personal or professional goals that people focus on. With 2020 finally here, business owners and managers have one more tough nut to crack: the growth of their companies in the upcoming months. If you’re one of them, sitting there and wondering how to grow your business in 2020, then you’re in for a good read.
But if you stumble upon this post later than in January 2020, don’t worry. Everything here stays relevant at any time.
Here are five things that will prove extremely helpful when you want to kick-boost your company in 2020.
All-in-one business management app
We’ve got a spoiler for all those searching for clues how on how to grow your business effectively. Here it goes:
It’s mostly about your customers. Keeping them happy, providing what they need, ensuring they feel engaged with your brand. These are the key factors for your company’s success.
According to Marketing Insider Group, customer experience will be one of the top marketing trends of 2020.
“The priority has moved towards providing fantastic customer experiences that will keep people coming back for more. In a sense, when you focus on building a positive business culture and providing great service, the marketing almost takes care of itself” says Michael Brenner.
And here’s the thing that will make it easier for you.
You’d be surprised how many entrepreneurs don’t rely on software when it comes to managing the customer experience. Even in the times when all things digital are so popular and software became an easily accessible service, many companies still run and monitor their operations manually. That’s mostly the case of small and local businesses.
2020 will be the year of the customer.
Marketing Insider Group
Oftentimes, business owners think that business management software comes with huge costs and it takes a lot to implement it successfully. Of course, there are applications out there that are complex. Too complex for your needs. Their overload of functionalities come with a high price tag.
Luckily, that’s not the case with every application out there.
Take Taskeo as an example.
We’re striving to build a platform perfect for managing your business while keeping it user- and cost-friendly. Taskeo helps you focus on the most important aspects of your business while you automate the rest. You will no longer need to look for different applications to manage your customers, projects and meetings. Everything you need, you’ll find in Taskeo (click here to check it out!).
Automation is essential for productivity and process efficiency. When you spend less time managing processes and tasks, you can successfully focus on creating an outstanding customer experience that will draw and keep your clients.
Read as well: 50 Business Automation Tools That Will Work For Your Success
Powerful Network
Trying to attract new customers is essential for your business but that’s not where you should stop. In fact, one of the overlooked ideas for how to grow your business is networking with other professionals and entrepreneurs.
People often underestimate networking with other professionals. To them, it doesn’t translate to increased sales. However, the undiscovered potential of a well-structured network of contacts is something you can’t miss out on.
“From junior professionals looking for career advancement, to managers and directors hoping to recruit talent and boost knowledge, networking is a way to unlock opportunities and forge lasting relationships. It’s also an essential tool for growing a business—especially for budding startups and entrepreneurs who need to gain exposure for their brand, secure new business, establish partnerships, or even seek out investment”, you can read on WeWork blog.
But remember – it’s not just about any contacts. Connecting with just about anybody will be a waste of time. Don’t try to meet a thousand of people that you hardly have something in common with. Instead, connect with a smaller group that you can create lasting, beneficial relations with.
Networking is a way to unlock opportunities and forge lasting relationships.
WeWork
You never know if one of your new contacts won’t organize an event and invite you to speak on it, offering a chance for publicity and exposure for your brand.
Go-To KPIs
We already hear a lot about goal setting. Especially at the beginning of the year, this trend is strong.
Seeing as you’re reading a post on how to grow your business, your goal for 2020 is pretty clear at this point. But “growing your business” isn’t something that’s detailed enough.
How about instead of going for “goals”, you focus on increasing key performance indicators that are essential for your success?
Different businesses will have different key performance indicators. Ecommerce growth, SaaS marketing, marketing agency advertising are something entirely else. There’s no silver bullet that work for each type of business out there. Find your own. Find the one that matches your business model.
If you’re still clueless about metrics possibly look into, check out this fantastic list of 136 KPI indicators from Scoro.
Email List
You’d think that email will lose its power over the years but it’s just not happening.
We could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing for hours, but let’s be honest: it’s still one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s kit. According to Quick Sprout, “from a marketing perspective, sending emails is an extremely cost-effective strategy as well.”
Think about it. Wherever you go in the online space, someone wants your email. Newsletters, free stuff, discounts for signing up… It’s everywhere. And it won’t change so long email marketing is so effective.
Partially, the email’s success comes from the fact that most people signing up for newsletters or downloading lead magnets are willing to hear from you. They voluntarily give you their emails. They know you’ll show up in their inbox sooner or later.
From a marketing perspective, sending emails is an extremely cost-effective strategy as well.
Quick Sprout
It’s so much easier to reach out to people who already agreed to hear from you, rather than to complete strangers.
Email marketing can be easily automated with campaign creators or email newsletter templates, so if you fear it’s going to take too much time to create its content, don’t worry, because it won’t.
Start building your email list today. You can start by gathering emails through a widget, pop-ups or lead magnets. Backlinko has an excellent article on list building that will help you get started.
Community
The more customer-centred your business is, the more it will thrive. Providing excellent support and outstanding experience is your way to growing your business in 2020. But there’s more to it.
There are a few good reasons for which you should consider creating a community around your brand and product.
It will help you grow your business in these three main ways:
- It will help your customers feel like they’re a part of something bigger
- It will give you company a human face
- It will shorten the distance between you and your customers
Chances are you’re already active on social media. Maybe you’ve got an advanced strategy in place and use tools such as social media scheduler to boost your presence on multiple channels.
But have you considered going beyond that?
Facebook groups run by brands are all the rage now. They help you engage with your audience and get to know it better. But Facebook isn’t your only way to go. You can build communities in a variety of ways, offline and online – all depending on your brand, audience and preferences.
Here are some community examples (besides the already mentioned Facebook groups):
- Forums and discussion channels
- Webinars
- Offline conferences
- Events and meetups
Ask yourself now: which one sounds like something you could create?
Pssst, Taskeo has a community group as well! You can join it here.
What will it be?
There are new, exciting twelve months ahead of you. From this day on, everything’s in your hand. You can do whatever you want with this time and bring your business to the next level.
These five ideas we just gave you? Use them to get inspired. Maybe you’ll decide to give a shot to each of them. Maybe you’ll only try out one. But all of them, from using apps such as Taskeo to networking and creating a community, are ideas inspired by the latest trends.
So, which one will it be?