Growth is essential to your business becoming a success. You and I both know that your business won’t be winning any awards with just a few customers. There are different avenues to take to grow your business, though. You guessed it: organic and inorganic. Here are 5 methods for driving organic growth.
So, what’s the difference?
Organic growth happens when a company has boosted their size, revenue, or market penetration by growing its businesses or developing new ones. This is usually the result of a solid business plan and often comes internally.
Inorganic growth happens when a company acquires other companies, it’s often used as a solution for changing market conditions. It can come with plenty of risks, and it may not work for your business.
There’s not one that’s inherently better than the other – it’s important to keep this in mind. Both types have their own place within a company, and a good mix of both kinds of growth will ensure your business can succeed without pitfalls.
Why should I grow my business organically?
Organic growth has plenty of benefits that can drive the performance of your business. You’re able to:
- Retain more control of your business.
- Stay true to your vision for your business – you can build your own teams and refine your product based on your own values and goals.
- Avoid upfront costs that are associated with acquisition.
Above all, organic growth feeds into a complex many of us have and reinforces a sense of accomplishment if successful. It is your business, after all.
So, let’s get into 5 methods to drive organic growth.
1. Research Your Clients.
This is key – you won’t see an uptake in growth if you don’t understand who your clients are and what they want from your business. Researching your client’s needs and preferences allows you to position your company in a way that ensures you can deliver results for them. It also reduces the risk of marketing missteps and helps you develop a competitive edge.
2. Focus On a Niche.
What makes you stand out from the crowd?
Now you’ve understood what your audience wants from your business, you can hone in on a specific niche. You need to strike a balance with this: narrowing your focus can be really helpful, but it’s important to not make it too specific. This runs the risk of becoming too specialised and not reaching anyone – a bad move. Identifying your niche lowers marketing costs and in turn, diminishes some of your competition.
3. Develop High-Value Differentiators.
Imagine you put your niche inside a think tank and narrowed it down even further – that’s your differentiator. It’s essentially a characteristic of your business or product that separates you from competitors and gives you an advantage. They can be anything from the experience of your team, the intricate processes that you use or your story as a company. There aren’t any strict rules, but it’s generally advised that for your differentiator to work well, it must be true, important and provable.
4. Implement Traditional and Digital Marketing.
I told you that research into your audience would be important because you’ll be using it again here.
Your data will show you how your audience prefers to receive marketing content – getting this wrong can be a big mistake. Considering most millennials are opting to receive marketing info via email, you can bet that your important message will get deleted if you text it to them. Once you’ve narrowed down how to contact your audience, it’s good practice to keep an eye on how things are going. This will help you understand what’s working and what isn’t, hopefully leading to more sales in the future.
5. Make Your Expertise Visible.
Expertise is entirely unique to your company. (Hey, differentiator!)
It’s a definitive advantage, as well as a drawback. Expertise isn’t tangible – your clients can’t touch, taste, smell or see it. So, you need to make it visible. This is often done through creating a portfolio of your work, shouting about your products on a blog, utilising the LinkedIn Featured Section and SEO optimization. Seeing really is believing.
So… What now?
Organic growth is valuable for any organisation – implementing it in the right way will see your business thrive. Organic growth tends to take longer than inorganic, but the results are definitely worth the wait. You need to look inside your company to really benefit from organic growth, evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and capitalise on them.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to implement growth strategies into your business, get in touch!