Depending on the type of business you create, there are several ways to boost its growth without sizable financial investments. These are a few specific examples that may apply to several types of commercial and industrial businesses.
Diversify Your Supply Chain
Supply chain diversification involves broadening your choice of suppliers for greater flexibility. This is advantageous when one or more entities cannot produce what you need. For example, if you only have one supplier for a critical raw material that you use every day, a sudden temporary shutdown of that supplier’s operations would cause a serious disruption in your production. By diversifying your supply chain, you can bring new products to market quicker, fulfill growing orders and deal with disruptions more efficiently.
Focus on Social Media Marketing
Although search engine ads, paid social media ads and non-digital marketing are also important, invest plenty of time in the free aspect of social media marketing by building interest and visibility. Some creative ways to accomplish this include: Vary your content to include helpful information, humor, and sales posts. Interact with your followers, respond to messages and encourage shares. Post at peak times, and create or include videos as much as possible.
Hold Frequent Promotions
Using your business page, make comments in related groups and join conversations on relevant pages. With promotions, you can have a product or service giveaway. For example, offer to enter every person who likes the page and shares a promoted post into a contest for prize giveaways.
Use Rigging Services
If you use heavy equipment or machinery that you need to have moved or hauled periodically for servicing or other reasons, professional rigging services are essential and can help you protect your machinery by having it properly prepared for transport. Riggers usually work closely with transport companies, giving you the added benefit of potentially saving on transportation costs. If you were to purchase the rigging and hauling equipment yourself, it would be more expensive as both an initial and a long-term investment.
Use Technology to Increase Productivity
Apps and software programs exist to help all types of businesses. For example, a good team management program is essential if you have a small business. It allows you to delegate tasks and monitor the status of them. If you have a bigger team and multiple projects to manage, you may alternately decide to use a project management program in addition to a continuous performance monitoring program. The project management program gives you and team members the ability to communicate easily, update task completion status and see progress a glance. There are programs today for standardized processes that are for unchanging plans and new processes that allow some changes to a project plan.
Continuous monitoring programs evaluate employee performance, allowing you to give them feedback when they need it instead of months later during an annual performance review. With prompt feedback, you can remedy problems faster. This may help employees feel more satisfied and engaged. Also, there are time management programs for supervisors and managers. If you utilize apps and programs that can sync together, you can boost efficiency and may see profit increases as well. You may also notice other benefits, such as reduced turnover or improved teamwork.
There are plenty of other creative ways to take your business to the next level. If your company is struggling, consider working with a consultant who can provide customized advice and specific steps that apply to your unique needs.
Bio: Rachelle Wilber is a freelance writer living in the San Diego, California area. She graduated from San Diego State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies. She tries to find an interest in all topics and themes, which prompts her writing. When she isn’t on her porch writing in the sun, you can find her shopping, at the beach, or at the gym. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @RachelleWilber
