7 steps to accelerate small business growth in 2014
DESCRIPTION
Every small business wants to grow and be profitable, but in order to expand you need a vision of what you want to achieve and a plan to get you there. Warren Knight a strategic small business growth consultant identifies seven critical steps to accelerate a scalable for long-term growth. 1. Define your target Audience 2. Know your Business 3. Review Performance 4. Set Goals 5. Develop Your Business Growth Strategy 6. Tools and resources 7. Make It Happen Now is a time to stop strategising and start ‘doing’. It involves spending time, and possibly money, on product development, training, sales and marketing. For many small businesses this is easy to begin with, but it runs out of steam over time as business owners and staff can become side-tracked with other activities. It’s so important to ring-fence time and budget to ensure this doesn’t happen. Don’t worry if your plan starts small: a phased growth plan is often the best, allowing for resources and demand to scale accordingly. Stable and solid growth comes from a scalable business growth model that expands to the financial capacity of the business. About Warren Knight; Entrepreneur and Business Growth Consultant I've been involved in the creative industry for 22 years and for the last seven years I've specialised as a "Business Growth" coach in helping small businesses sell more products and services, through the convergence of Social Media, Digital Marketing and eCommerce. Winning various industry awards and co-founding two IT companies since 2010. The first being an eCommerce platform, getting £150,000 Seed Investment via "SEIS", valuing the business at £1M in less than two years. The second with a “Start Up Loan”, we've built an online learning platform, teaching people how to setup and use Social Networks for their business.TRANSCRIPT
7 Steps to
Accelerate Small Business
Growth
Business Growth
Warren Knight
Tweet me @wvrknight
It’s 1989
Warren Knight
Tell your story
Storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling
If you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it
Warren Knight
Mission Statement
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Step 1: Define Your Target Customer
1. Who are your existing clients?
2. Your competition
3. Analyse your product/service
4. Choose specific demographics
5. Consider the psychology
Who are they? And why do they buy from you?Look for common characteristics and interests. Which ones bring in the most business?
Who are their current customers and who are your competitors targeting?Think of a niche market that they might be overlooking
Write out a list of each feature of your product or service. Next to eachfeature, list the benefits they provide
• Age • Location • Gender• Income level• Education level • Marital or family status• Occupation • Ethnic background
• Personality • Attitudes • Values• Interests/hobbies • Lifestyles • BehaviourHow your product or service will fit into lifestyle.
Warren Knight
Step 1. Target Customer
Your Brand
Debbie
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• 38 Year Old Female• Caucasian• Either works fulltime or part-time for a company and is
looking to start their own business or already has just started their own business.
• Their business has 1 (2, 3 or 4) employees who are outsourced
• Based around the M25 (London) area• Older entrepreneur fed up with their day job -
Aspirational.• Has two teenage children who are technically savvy,
especially when it comes to social media - has been learning from them but needs to better understand social media from a business perspective.
• Income level =Working/Middle class earning £30K+ with Household value of £50K+.
• Doesn’t know where to start when it comes to social media
• Spends a lot of time at home, working from a laptop/computer
• Feels uncomfortable taking the leap into social media in regards to privacy and “where to get started”
Stage 2. Know Your Business
Products
Price
Revenue Model
Channel Partners
Position / USP
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Stage 2. Know Your Business
Customer Segment
DirectTo Customer
Channel PartnersVs
Value Proposition
Personal Service
AddedValue
Community
Financial Return
ReciprocalAgreement
Database
Vs
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Stage 3. Review Performance
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Stage 4. Set Goals
Analyse gaps
Define topics
Key message
User goal
Keyword research
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Stage 4. Set Goals
1. 4 Keywords per meta data2. 3% Keywords of text on body of page3. 400 words per blog / Once a week
Warren Knight
Step 5: Develop Your Growth Strategy
1. Market Penetration
2. Market Development
3. Alternative Channels
4. Product Development
5. New Products New Customers
Sell more to your current customers
Open up new markets to sell in to
Design new products to sell into your current database
Does what is says
Warren Knight
Sell more to adjacent markets
Step 5: Develop Your Growth Strategy
Define
Discover
Monitor
Take Action
Measure
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Step 6. Tools & Resources
Virtual Assistant
Analytics
Lead Generation
Automation
Amplification
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Step 6: Power of sharing content
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Step 7. Make it happen
Solve a proble
m
Unique
Certainty GrowthVariety
Stimulate
Significance Love
Connect
Knowledge
Share
Contribution
Warren Knight
Step 7. Make it happen
MindsetAdvocat
e
Business Customer
Warren Knight
Me Marketing
Step 7. Make it happen, be a thought leader
Platform
Speaking
Presentation skills
Partnerships
Real Time
Engagement
Listen
1 thing
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What challengers are you facing?
Investment
Business Growth
Funding
Planning & Development
Management Leadership
Grants: Innovation
Personal Branding
Warren Knight
