3 growth hacking tips to grow your business in 2017
Today, consumers’ expectations of businesses have undergone a considerable shift; customers are looking for a one-stop shopping experience combined with excellent service from all brands. If your company isn't already catering to these expectations, it needs to embrace different solutions and opportunities to make it a force to reckon with in 2017. Let 2017 be the year when your brand finally takes the industry by storm. A lot of entrepreneurs believe that they need to hone the skills and better encourage their marketing department to make them a powerhouse. However, instead of focusing all your energies on expanding your marketing team, you should concentrate on establishing a growth department. Growth hacking has been every startup's formula for success so far, and established as well as bootstrapped brands can learn a thing or two from them about growing their business. Here are three ways in which companies can grow their business in 2017.
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Focus on knowing your product and target audience over traditional marketing skills
Growth hacking is a blend of direct marketing, traditional marketing, and business and product development, all rolled into one. A lot of startups don't have the funds to hire a PR agency or a marketing firm, and hence, they have to do all these things in-house. However, one doesn't need to have a degree in marketing to have a deep understanding of the product they are selling and the market they are catering to. When you know the USP of your product and your target audience better than anyone else, you can hack some insane marketing strategies, even on a tight budget.
Focus on amassing customers before anything else
Once you have launched your product in the market, your first and foremost task should be to acquire customers. When you have a strong base of initial customers, you can easily get investors onboard to better your product and market it thereafter. It all boils down to scalable and traceable growth. When you use your time and money to add value to your product rather than running ads and campaigns that Fortune 500 companies would invest in, you help your business grow organically.
Don't allow your customers to enter through the front door and exit through the back door
Your brand needs to constantly evolve and embrace change if it wishes to retain its existing consumers and bring onboard new ones. If your product remains stagnant for years to come without you offering your audience anything different, they are bound to move on to a more evolved product. For example, between 2007 and 2016, Twitter hasn't evolved much. Its user experience is almost the same today as it was when they first launched. Facebook, on the other hand, has come up with a variety of additional addictive features since the time it first went live to keep its users engaged throughout.
Even if it is a small advancement and not a substantial growth, make sure your business grows in 2017. Work on strengthening the core of your business and providing value to customers and you'll see the difference sooner rather than later.
