How to grow your business on a budget

So, you’ve identified a market need, created a product or service, and successfully sold it to customers. It’s time to achieve those revenue goals you’ve always dreamed of, says sales and marketing expert Amy Miocevich, author of  The Very Good Marketing Guide: How to Grow Your Business on a Budget.

Growing any business is challenging, and developing a small business with a limited budget is even more difficult. However, it’s not impossible. Businesses with tight budgets often teach us the most about marketing and consumer behaviour.
One such inspiring story is that of Dropbox. Despite making no progress with their product through Google Search Ads, they experienced significant growth after implementing a referral campaign for their existing customers.
This example highlights an essential truth about marketing: growth only sometimes comes from targeting new strangers with your product or service. The customer journey is much more complex than that. Unlocking growth primarily involves improving touchpoints along the entire customer journey before focusing on attracting new customers.

But what does this mean?

For most businesses, the customer journey from a stranger to a fan involves multiple touchpoints, from visiting your website to interacting with a salesperson, all the way to product delivery.
Customers face a crucial decision at each touchpoint: do they proceed to the next stage or abandon their journey?
Every decision hinges on the effectiveness of your marketing, and the conversion rates between touchpoints offer significant opportunities for business growth.
Let me explain further. When you deliver your products or services, customers will either become fans of your business, giving you high ratings and positive reviews, or they won’t.
Fans are the ones who spread the word about your business, make repeat purchases, and leave reviews that persuade others to buy from you. Your ability to turn as many customers as possible into fans will determine how much more you can sell with the same initial marketing investment. Luckily, numerous low-cost methods exist for cultivating customer loyalty and turning them into fans.

So, how exactly can you grow your business?

The first step is to map out your customer journey. Typically, it progresses from Stranger to Visitor to Lead to Customer to Fan.
By aligning your current marketing efforts with these five major touchpoints, you can identify where your business stands regarding marketing effectiveness. For example, your website may be successfully converting visitors into leads.
As you analyse your marketing strategy within this customer journey framework, you’ll start to recognise any existing weaknesses. Improving your biggest weakness is crucial, as it represents your most significant growth opportunity. Consider this: even a slight improvement in conversion rates can significantly impact your business. Instead of improving everything at once or attracting new customers, allocate your marketing budget and time to permanently enhance this bottleneck.
Once you’ve made substantial progress, move on to the next weakness and continue this iterative process until you’re confident that every dollar spent acquiring and attracting strangers will yield positive results.
Growing your business on a limited budget requires a strategic approach to marketing. Instead of solely targeting new customers, focus on optimising the touchpoints along the customer journey. By turning as many customers as possible into fans of your business, you can leverage their loyalty to generate more sales and attract new customers through positive reviews and word-of-mouth recommendations. Mapping out your customer journey and identifying weaknesses in your marketing strategy will allow you to allocate your resources efficiently and achieve sustainable growth.
Remember, success lies in your ability to provide an exceptional experience at every touchpoint of your customer journey.

This post originally appeared on Kochie’s Business Builders, you can read the original, here.