Scaling your own business is not as complicated as it may seem, and only takes a winning product or service accompanied by a solid overall foundation upon which that business is built. In order to grow any business there are a few essential tips that need to be focused on.
The first, and most obvious, is to make your product or service ridiculously easy for customers to access. Many businesses and websites make potential customers jump through a lot of online hoops in order to finally get to that final purchase page. Make your products and services more accessible by cutting out excess steps and giving the customer an option to jump straight to purchasing whatever they’re looking for. This will look different as services and products vary, but even consider making a special spot for customers to buy “a la cart” items directly that may not be the full-scale item.
In relation to your purchases, you should be tracking every possible metric that you have the ability and access to. The major ones to focus on will be Cost-per-lead (CPL), and Cost-per-sale (CPS), although other data may be extremely beneficial to track just as closely. The ability to know how much every lead costs will allow you to optimize your budget directed towards the channels your most effectively reaching. If you have two different types of leads that generate the same conversion rate than consider cutting out the more expensive of the two. When considering cost-per-sale its important to keep in mind that all data works together. Your conversion rates and costs per-lead will help to determine what each sale is costing you, so as long as your CPS and cost of goods sold is lower than your sales price than your profiting. This is great but more importantly in relation to your business where is your lowest cost per sale coming from? This could be a fantastic opportunity to hone in on that specific product or service and amp up the sales accordingly.
Setting up an email automation sequence will not only promote your brand but will bring conversions in 24/7. Any business can build a list of email recipients that receive an automatic email for specials, discounts, and even new information regarding your latest business happenings. The options are honestly endless as you could even focus on sending emails out on notoriously slow days, or even targeting past customers with deals on related or same products based on their previous purchasing habits. As with any type of online marketing, email automation requires constant split-testing in order to optimize this utility, but once you lock in on that sweet spot great things happen!
As always, driving home your brand to the public is crucial and there are plenty of free ways to amp your business up via social media. In past blog posts I have addressed great social media outlets and also discussed the power of content marketing. At the end of the day, the more content and social media exposure you give your customers the better. Creating content will also help you to improve your SEO as your content will give tags and links that direct traffic straight to your website. Simple posts can be all the difference in captivating your customer and social media provides a free way to do so. There are many types of social media and it’s important to tap into as many as possible, however be sure to stay consistent with your handle and overall vibe of each page. Once you’ve dialed in one page, cross-promote all your other accounts to drive that traffic up!
Lastly, consider seeking out media that can help expose your product or service. This isn’t always the easiest to achieve but by simply being open about who you are and what you it’s possible to spark up the interest of a journalist in your related field. Small articles in local papers can go a long way, and these can even be written and submitted personally. Although outside media attention can be difficult to cultivate, it shouldn’t be overlooked as an outlet to bring customers in your direction.
One idea I’ve thought would be quite useful to any online business that is trying to generate community involvement would be dynamic user reviews. A review could be embedded in another webpage like a YouTube video, shared to social media like an image, or a host of other methods, reinforcing the word-of-mouth tool of the customer review with another layer of word-of-mouth.