Starting a business comes with many challenges and growing your business can, at times seem like an impossible task. When you’re facing a competitive industry you may be unsure of how to even begin. As daunting as it sometimes was however, the path to turning my interior design business from a home office project to one of the most successful firms in my industry was these 8 steps.
#1 Set a clear goal
Before you start doing anything, you need to have a clear goal for your business. Although you should be prepared for some unexpected changes along the way, the first thing I did was sit myself down and figure out my business’ mission. What do we offer? How do we deliver it? Where do we hope to be in the future? These are just some of the questions you need to be asking yourself. Once you have these answers and feel confident in what you want to bring to the world, then you can start devising a plan of action.
#2 Delve into the online world
Pretty much everyone is online these days so my next step was to make a website and social media accounts for my brand. They were pretty basic at first I’ll admit but it was a start. It was a place to explain the mission that I had so carefully crafted and a place for people outside my circles to find out about what we did.
#3 Determine a digital marketing strategy
Utilising the digital world is an essential part of growing your business. There are a vast array of tools and strategies that can help your website emerge as the most popular in your industry. I made it my mission to find a digital marketing company that understood what appeals to customers and could take advantage of Google to put my website on top. I hired an SEO company called SEO Shark and they optimised my website, my social media and helped me manage the confusing aspects of the online world. At this stage in your company growth, this is a vital step and will be the moment that you truly start to see your business’ popularity skyrocket. My online presence was crucial for gaining my first few clients and has continued to be an important part of my success.
#4 Start spreading the word
Finally, I felt like I was ready to present my business to the world. It was time to start spreading the world that we were here! The easiest way to start putting your products or services out there is to simply start telling people about them. The obvious way is to start with family, friends, acquaintances, whoever will listen! This is also a great way to start networking and meet people who could potentially help you further your business along the track.
#5 Get to know your target audience
Now that I knew what I was setting out to do, I decided I should consider who my services were for. Getting to know your target audience is a great way to determine how you’re going to brand your business and what sort of branding you should aim for. Consider who your product would benefit most or who your clients are likely to be and start thinking about what they might like to see that would convince them to hire you.
#6 Research your competition
An easy way to determine where you might take your business next is to have a look at what other companies in your industry are doing with theirs. Scoping out the competition gives you a chance to evaluate the pros and cons of what they are doing and determine if there are any gaps where you might better the industry or provide something a little bit different.
#7 Upgrade your office space
At this point, my business was gaining traction, and fast. It was time to upgrade from my squishy little home office to a space that would allow me to properly run a business. Sometimes your environment can have an effect on your mindset and having a proper office space really helped to get me in the zone.
#8 Hire some help
Now I had the space and a business that was growing faster and faster by the day. It was time to bring a team on board to keep this momentum going. Obviously, the bigger your business gets, the more people you need to hire to manage the workload. As I gained more of a reputation and started attracting more and more clients, I hired a team of likeminded individuals who believed in my mission to help me run the business and manage clients.
#9 Create a community
A sense of community is important for attracting potential customers and keeping the existing ones satisfied and proud to be a user of your services. For me, building a community was about being open and honest about what we were doing and making an effort to talk with my clients about what was happening with the company and keeping them updated on their individual projects. Creating an approachable and personable brand was part of my mission and something that I think assisted in giving me the loyal customer base that I now have.
There is so much involved with starting and growing a business. These steps were my method and proved effective for not only generating sales but creating a community through which my company could continue to grow. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed, create a plan for yourself and be prepared for anything. Stay true to your ideas and know that there is value in what you do.