How To Expand Your Business

How To Expand Your Business

The joy of every business owner is seeing their business grow even beyond their expectations. But it is one thing to want to see your business grow and it is another thing to take steps in actualizing this. This is why as a business owner you need to know how to expand your business.

You may think expanding your business is a hard task, and you won’t be wrong to think this way.

But that it is difficult does not mean it is not doable.

You can get it done as far as you are committed to it.

Plus, if you have the right tips, it will be a whole lot easier for you.

Luckily, these right tips would be shared in this article.

But before going into all that, let’s look at some of the benefits of expanding your business.

Why You Should Expand Your Business – How to Expand Your Business

Expanding one’s business is one of the most obvious signs of a flourishing business.

It is an indication that the business is doing so well that it can take on more than it is currently dealing with.

There are so many reasons why you should consider expanding your business.

For starters, it will help you make more sales thus generating more revenue.

But several other exciting benefits come with expanding one’s business.

This section looks at some of the most important benefits of expanding a business.

After reading through these benefits, you most likely won’t be considering whether or not to expand your business.

You would know for sure that it is something you have to do; if not now, then at some other point in time.

Below are 4 benefits of expanding your business

Acquire New Customers

Perhaps, the best reason most business owners tend to expand their business is that doing so helps them to acquire new customers.

Yes, you have a great customer base already.

But nothing is stopping you from getting more customers by expanding your business.

This is especially true when the expansion involves new services or products.

In this case, you most likely will get customers from a new market altogether.

You get to keep your old customers from the other aspect of your business while acquiring new customers from another aspect.

Overall, it’s a win-win situation.

Diversify Your Revenue

When you expand your business, you have the opportunity of delving into a new niche or even industry.

You may add new products and services to your business.

This will offer you a wide range that will end up being good for your business.

In cases like this, you end up with multiple sources of revenue.

You won’t have to rely on just one market; you will be generating revenue from different markets.

This way, when one market is not doing so well, you can keep your business afloat with the revenue from the other market.

Economies of Scale – How to Expand Your Business

When you expand your business, you’ll also have to buy things in larger quantities.

And because you will be buying more, you will get better incentives from suppliers and vendors.

They will know to give you better discounts whenever you buy.

In a lot of cases, bigger buys equal bigger discounts.

It may not seem as much at face value but in the long run, you will realize that you are saving up a lot of money from these discounts.

This will help you offer better services to your customers.

And also help keep your business profitable.

Increases Brand Awareness – How to Expand Your Business

Revenue diversification is not all you stand to gain when you expand your business into new markets.

Another benefit of doing this is increased brand awareness.

When you are involved with more than one market, more people will come to associate with your brand.

Expanding your business would also involve reaching out to new customers.

This will make you improve your marketing strategies to ensure you improve your brand’s awareness among your prospective customers.

This may be just another step involved in expanding your business, but it will end up being very advantageous in the end.

Why You Should Properly Consider Expanding Your Business – How to Expand Your Business

There are so many benefits attached to expanding your business.

However, just like there are two sides to everything, expanding your business also comes with some disadvantages.

This is not to discourage you from taking the big step and expanding your business.

No, rather this is to make sure you properly consider all things and factors before you take this step.

If your business is not fit for expansion at the moment, doing so despite this would result in more harm than good.

Cons of Expanding Your Business – How to Expand Your Business

If your business is not generating as much revenue as it should, perhaps it may not be the best time to expand it.

This is because expanding a business requires more capital.

You may need to increase your workforce, make more investments, buy more equipment, change location, and so on.

All these would cost money.

And if you go ahead to do them even when your business is struggling, you may end up hurting it in the end.

Another disadvantage of expanding your business is that it makes you less in control of things.

Because your business is bigger, you will have to delegate more administrative and even managerial duties.

You may have several other locations and the workload of your business may be divided between these locations.

All these will make it more difficult for you to be in control of things.

While wanting to be in control at all times is a bad habit, sometimes, being in control does a help.

So, before you decide on expanding your business, ensure you take out your time to properly consider all the important factors.

Do not jump into it; take your time, evaluate your business properly, and then you can make your move.

Tips on How to Expand Your Business

At this point, you should have decided whether or not your business needs expansion.

If it does, then this section has been put together to help you along the way.

You do not necessarily need to do all the tips that will be shared below; they are not steps.

Some of them may appeal to you while others may not fit your preference and even business.

So, feel free to weed through the tips and find the ones that would be best for you.

With that being said, below are 9 tips on how you can expand your business.

1. Make Sure the Timing is Right – How to Expand Your Business

Timing is a very integral factor in business.

And its importance cannot be overemphasized when it comes to expanding your business.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do before you expand your business is to figure out whether the timing is right or not.

If the timing isn’t right, the expansion may fail.

Or worse, it might even affect your business significantly.

So, make sure you take your time to properly consider the timing.

Some factors indicate whether or not the time is right.

For instance, the timing is probably right if your business is doing very great.

Most times, in cases like this, you may have more capital than is needed for your business.

Therefore, it won’t be a bad idea to expand the business so you have where to invest your capital.

Similarly, your business may be due for an expansion if you have outgrown your current location.

The same goes for when your customers are asking for services and products that you do not offer at the moment.

Once the timing is right, you would be able to make the most out of the expansion.

2. Look into the Past – How to Expand Your Business

One way to decide on how to expand your business is to realize your business’ weaknesses and strengths.

And you can do this by assessing the past.

Therefore, before you make any move, evaluate your company’s antecedents.

Take your time and assess your business’ weak and strong areas as you do this.

While doing this, try to figure out where would be best to expand to as well as how you intend to stay relevant in the market as you expand your business.

Ask yourself some relevant questions like what lessons you have learned so far in your business, how much has your business changed over time, and what areas have you experienced tremendous success and failure in the business.

At the end of this evaluation, you should have a crystal-clear understanding of how you want to go about the expansion.

3. Make SMART Goals and Stick to Them

If you have a clear vision of how you want your expansion to go, you should be able to set goals that would help you attain this vision.

Keep in mind that your plan to expand may not be successful if you do not have defined goals.

Know the areas of your business that you need to work on to expand your business.

Also, know the steps you have to take to accomplish your goals.

While setting your goals and steps, ensure you consider your business type.

Expansion may mean one thing for you and may mean something entirely different for another type of business.

For instance, let’s say you run a construction business while someone you know has a retailing business.

Your retailer friend may expand their business by opening other outlets or working on their branding.

Whereas, for you, expansion may mean buying more equipment or getting more workers.

So, when setting goals to expand your business, always ensure that these goals match your expansion vision and your business type.

4. Improve Your Brand Awareness

Expanding a business and brand awareness tend to complement each other.

This is because expanding your business ultimately entails attracting new customers.

So, you have to work on your brand awareness and visibility.

Improve your marketing strategies to ensure you reach both your potential new customers and your existing ones.

The following are some things to consider when trying to improve your brand awareness.

Consider Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is perhaps the best way to improve your brand awareness in today’s internet-driven world.

Digital marketing simply put means reaching your target audience through digital media.

It is not as expensive as traditional marketing yet it makes it possible for you to reach a wider range of people in real-time.

There are so many strategies under digital marketing so you should be able to find one that fits your business type.

For instance, there’s social media marketing which involves reaching your target audience via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and so on.

You can build your brand awareness on these platforms by putting out high-quality content that your target audience will be interested in.

Once you build their trust in your brand, these people will be eager to patronize you.

Likewise, you can make more people know about your brand by using SEO (search engine optimization) to optimize your business website.

SEO if done right is a digital marketing strategy that allows you to rank top on search engine (especially Google) result pages.

When you rank high on Google SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages), more people will get to know your brand.

You also get to build authority in your niche.

This will make people see you as the go-to in that niche.

While you can handle your digital marketing campaign by yourself, you can generate better results by outsourcing it to an expert.

Plus, there are several other strategies and you most likely won’t be able to explore them all by yourself.

Read this article to learn more on this topic. 

Teach People What You Know

Another way to build brand awareness is to share knowledge.

If you are an expert in your field, then you can let more people know about your brand by offering advice and sharing your knowledge on specific subject matters.

This is somewhat linked to digital marketing as it is on these platforms you can share the things you know; especially social media marketing.

Yes, there are other ways to do this by hosting webinars and seminars but you may not reach as many people as you would have via social media platforms.

So, do not hesitate to reply to comments and share insights on social media platforms.

Also, your website should have an FAQ section. 

Put out how-to articles on your website.

Generally, just make sure you share what you know with your target audience.

Do Not Stop Promoting Your Business

You can’t ever get to a point where you feel you no longer need to promote your business.

Because the minute you stop putting yourself out there, the moment another brand swoops in and takes your spot in your customer’s mind.

So, do not stop promoting.

Always stay relevant in the minds of your audience by continually promoting your business.

Do not stick to just one pattern of promoting your business; always be innovative.

5. Consider Franchising – How to Expand Your Business

You can quickly expand your business by franchising it.

However, the costs of franchising your business will typically be high.

It is also quite complex and requires a lot of knowledge (especially in marketing).

But despite all these, if done right, the benefits will be worth all the stress in the end.

However, before you dive into this, ensure you find out all you can about it.

6. Create Partnerships – How to Expand Your Business

You can also expand your business by aligning your business with another business that complements it.

Your partnership with these other businesses does not necessarily have to be a formal one.

They can be informal and both parties would still benefit from them.

When a business complements yours, it means they go hand in hand and would typically have similar clientele.

So, you can send customers to this business and they can do the same for you.

Both parties can even ensure the customers patronize both businesses by giving discounts to customers who patronize both businesses.

7. Get Feedback from Your Customers

Another way to ensure that you expand your business in the right direction is by getting customer feedback.

Send surveys to your customer base.

Find out if they would like you to add any product or service to your business.

If a particular service or product shows up a lot then that may be the way to go.

There are so many ways to get your customer feedback.

So, finding one that would suit your business type and target audience should not be an issue.

8. Buy Other Businesses

Another very quick way to expand your business is to buy other businesses.

This is a quick method of expanding but just like franchising, it can also be quite high.

But its advantages are also great.

For instance, you can buy out the competition.

If you have decided to expand your business and have a competitor that’s willing to sell to you, you can buy the business.

You can also buy another business that complements yours and use it to diversify your revenue.

If you can afford this method, ensure you properly consider the businesses within and outside your industry that you can buy to expand your business.

Read this article on things to look out for when buying a business.

9. Consider Increasing Your Workforce

Not having enough employees can significantly affect the quality of your service and leave your customers dissatisfied.

So, it is not something to joke with.

In this case, you can expand your business by employing more staff.

If your current labor does not meet the current demand, then it may be time to employ more staff.

Conclusion on How to Expand Your Business

Expanding a business can mean different things for different business types and business owners.

This is why this article has provided a range of tips that covers some of the major ways you can expand your business.

Hopefully, you have found a tip that would help you with your business expansion plan.

But, before you go ahead with your plan, ensure you take your time to evaluate all that needs to be evaluated.