How to grow a business?

[Blue Rock Digital]

Good morning all

We are a small business providing online marketing to small and medium sized businesses. My question is, other than marketing online what else would you advise to help take a business to the next level? To reach out to the larger businesses throughout the UK?

Sean

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Don't do it. Big business is a nightmare of bureaucracy. Better off finding a middle ground - those who have ambition and have grown beyond the mum and pop store but haven't grown big enough to go public. You want one, maybe two people max involved in the decision making. Not a committee fighting their internal political battles.

Generally you'll find that networking and referrals - not BNI type networking - getting to know the CEOs and Marketing directors. Rarely do these guys search online for solutions. They have minions to do that. However, if you get known by the CEOs, and build a relationship, then you can bypass the minions and when word comes down from on high to use you, it's pretty much a done deal, even if you're not necessarily the best fit...

 

[Blue Rock Digital]

Thanks Terry, we do have a couple of decent sized companies on the books and we want more of it as long as we are able to service them properly. The last thing we want to do is take on larger clients and not have everything in place to give them the service they need. We want to grow steadily and offer premium services to large companies. That said, providing smaller, local businesses with our services is something we are very comfortable with and we wouldn't be without them.

 

[Clinton]

To reach out to the larger businesses throughout the UK?

When anyone tries to "reach out" to me ... I get the hell away. They are invariably looking to sell me something, tell me about their latest initiative, or get me to invest in their harebrained idea.

Them reaching out to me takes the form of, for example, adding me to their newsletter without permission. Sometimes it's inviting me to coffee. (Like I'm happy to spend an hour of my time listening to some junk in exchange for a free coffee!)

Clients make enquiries. Government agencies send notices or make demands. Marketing people find all kinds of euphemisms for their pitches. It doesn't work with larger companies, they know what "reach out" means.

Think differently. Stop trying to "reach out" to people. Make your offering so attractive and irresistible that they approach you.

 

[Blue Rock Digital]

Thanks Clinton, that's exactly what we are aspiring to do, to provide remarkable services that can't be ignored.

 

[fisicx]

... to provide remarkable services that can't be ignored.

Are they remarkable? This is not having a dig at you or your business but your website is no different to the thousands of others all providing the same sort of services.

What it is that makes your business really stand out?

And do you really want to take on the world. would it not be better to be the go to people for a niche rather than a one stop shop for everything. A chap I know does church websites. That all he does and he is well know around the world for his specialism. I'm now focussing on one type of wordpress plugin - building bespoke solution for a niche market and it's proving very lucrative.

So maybe instead of reaching out, you need to become more focused and let them find you.