5 ways to achieve business growth

The modern business world is competitive and requires creativity and innovation to get an edge over competitors. So as businesses make plans to increase profitability, let’s look at 5 ways to achieve business growth in 2022 and how they can boost their growth and profitability in 2022.

A business has many functions; as a result, it can be overwhelming to tackle them all as a business owner or entrepreneur. For this article, we will focus on the following:

_{1. Business Automation}

_{2. Cost-Cutting Measures}

_{3. Design Thinking: give your customers what they want}

_{4. Upskill your workforce and prioritize employees}

_{5. Invest in online marketing and e-commerce}

1. Business Automation: automate mundane tasks

In 2022, businesses that want to grow become more profitable need to invest in labor-saving equipment and technology. Automation can save employees from spending long hours on mundane tasks, helping reduce errors and costs. Doing so saves valuable time for more critical tasks. For instance, an artificial intelligence technology or software investment can help businesses seamlessly care for customer service and marketing needs 24/7.

2. Focus on cost-cutting measures

Cost-cutting is one of the best ways to boost the profitability of your business. Cutting the cost of doing business can make businesses more competitive by offering cheaper products/ services or maintaining prices while competitors increase theirs. In addition, cost savings allows businesses to provide customers with more value for their money. Businesses that offer good quality products at great prices will most likely be the buyers’ choice.

As-much-as-possible, businesses should try to decrease costs by controlling inventory. To reduce direct costs, choose suppliers that offer quality products/services at lower prices, buy in bulk, and negotiate prices. Businesses should also try to reduce overhead costs such as physical space, energy, and other utilities.

3. Design Thinking: Give your customers what they want

Are you listening to your customers? Creating products or offerings that no one buys is the fastest way to sink your business. Instead of taking this old approach which has been proven to hurt business profitability, consider

using a lean approach to developing your products or services. First, test your market and provide a minimum viable product that your customers can quickly provide you with feedback. Then, choose the products and services your customers

want and give them a chance to help you design the perfect solution to meet their needs. This approach will allow you to offer products and services that will provide you with a better opportunity to achieve business growth.

4. Upskill your workforce and reward employees

Do you have a team? Whether it’s a team of 2 or 200, 2022 is a year to run employee performance reviews if your business has not already been doing so. Are your human resources optimized, and if not, how can you help your team gain more skills and knowledge to assist you with your growth? Small businesses thrive with the support of others, yet many business owners are not quite sure how to leverage the help of staff to get things done. Take stock of where your team members are and focus on filling any gaps that may exist.

• Reward employees

Successful British entrepreneur, Richard Branson, has always maintained that employers should care for their workers, and the workers would, in turn, take care of employers’ business. About 1 in 4 workers in the U.S quit their jobs in 2021 alone, although the year is yet to end. By May 2021, there were 9.2 million job openings in the United States alone. Many cite dissatisfaction with working conditions as the reason for their departure. With this new trend in the workforce, businesses need to become more employee-centric to retain their best talent, which is critical for profitability and growth.

5. Invest in online marketing and E-commerce

The business world is rapidly shifting to E-commerce and digitalization. Today, Uber and Airbnb are the most popular taxi service and hotelier- respectively- worldwide, yet they do not even own a single taxi or hotel. Both companies have chosen to do innovative business to achieve business growth.

• Build a solid online presence

A solid online presence is necessary for business growth in 2022 and beyond. If you want to excel in the current business environment, your business needs to be online. Initiatives like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), social media marketing, and email marketing ensure online success when done consistently. Let’s look at the first two concepts:

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

SEM is a marketing strategy for increasing a website’s exposure on a Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines use complex algorithms to ensure that the most relevant results from a search query appear at the top of the page (SERP). As a result, all websites that appear on the first or second page of the search results receive more traffic because viewers will find the relevant information they seek. In addition, all websites that include keywords connected to a search query will compete on the search result page. If you can take advantage of this, your business will attract more ready-to-buy customers.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This process requires that your business strategically uses specific keywords related to your products/services, make websites easy to navigate by internet users, and ensures that websites are safe and secure, among other factors. In addition, you can hire SEM experts to help you out if your business lacks personnel with technical expertise in this field.

• Social Media Marketing

Using social media platforms to attract clients has become quite the norm for businesses over the past decade. The need to be online is becoming even more critical as clients tend to go online first to find what they need. Strategies that include investing in a good website, promoting your social media channels, running paid advertisements are all great for ensuring that your customers find you.

To grow your business in 2022, you should take note of the many aspects of your business that need your attention. Business systems, Accounting/Finance, Human Resources, and Marketing are all critical. Need support to get it all done? Find out how

PRIMUS Business Management provides small and medium enterprises as well as nonprofits with the managerial support they need to achieve business growth. For more than 20 years, our experts have helped several organizations enhance their overall performance and increase their profits.

PRIMUS specializes in four core business functions: administration, accounting, business strategy, and human resources. Support in these areas will ensure that business leaders spend more time leading their agency and less time doing managerial busy work.