Growing your business is hard. It’s not a spring, it’s a marathon full of surprises and traps. In order for it to be successful, you need to have an action plan. Obviously, you won’t be prepared for everything that can come your way. But you can’t just hop in and pray for the best. This is where we come to your rescue. We sincerely hope that our article will put you at ease and make this whole process a bit easier. So, what are the 8 mistakes that you make while trying to grow your business?
1. Lack of market intelligence
Researching the desired market is a must. How else can you say that your product is the only valuable option on the market if you haven’t checked it? How else can you know that your business plan is unique? Checking your desired market is a must. Test your product, your company name, or social media. By doing this kind of research you save yourself precious time and money. From this subsection, we smoothly move to another valid point, which is…
2. Not looking at your competition
A similar point to the previous one, but a more narrow approach. This time we want to encourage you to closely study your nearest competition.
- How do they operate?
- What is their pricing?
- How are they communicating with their customers and potential clients?
- Do they have social media?
- Are they operating in one country, city or is it just a local business?
All of this is a goldmine.
What benefits can it bring to you? It will help you tweak your own business. Maybe your prices are too high or too low? You have a better product but you lack a proper graphic side to highlight its uniqueness? Maybe you forgot about this one lucrative social media platform? Precise analysis of your closest competition will bring a huge value and you definitely shouldn’t skip this step. But remember – don’t copy their ideas or solutions. Learn from their mistakes – or successes – and build your own empire, under your own conditions.
3. Not understanding your market and target audience
You have to understand both, your market and desired audience. Otherwise, you will end up with a product designed for young people but marketed as a product for seniors – and vice versa. Remember that each market section has its own rules and established concepts that work. This includes color scheme, language, forms of advertising, etc.
4. Lack of solid plan
Think of it as a journey to another world or country. If you are on a plane to London, you don’t suddenly decide that you want to go to Rome. You don’t change the course of your plane and waste all of your plans.
Planning your business is similar. Know your goals, and potential problems. If they appear, get to know how you can fix them. Set a clear course and don’t deviate from it. As your business grows, analyze and tweak your plan.
5. Forgetting about the marketing plan
Marketing is crucial to your business. You need to think about it before you start your business.
Have a clear concept of your strategy. Don’t be afraid if you don’t have funds for fancy software – a regular Excel sheet will do just fine. Think about what platforms you can post, what kind of content you can create, and what graphic forms you can use. And – this is really important – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You don’t have to be on TikTok, you don’t have to work with influencers. Think carefully about what will be best for you – not what’s trendy.
6. Being responsible for everything
Working independently is tempting, but don’t go that way. It will result in working long hours and handling too many tasks. As a result, you will neglect important things, both in work and your personal life.
Focus on gathering a competent team that you can count on. Be their leader and support them occasionally. It will only bring benefits to both you and your company.
7. Hiring people that think just like you
Speaking of hiring people. Yes, it is important to work with people that share your values or vision. But looking at things from another perspective is equally important. Work with people that are qualified for their position, not the ones that will only nod to every sentence you say. You need THAT another perspective, THAT different opinion than yours, THAT one person willing to tell you that your idea is not so good.
8. Afraid of failure
Fear of failing your business is natural. Surely you invested a lot of effort, money, and skills into this operation. But don’t let fear control you. You will make mistakes and you will fail in some fields. It’s nothing unusual – it happened to people who already have their own company and will happen to future owners.
Try new things, speak to this promising influencer, and announce your product on a new social media platform. Who knows, maybe this is your ideal direction? Don’t let fear hold you back.