3 Steps to Take Your Company from Small Business to Big Business
Every business has to start small but many have the potential to be the next big thing. People probably never would have thought decades ago that companies that started out in dorm rooms or garages like Amazon, Google and Facebook would end up being the giants that they are today – but it happens, and it can happen to you. It won’t be easy and it also won’t happen overnight, but is it possible? Absolutely. It will take a lot of work over a period of years but if you have a great idea and a solid foundation as a small business, then it can definitely grow larger into a big business that is known across the country or even the world. Competition is plenty and other passionate entrepreneurs are likely taking similar steps to grow their businesses as well – so how do you make sure that you end up on top? That's up to you but there are some tips that can help you along the way. Here are three steps to take your company from small business to big business:
1. Diversify Your Offerings
The biggest step that you can take towards growing your company into a large-scale operation is to diversify the products or services that you currently offer. It’s pretty challenging to run a large business that only sells one product or service. Apple doesn’t just sell one version of the iPhone – they sell phones, computers, tablets, headphones and all sorts of other types of technology. While Apple started off selling a single model of computer, they continued their developments and introduced a wide variety of other tech products and even services to offer their customers. As a current small business owner looking to expand, you need a defined growth strategy. This can definitely seem intimidating — after all, why potentially ruin the good thing that you have going right now? While it’s certainly helpful to be good at what you do, it’s also equally as important to try to branch out and test out different products or services that you could be offering. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to introduce something that is completely different from your current brand — it can be closely related — but consumers are looking for variety of products from a single trusted brand and this is something that you should key into. You should still be in the same industry and the same market for the sake of simplicity, but maybe try to integrate a different part of that market into your business in order to expand your hold. This might take a bit of creativity and even trial and error on your part, but you have likely already had to use these things on your initial business design — now you can take what you have learned from before and use it to your advantage. Read: How to Budget for Business Expansion
2. Expand Your Reach
Both further expansion in the market due to a diversified product/service offering as well as a potential geographical expansion can make a big difference in growing your company. Tackling marketing expansion first, you could potentially tap into a whole new market by offering a new product or service – now you need to market this to your new potential customer base. One good way to do this, particularly if your new potential customers are younger, is through targeted social media advertising. Social media platforms like Facebook have ways to target your ideal customer with different types of media based on what they need – from brand awareness to finalizing a sale. You can create several different types of ads and run different campaigns at the same time to really expand your reach. You could also try to further utilize technology by creating an online store through your website — that way you can expand your reach without having to invest in opening other brick and mortar locations. However, physical expansion is still a good idea and can put you well on the path towards transitioning from a small business to a big business. The biggest problem that companies have with this type of expansion is coming up with the financing to do so. In these cases, there are small business loans that you can use from companies like Seek Capital that can provide you with the cash you need to initiate your expansion. You could also move towards franchising your business, or at the very least, license your products to be sold elsewhere. Also: 6 Ways to Position Your Business for Growth This Year
3. Acquire a Competitor
The last step that you can take to grow your business from a small one to a big one is to eventually acquire smaller competitors . During an acquisition, you will gain the other company’s locations, products, employees and assets. This can obviously be very helpful in trying to expand your reach, holdings and influence in the market. While mergers can be tricky — you will have to decide what exactly happens to these locations and employees — they can be worth the hard work. Like expansion, acquisitions can be pretty expensive, and you might require additional funding through loans or other means in order to achieve this but it is possible to buy a company without any of your own money . But like your original business, think of it as a long-term investment that will allow you to earn that money back in the long run. At the end of the day, acquisitions and mergers are always good because it allows you to decrease the competition that is out there on the market and give you access to the company’s existing market that you might not have had access to beforehand.
The Bottom Line
Turning your small business into a business requires hard work, time and capital. You won’t be able to do it alone either. To grow and succeed as a big business, you’ll need to build a high-quality team to help you get there. More From Seek
- 5 Growing Pains All Startups Experience
- What Percentage of Small Businesses Fail? It's Not What You Think
- How to Start a Franchise
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