Growth tactics for small business

There are certain tactics that small businesses can use in order to grow their business.But too often in the challenging demands of running a business from day to day owners and managers get caught up in a certain way of doing things.While the status quo can be fine it is the savvy business owner that breaks out of the rut and takes their business in a new direction toward success.Here are some growth tactics for small business-

• Do not mix up advertising and marketing.Often small business owners will confuse advertising with marketing. Many times owners when asked how they market their product or service will explain how they have spent lots of money on advertising but often the results have been poor. You must understand that advertising is not marketing! It is only a small piece of marketing and with so many ways to get your product or service out in front of potential customers, advertising should only be considered if you have plenty of disposable money to spend on big ads that can run at least five times to increase your odds of being seen or you are pooling your money together with other companies with limited funds to provide a variety of services or products that work together or draw from the same customer base. This is called cooperative advertising when done well; it is the most effective way to get the biggest bang for your buck. Keep in mind that before you spend a dollar on advertising you should spend the time needed on a marketing plan and a marketing budget. Both of these will provide the roadmap and tools for measurement to ensure that advertising is right for you. Doing this right can grow your company in a short of time with the least amount of dollars spent.
• Do not ignore the benefits of Public Relations-All small business owners need to understand that public relations is the most inexpensive and effective way to get the word out to your target market that you have a product or service they need and want. If you open any newspaper or magazine, listen to any TV or radio show you will find that without small business stories, the press would have a limited amount of content to cover. So you may be asking how you become newsworthy. You should develop a good story about your business, yourself, your product or service, a customer or your community involvement, and send it out as a press release to the appropriate editors, writers, or newscasters. While you might not get a hit every time, the more press releases you send (once a month is a good start) the better chance you have for peaking interest and eventually a story will be written. You will be amazed at how much recognition and business growth will result from getting your business and face in the press.
• Be realistic in your growth expectations-Many small business owners simply burn out and get terribly disappointed because they developed a brochure, ran an ad, attended a networking event, or sent out postcards with very little response. They get discouraged and lose sight that growing their business is really about developing relationships and, like any new relationship; it takes some time to build interest and trust. Marketing experts say that to turn a potential customer into a new customer, you must reach out to them with consistent marketing messages (at least six times and more if you are selling a high-ticket item) before they feel like they "know" and "trust" your company enough to take the risk of purchasing a product or service from you.Stay the course, follow your marketing plan and talk to other businesses that have been down the same path you are on. There is no such thing as instant success and many small business owners use up energy in the short-term they need for growth in the long term.