Almaz
Over 70% of startups fail in their first five years, so having a foundational grow business strategy is essential to scaling your idea to success.
I’ve been there. Before starting Skiie.org, I'd found an online fashion store, but being young and full of youthful exuberance then, I hadn’t considered the stakes and unique limitations. I was only inspired by the prospect of growth, but instead of growth, I gave up in the first 3 months.
I failed because I was new to digital businesses. In my quest to gain knowledge, I delved into digital marketing and SEO. It soon became my profession, and I’ve worked with several startups and small businesses, helping them scale from their initial low performances to making six figures.
That’s the difference between “passion” and “knowing and applying the rules.”
In this guide, I will teach you some foundational rules to make your passion a profitable venture. I will teach you how we help businesses scale at Skiie.org.
Do you know why startups failed?
Let me pause for you to do some thinking…
Done thinking? I’m guessing your response will include some or all of the following:
If these are your responses, give yourself a cookie—you’re right. But that’s not the basics.
The basics of an effective grow business strategy have 2 elements:
There are several classifications of products and services. But for the scope of this write-up, I will classify a business offering into the following five categories:
Notice that every product and service, regardless of whether they have an expiry date, whether they are essential, or whether they are evergreen, has a period during which it is most in demand or a location where it best serves.
This is why the time and location of a product/service's launch are essential for its success. If you launch a product at its peak demand period, you have a higher chance of penetrating the market than if you launch it when the market is saturated. Similarly, businesses closer to their customers have a better chance of understanding and attracting them.
However, not every product and service follows a specific demand pattern. Examples are digital concepts like the good old Facebook, Snapchat, Airbnb, etc. Yet, time is still essential when launching such a product/service. There is a great chance that your audience is not familiar with your offerings, hence the importance of launching when there is an established foundation—the right time.
If you launch a product or service before the concept fully catches on with your target audience, you will need to spend more money sensitizing them. Without sufficient funding, such a product is bound to fail. This leads us to the second basic grow business strategy: “execution.”
To understand execution, I will continue from the idea of launching an unfamiliar digital concept at the right time.
Before Facebook, there was a popular social media platform called “MySpace.” Despite its initial success, MySpace couldn’t compete for long due to its poor execution.
The timing was right. Building upon the success of earlier platforms like Friendster and SixDegrees, MySpace was launched at a time when the internet was already familiar with the “social media” concept. But despite having the “Developmental” advantage, Facebook came and took the crown.
What did Facebook do differently?
While Facebook’s approach is primarily objective, here is a breakdown that you can apply to your own grow business strategy:
That’s what execution is all about—having the right knowledge, ability, and, most importantly, attitude towards growing your business.
The truth is, there is no rigid blueprint for what makes a business successful. Every business is as unique as its management and location. While there are established strategies that work, understanding the basics is essential to utilizing them efficiently.
The basics are location and Time, followed by Execution. Once you have a solid understanding of these concepts, you can identify what works for your business and implement it. As a digital marketer, I’ve got some tips you might find helpful below.
Building a successful business requires a well-rounded approach. Essentially, this is the digital age. Regardless of the type of business you’re running, you need a presence on the internet if you are serious about growth.
With that in mind, I recommend that you do the following:
Here is a breakdown of each recommendation:
While search engines have been the dominant player in digital marketing, social media channels are increasingly becoming a dominant search alternative. I recently published an article on the 3 top digital marketing trends to look out for in 2025. I highlighted how Gen Zers and millennials are favoring social media searches over traditional searches.
If you offer products or services to these “social media” generations, you should consider having a dominating presence on social media as part of your growth strategy.
This approach helps you reach more people and boost your brand's visibility. Another grow business strategy you should consider is doing local SEO.
Incorporating local SEO into your business growth strategy is another effective approach. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of enhancing your online content to increase its visibility in search engine results.
Local SEO focuses on optimizing your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. As search engines evolve, local SEO becomes crucial for businesses aiming to connect with nearby customers. By optimizing your website for local search, you can ensure that your business appears when users search for products or services in their area.
This targeted visibility can drive more foot traffic to your physical location and increase online engagement, ultimately contributing to your overall growth strategy. To learn more about local SEO and how you can do it for your business, reach out to us at Skiie.org.
Strategic partnerships can help you grow your business and reach new markets. Look for businesses that offer products or services that complement yours, including a potential new product focus. Consider working together through cross-promotions, joint ventures, or affiliate marketing.
Building trust is very important for any business. Working with well-known brands can give your business more credibility. By sharing resources, networks, and customers, both companies can grow together and reach more people in the market.
Getting involved in social responsibility projects and helping local communities is a grow business strategy that can boost your brand's visibility and build goodwill. You can take part in or support local events, fundraising activities, or charity drives that match your brand's values.
Showing social responsibility helps both the community and your business. Many customers are attracted to brands that act ethically and care about making a good impact.
This way of thinking improves your brand image and helps you give back to the community. This builds loyalty with customers who value your efforts and the principles you stand for.
Content marketing is a great way to connect with your target audience. It helps you show that you know what you are talking about and can boost your sales. You need a website to publish content. If you don’t have one already, our web developers can help you—contact us to inquire.
You should create good-quality blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, or other types of content. This content should offer valuable insights, answer popular customer questions, or fix important issues.
Making engaging content helps grab the attention of the people you want to reach. It also shows that your brand is a trustworthy source of information in your industry. This can increase website visits, create loyalty to your brand, and bring in more customers. By always giving value through your content, you can gain the trust of your audience and become a go-to resource in your field.
You should consider each strategy, identify what will work best for your business, and implement them. With consistent efforts, you should start seeing results. Before we round up, I will share some tips on getting the most from your digital marketing efforts and sustaining your growth.
Effective digital marketing is more than just being online. It involves constantly optimizing, analyzing, and improving your grow business strategy. You should check your digital marketing strategies regularly, look at how they perform, and make changes to boost customer retention, improve SEO rankings, and get the best return on your investment.
Keep in mind that the digital world changes constantly. It's important to stay up-to-date with new trends and updates to remain competitive. Here is how you can do that:
One big advantage of digital marketing is that you can track and study how well your campaigns are doing in real-time. Use tools like Google Analytics to keep an eye on important numbers, find areas to improve, and quickly change your marketing strategies.
This way of using data gives you more flexibility and better responses than old marketing methods. If a campaign is not working well, you can easily adjust your messaging, target audience, or how much budget you use to make it better. By making choices based on data, you can make sure your marketing efforts are getting the results you want and getting the most out of your investment.
Another strategy to get the most out of your digital marketing effort is to understand and implement search engine optimization (SEO) concepts.
Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a pivotal role in enhancing your online visibility and driving organic growth. When potential customers search for phrases (keywords) related to your business or products, you want your website to appear among the top results.
Optimizing your website for search engines involves various factors, from keyword research and on-page optimization to building high-quality backlinks and ensuring mobile-friendliness. The following table provides a quick understanding of key areas within SEO:
Area | Description |
On-Page SEO | Optimizing website content and HTML for target keywords. |
Off-Page SEO | Building backlinks from reputable websites to increase authority. |
Technical SEO | Enhancing website structure, speed, and security for improved user experience. |
Local SEO | Optimizing for local searches is crucial for businesses with physical locations. |
While SEO typically takes time and consistent efforts, in the long run, it can serve as a lifeline for your business. It is a great way to consistently get leads without paying additional money on advertising. If you need help planning SEO for your business, contact us at Skiie.org.
Once you start seeing results from your grow business strategy, you want to ensure this growth is sustainable. I will conclude this article with some tips on sustaining your business growth.
Sustained growth depends on getting new customers and keeping your current ones. It is important to encourage customer loyalty. To do this, provide excellent customer service that enhances customer satisfaction. Make each interaction personal and work on creating a positive brand experience. This will help customers come back to buy again and build strong, lasting relationships.
Loyal customers are very important. They can become supporters of your brand. They often tell friends and family about your products or services. This creates organic growth through word-of-mouth marketing.
Consider the following strategies for business growth to get loyal customers for your business:
In today's market, it's very important to seek and use feedback from customers to enhance the overall customer experience and reach a new audience. This helps keep them satisfied and improves your business. Offer easy ways for customers to share their thoughts, like online surveys, feedback forms, or social media interactions.
Make sure to check this feedback often. Look for common trends. Fix any issues and spot chances to enhance your products or services. When you show that you care about customer feedback and want to improve, you create trust. This helps to build loyalty among your customer base.
Developing a referral system is an excellent way to reward your current customers for bringing in new ones. Consider offering discounts, exclusive benefits, or other incentives for successful referrals. Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful forms of advertising because happy and loyal customers can significantly influence others.
Personal recommendations are highly trusted and often lead to more sales than traditional marketing strategies. By encouraging referrals, you can quickly expand your customer base and foster a community of satisfied customers who actively promote your brand.
According to Gartner.com, a business growth strategy is 'an organization's plan for overcoming current and future challenges to realize its goals for expansion.' These effective growth strategies may include having a clear growth strategy for increasing market share and revenue, acquiring assets, and enhancing the organization's products or services.
Ansoff identifies four key strategies for business growth:
Depending on the type of company you're building, your strategy to grow the business might involve various elements, such as adding new locations, investing in customer acquisition, exploring franchising opportunities, market expansion through expanding product lines, and selling products online across multiple platforms. Successful companies often use similar strategies to drive growth and achieve their business goals.
Hartford's Business Owner's Playbook highlights that each stage in a business's life cycle presents unique challenges that must be creatively addressed. One model outlines the four stages of business growth:
Almaz, founder of SKiie.org, began his journey as an SEO expert but soon realized the true power of combining SEO with web development. Passionate about building seamless websites and apps, Almaz honed his skills in both custom solutions and CMS platforms. Today, SKiie.org creates impactful web solutions that elevate clients' outreach. Inspired by his experience as an orphan, Almaz ensures that 7% of SKiie’s revenue goes to charity, effectively giving back and uplifting communities worldwide.