Open another location

Although physical expansion is rarely the best option to expand your business, it can be a logical way to grow. First, make sure you’re making good (growing) year-on-year profits; look at the economic trends (although the trend isn’t always your friend, its worth a bit of studying for this option). Make sure you’ve got the funds, energy and vision to make it work. Finally, choose the location for your business, not your wallet. If you can only afford a new site in a location that doesn’t give you footfall of your target market – don’t even consider it!

Define your niche!

Some business people think niche = negative, a restriction to where they can take their business. Generally speaking, in small business the opposite is true. If you can define your niche accurately and target your message directly to their needs, niche marketing will give you even more power to your business elbow. To define your niche, ask yourself: What do my buyers have in common?; How do I differ from my competitors?; What are the unique benefits I offer and What do I offer over and above the standard? Don’t try too hard with this one; the best answers are usually the ones on the tip of your tongue!

What’s your product or service worth?

In order to work out the correct price for your product or service, you need to take into account (amongst other things): your fixed and variable costs; your competitors prices; your objectives; your proposed positioning and finally your target market’s willingness to pay! Once you’ve mixed all these elements together, you should be within about a 20% margin of error! One final thing that many small businesses forget when setting their prices is the Perceived Value of their product. What special attributes do consumers associate with your product, what do they believe it's worth to them? This is a bit of trial and error, but with flexible pricing and ongoing monitoring, you should be able to maximise your return on investment.

Fancy a go at email marketing?

First and most importantly, get the permission of the recipient. Second, make sure your email has a “hook”: a good reason for being sent. Get your hook into the first couple of sentences and continue the theme throughout your email. Be succinct, keep your email short. State your most important facts first: some readers won’t scroll! Allow plenty of “white space” so your email is easy to scan. Write in the first person and personalise your email as much as possible. Avoid excessive use of capitals and exclamation marks: they are just “noise” for the reader. Always offer an option to “unsubscribe”; finish with a captivating p.s..and finally make sure you follow your email up - otherwise it's effort wasted!

Qualify your leads

Once you've identified your leads, before taking action make sure they are realistic opportunities for your business. Do you have the right contacts; might they need what you can offer; what info is on their website to help you understand them better; are there any conflicts in contacting this prospect; who makes their decisions???