7 Growth Hacks For Your Business

Are you a business owner looking for some truly great growth hacks to grow your business online? Well, keep reading to find out what works!

If you’re a business owner, you’re likely fixated on finding an effective suite of growth hacks.

You know what I’m talking about…

The types of growth hacks that truly propel your business into the minds of hundreds of potential new clients and bring you more business.

You might be stuck thinking that the only types of strategies that work cost thousands of dollars, take months of planning and a team to implement.

The good news is that this is far from the truth.

There’s a whole variety of great growth hacks that work wonders and don’t cost an arm and a leg to execute.

We’ll go over seven fantastic growth hacks for your business in the article below.

And none of them are as difficult to implement as you think.

1. Content Marketing

Let’s start this growth hack off with a statistic.

A massive 68% of internet users spend their time reading the blogs posted by companies they find interesting.

That means if you have any sort of customer base at all, or you’re working to build one, content marketing through blogs and other engaging materials is a must.

Whether your content is comprised of articles, videos, white papers or just about anything else, people will engage with it – if it’s helpful or interesting.

The good news is that it only takes a few hours to create a suite of blog posts for your website and these will improve customer engagement and keep readers interested.

On top of this, publishing informative posts that actually help people will build consumer trust. Your business will be seen as a place for people to go when they need help. These trust building materials are essential due to the fact that consumers simply won’t purchase from a business that they don’t trust, or that they think is new to the scene.

Lastly, content marketing will grow your reach on the internet.

A whole variety of media and materials makes it easier for search engines to rank your site and puts your business right up front. To make the most of your content marketing be sure to utilize as many keywords and phrases as possible in your content. This will better target your audience, and you’ll soon see a major spike in web traffic.

2. Collect Emails Through Coupons & Deals

Gathering hundreds of emails for your mailing list is the main requirement of this growth hack. It gives you a direct contact line to potential customers and is a fantastic way to keep them all updated with information regarding new products, services and sales.

It’s no secret that email is still the preferred point of contact for consumers, so take advantage. All shoppers love a great deal and sending out email alerts relating to discounts is a way to show customers you have their back but also to keep your brand in their minds.

One of the most effective ways to implement this email collection growth hack is to provide a pop-up on your website’s homepage. Promote a deal, discount or simply offer sale updates and ask users for their email address. It also helps to make the pop-up look exciting and fun, not like an ad, so keep that in mind when designing.

3. Prove You’re an Active Business

When potential customers visit your website and they like what they see, they’ll want to know whether you’re an active business or not. This means they’ll head right to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to look for signs of life on these accounts. If they find your last post was over a year ago, they’ll immediately assume you’re out of business and not want to buy anything from you.

This is where recurring posting comes in most handy. When it comes to growth hacks, it’s the most effortless way to show all of your potential customers that you’re active and ready to sell a service or product. It might even become a hub for customer communication, where your happy customers answer the questions of others in the comment section.

Here’s a great tip if you’re time poor and don’t have time to spend on social media every day:

Take advantage of automated posting.

Services like Buffer, Hootsuite and Loomly are all you need to keep your social media accounts active. Spend just a few hours each month writing up your social posts and enter them into your posting service. You can have a fresh new post, or ten, on your social media accounts every day without having to do a thing.

4. Enroll in a Business Course or Consider eLearning

If you’re looking to truly take hold of your business’s growth, then enrolling in a business course is certainly going to give you everything you need to succeed.

We understand that many entrepreneurs and business owners don’t have time to get away from work to study, so we have a few other options.

You can sign up to online learning platforms like lynda.com or even LinkedIn’s own Learning platform which are great places to learn the ins and outs of business and marketing. And because courses are direct, you’ll quickly understand what makes products sell and what you’re able to implement into your own business to get it growing.

Short eLearning courses aside, if you’re interested in something a little more in-depth, then online-only universities like Australis College are here to help out. These colleges provide official Certificate courses as well as Diplomas that will leave you with all the fundamentals of business development and help you develop your very own growth hacks.

5. Create a Sense of Urgency

We all know that when an item is on sale for a limited time we are far more inclined to purchase it right away.

This is growth hacking in action, and it works. Making a product seem scarce empowers consumers to shop quick and get in fast, meaning less time spent in the cart and more time checking out.

A few of the best ways to create a sense of urgency are to put countdown timers wherever you can, whether it be on a product itself, within your marketing material or even inside your cart. This way consumers will know that they only have a few more hours to save on a product before it reverts back to its original price.

You might also want to consider adding a stock counter next to products. If customers can see that there is just one item left, they’ll be included to purchase it a lot quicker.

A secondary effect often comes from limited time sales too. Consumers will share the products with their friends or family. If they know someone who needs a new TV, phone or even just a desk plant and they see one on sale for a limited time, they’ll share it right away.

Implementing a free or same-day shipping countdown will also push up sales and promote shares, plus you won’t even need to reduce the price of the product at all. This will keep average selling price high but also keep your sales numbers growing at the same time. A win-win.

6. Modernize Your Website & Applications

Of course, the majority of your growth hacks will go to waste if you’re sending all of your new readers, customers and online traffic to an outdated website. It is your digital storefront after all, so make a stellar impression.

A great piece of information to remember is that customers will leave your website within just seven seconds if you haven’t given them a reason to stay. That means highlighting everything you need to showcase at a glance. Services, products and essential info should be front and center, not hiding deep within the web page or app.

Search engines are also not going to favor older, difficult-to-navigate websites, so make an effort to create a responsive site that is easy to use. Google and other search engines also take into account mobile accessibility. Today mobile browsers are the leader, and that means your site has to be mobile-ready to get a high SEO ranking.

A final thing to remember when website design is concerned, is that it changes as frequently as home interior design. Don’t be stuck in the past using old animations, stale fonts and legacy plugins. Take the time to switch over to HTML 5 and focus on the latest web design trends. Customers will thank you for it by staying on your website longer.

7. Always Listen to Customers

There’s no doubt that listening to your customers and working to build strong brand trust is a great business growth hack.

Though, the importance of this step is often undervalued. When you think of ‘customer feedback’ you have to remember that it’s more than just a review or a comment. Your customers will be the first to tell you that your product is out of style of off-trend when they stop purchasing it.

Take Yahoo and Best Buy for example. They were on their last legs when they realized that listening to their customers and following their movements was the key to success.

The traditional means of listening to direct customer feedback and complaints is still vitally important too, so always keep that in mind. If a product or service you offer isn’t satisfying your customers, then fix it.

Another fantastic reason to keep a close eye on your customers is down to the fact that their comments and suggestions might create a hit product. Each comment, post or interaction from your customers will be a chance to perfect and enhance whatever it is you’re selling, so certainly don’t let this feedback go to waste. It’s virtually a free focus group. To best foster this type of creative criticism or suggestion making, implement a policy where you ask for this feedback.