4+ Small Business How-Tos: For Growing Your Business

Whether you’ve just launched a new business or have spent years developing your customer base, you’ve likely found yourself wondering how to grow your small business. Virtually every small business owner has the same goal: to experience rapid growth, increase their market share, and generate more steady profits.

However, achieving substantial business growth without a comprehensive business plan and marketing strategy is almost impossible. Our team at Weave created the ultimate how-to guide for small business owners who want to refine their marketing strategy, enhance their market penetration, and increase brand awareness.

We’ve helped thousands of satisfied small business owners refine their marketing efforts and improve customer loyalty, thanks to our streamlined customer relationship management platform. Read on for everything you need to know to boost your business’s success this year, then get in touch with our team at Weave to learn more about how you can scale your operations using our software.

1. How to Grow Your Small Business Online

The growth of digital marketing and social media has made it possible for small businesses anywhere to launch successful marketing campaigns, reach new customers, and enjoy rapid growth opportunities.

While small business growth doesn’t happen overnight, we’ve broken down some of the most effective ways to scale your marketing penetration, target customers through social media, and boost sales faster.

Collect Reviews to Get Your Business Discovered Online

Did you know that more than 90% of your potential customers read reviews about your business online before they ever step foot in your door?¹ In addition, 80% believe that online reviews are as influential as a recommendation from a friend, family member, or colleague.

Online reviews inform new customers that they can trust you with their hard-earned cash. Even so, tracking reviews for your small business can feel like a full-time job unless you have fully integrated tools that collect, organize, and manage your online reviews, like Weave’s review management features.

How to Grow Your Small Business on Facebook and Google

From sharing a blog post to enhance your content marketing efforts, encouraging customers to leave reviews, or gaining new audience insights, Facebook and Google make it easy to provide more value to your target market while building brand awareness on social media.

Take advantage of all that Facebook and Google have to offer by optimizing your Facebook business page with relevant information, claiming your Google My Business page, launching a Google Ads campaign with insights from Google Analytics, and highlighting your latest reviews from current customers on your website and social media profiles using Weave’s review monitoring tools.

How to Grow Your Small Business on Instagram

Social media is one of the most effective–and budget-friendly–ways to kickstart your online business’s growth. Focusing on your Instagram presence will enable you to connect with your existing customers while expanding your brand awareness and gaining new followers.

While you may need to refine your social media marketing efforts down the road, you can get started by creating a content calendar with regular posts, sharing behind-the-scenes looks at daily operations in your Instagram stories, and compiling Reels highlighting new products to garner excitement and boost engagement.

2. How to Grow Your Small Business with Marketing

Your marketing plan plays a critical role in your growth strategy. Nevertheless, nearly 50% of all small businesses report that they don’t have a digital marketing strategy at all, though they’ve dedicated resources to social media advertising and email marketing.²

To optimize your efforts and improve your ROI, take some time to consider factors like your goals, your budget, and your target audience. Using this information, plus data from your social media profiles and Google Analytics, sketch out a 30-, 60-, and 90-day plan that includes print, digital, and email marketing ideas, goals, and objectives to support your growth strategies.

3. How to Grow Your Small Business with Email Marketing

Email marketing accomplishes three goals: it meets your customers where they’re at, it keeps your brand at the top of your clients’ minds, and it helps move your new and existing subscribers through your sales funnel. That doesn’t mean that you can send out a quick email and achieve a high conversion rate, though.

Instead, we recommend taking advantage of Weave’s pre-written, user-friendly email templates to connect with subscribers and guide them through the conversion process. In doing so, you’ll build trust with subscribers and turn new leads into loyal customers.

4. How to Grow Your Small Business with the Right Systems

Without systems in place, your marketing ideas will never achieve the kind of success that you want. However, implementing the right systems for your online business is an excellent way to streamline your marketing and outreach processes, connect with new and existing customers, and tailor messaging to your target audience.

Incorporating a user-friendly customer relationship management system offers other competitive advantages for small businesses, too. Below, we’ll discuss some of the best ways to grow your small business with dynamic, customizable systems like Weave.

Use Modern Smart Office Phones to See Analytics Like Heavy Call Times

If you’re still using a standard telephone system, you’re likely wasting time and money. Modern smart office phones enable you to do more than simply answer a phone call. Instead, you can use Weave’s digital phone system to track customer analytics, manage your workforce during busy call times, and easily review notes, follow-up details, and more.

In addition, Weave offers a streamlined queue system to prevent customers from redirecting to voicemail. As a result, you and your team can work more efficiently–and provide expert care to more customers.

Engage in Two-Way Texting with Customers

Text messaging is more than a quick way to catch up with friends. It’s a vital communications channel that every company needs to leverage to support their business growth strategies.

Research shows that 54% of customers feel frustrated when they can’t connect with a company via text.³ Further, you’re 134% more likely to receive a response from a customer when you communicate via text.

Stay in touch with your clients wherever they are with convenient two-way texting from Weave. Our software makes it easy to keep your customers updated on new products, services, or appointments, answer questions, and manage calendars with a single click.

Use Missed-Call Text to Avoid Losing Business

Every small business has experienced the frustration of missed calls and phone tag. Trying to connect with a customer over the phone can result in lengthy delays, lost business, and wasted time for you, your employees, and your clients.

Rather than playing phone tag or sending emails that get lost in junk folders, use Weave’s automatic missed-call texts to follow up with clients quickly and conveniently. Customers can then take advantage of two-way texting to provide a rapid response, eliminating the need for repeat calls and wasted time.

Use a Mobile App to Take Your Business on the Go 24/7

There’s no doubt about it: small businesses demand a considerable amount of time and energy. As a result, you may struggle to stay on top of marketing and social media campaigns, daily tasks, and your personal life.

Weave makes it simple to take your business with you anywhere you go. Our convenient mobile app consolidates all your customer information, email marketing campaigns, online review management tools, and more into a lightweight dashboard you can access from your preferred mobile device. Answer phone calls, respond to text messages, or launch your latest email marketing campaign anytime, anywhere with Weave.

Use Customer Insights to See Client Profiles When You Answer the Phone

Personalized customer service has a significant impact on business growth. Studies show that 80% of customers are more likely to frequent a business that offers a customized experience, while 93% of companies that prioritize personalized customer service see a boost in conversion rates.⁴

With that in mind, it pays–literally–to offer customized assistance when connecting with your customers. When you switch to Weave, you can view customer profiles as soon as you connect over the phone, enabling you to address questions, provide follow-up care, review notes, schedule appointments, and determine customer status at a glance.

Use a Full Payment Processor to Collect More Money in Less Time

No matter the reason why you started your business, you ultimately want to generate more sales and make a bigger profit. Doing so requires more than extraordinary products, services, or strategic partnerships with the best vendors, though. Instead, you’ve got to consider every step of the conversion process–including payment.

Modern shoppers want options, and they want them quickly. As such, investing in modern payment processing tools is vital. With Weave’s advanced payment processor, you can accept cash, contactless payments, in-store transactions, and text-to-pay billing designed to support HIPAA-compliant transactions in a customizable, and convenient manner.

Use Team Chat to Quickly Address Customer Needs

A study by Small Business Trends found that 82% of customers expect a response from customer service teams within ten minutes.⁵ Depending on your current customer relationship management systems, that may seem like an impossible task for you and your staff.

Weave streamlines customer response times by offering team chat features. There, you and your team can quickly ask and answer questions, share news, or discuss customer information in a channel designed to support HIPAA-compliant communication. As a result, you can provide customers with a rapid response that resolves their concerns, answers their questions, or updates them on the latest news.

Free Up Your Staff Time with Automatic Appointment Reminders

As you likely know, you and your team spend a considerable amount of time preparing to start work, no matter if you run a coffee shop, a dental office, or another small business.⁶ If you offer appointments for service, then you also know much time you spend confirming appointments with your clients, too.

Take back your time with Weave’s automatic appointment reminders. Weave will automatically send a custom email or text to remind customers of upcoming appointments. You can even personalize your reminder template to include information like the customer’s name and what type of appointment your customer has scheduled, then determine when you want to send reminders.

Final Thoughts

At Weave, we know that you’ve got a lot on your plate, no matter what kind of small business you own. That’s why we bring a lot to the table.

Whether you need automatic appointment reminders, streamlined systems to create a more efficient workplace, or personalized customer care, we can help. Get in touch with our team at Weave today to schedule a demo and support a successful business growth strategy with our agile communications management platform.

Resources:

1. How Online Reviews Can Help Grow Your Small Business
2. What percentage of businesses have a digital marketing strategy?
3. Text Messaging Statistics 2020: Results & Facts about the Newest Marketing Channel
4. 7 Ways to Provide Personalized Customer Service (Plus Benchmarks and Stats)
5. 82% of Consumers Expect Immediate Response on Sales or Marketing Questions
6. Do you spend more time on administrative tasks than your peers?