Every small to medium-size business seeks ways to grow but are often without the funds necessary to invest in their company.
If you have noticed that your business needs to grow but you don’t have the cash on hand to make any investments at this time, there are ways to build your business without a major outlay of cash. Here are some ideas you may wish to consider.
Build a Solid Social Presence
Sometimes you know you need to do more advertising but the budget just isn’t there. If you want to grow your customer base, why not use an updated ‘word of mouth approach’? Social media is one way to build a huge following and many of those followers become influencers for your business. If you don’t have the money to invest in other, more traditional, ways of advertising, then build your social presence. You can do it yourself as an administrator or you can delegate key employees to work your social accounts daily. You might be surprised at just how effective social media can be and there is really zero investment – except, of course, paying employees who spend time each day online.
New Equipment with Minimal Outlay
What if you suddenly realise that your company’s fleet of vehicles is outdated, many of them breaking down too regularly to justify keeping in the fleet? You can find car lease deals, including luxury vehicles such as Jaguars, that will help you add the number of vehicles you need to continue servicing your customers without a huge deposit. Even if your company has an exemplary credit rating, a minimum of 10% down on several vehicles could pay a few annual salaries! Can you afford that right now? You are, after all, looking to grow your business, so any major outlay of capital is going to be counterproductive.
Scalability Is a Must
Perhaps you have a bit of capital you can invest. Why not choose investments that can be scaled up as your business grows? Marketing would be a good example of just that. You could start by hiring a team to update your website and then use SEO content to draw visitors to your site. After you begin to expand your customer base and sales are up, you can add other scalable marketing strategies one by one. This is a scalable investment that can help to grow your business exponentially if the right marketing strategies are employed.
So, as you can see, there really are ways to ‘invest’ in your company without a lot of cash involved. Use your team’s creativity to branch out through social media and find ways to get that new equipment without huge outlays of cash. When you begin to make a bigger profit, set aside a portion tagged for business growth but always use scalable investments so that they grow in tandem with your business growth. In the end, it may not take a lot of money, but it will take time and effort. What are you willing to put into your business to see it grow steadily over time?