As your business progresses more and more, your mind starts to wonder how you’re going to expand one day. Being in the creative industry you have so much scope to reach more people, work on unique services and use the online world to your full advantage. With that being said, if you want to streamline your business and allow it to grow organically you need to be as practical as possible.
Before you dive straight into your expansion plans it is so important to consider a number of avenues. If this has seriously been on your radar recently, then you should consider the following nine steps right now.
Space
As a creative you may require plenty of space to carry out your job effectively. Whether you’re an artist, calligrapher or graphic designer, you’re going to need a suitable location to carry out your work in a professional manner. Before renting out an office space you may want to think about carriage house plans. You could describe this as an outbuilding behind or at the side of your own house. The advantages of this would be not commuting to work and you could purpose build your space to suit your needs. This is the perfect place to start if you’re serious about expanding your creative business and in need of more space/
Employees
As your business grows it is inevitable that you’re going to need extra help. Depending on your business type, you need to consider how your first employee could be best used. Whether you need help with social media marketing or you would prefer administration assistance, there are so many ways that you can seek out help. You may want to start hiring on a freelance basis before you offer contracts; you want to make sure that the arrangement works out well between you and your new employees.
New Services
Expanding your creative business will inevitably mean that you need to work on your range of products or services. Try to have a plan in mind before you start the expansion process as this will make your vision much clearer. The easiest way to do this is to carry out a brain dump of every idea you have. Some of the ideas will be winners and some might not come into fruition in the end. It is so important to allow this time to be creative so that your business can thrive.
More Online Meaningful Interaction
Talking with your potential clients and customers is so important; this is going to help you boost sales and aid your expansion plans. The next time you post a new blog or share a social media story, take note of exactly who is interacting with it and go out of your way to communicate with them. This sort of meaningful social interaction will give you algorithm favour and will be more likely to secure you a sale.
Competitor Research
When you’re looking to expand, it is so important to evaluate what your competitors are doing right now. This will give you a clear indication of the direction your business should be going. Try to look at businesses that are a similar size to yours so that your sense of expansion isn’t warped by big businesses who have much more capital than you.
Deeper Market Research
You can’t just click a special expansion button for your business without conducting some in depth market research. Knowing exactly what they’re looking for will help you to provide online content, services and products that they’re actually going to buy. The most effective way to carry out market research is to get on the phone with your ideal client. Write down their answers and use their language as part of your marketing campaigns. There is nothing more valuable than first hand research with the people who are going to be your future clients.
Blogging for SEO
As your business grows you need your online presence to reflect this too. Blogging is underrated amongst small business owners right now, so why not give it a try? If you’re pushed for time there will always be talented freelance writers who can create high value content for your website. It is so important that all of your blog posts are SEO friendly so that your website appears at the very top of search engine results when your target audience types in a keyword or phrase related to your industry.
An Actionable Timeline
Clicking your fingers and expanding isn’t a feasible goal to have in your mind. You need to be realistic with yourself and base your actions on your current business situation. When you’re hoping to expand, you need to create an actionable timeline so that you stick to your goals. You may want to write down the date to hire a spare pair of hands or the date in which you hope to have a new office space. Having an accurate timeline of events will help you stay on track throughout this entire process so you don’t get overwhelmed or distracted. Remember, expanding a business isn’t an overnight venture. It’s going to take a considerable amount of hard work and dedication. You will get there in the end as long as you stick with your timeline and stay positive throughout.
As soon as you have worked your way through these action steps you will have much more clarity on who you’re serving and how you’re going to get there. All in all, it is absolutely necessary to have a solid plan in place before you make any power moves. Although it’s great to be ambitious, you also need to be realistic. Whether you’re thinking about renting a new space for a studio or outsourcing your admin, there are a number of different ways to approach your expansion. Every single creative business will be different, so you need to assess what works for you. Hopefully with the above ideas, your growth will smooth, seamless and successful.
Leave a Reply