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Are you making mistakes in the growth strategy? If so, you’re not alone. So many companies struggle to wade through the usually outdated growth tactics and “hacks” on the internet to find those growth strategy gems that will help them scale.
If you’re wrong with your growth strategy, here are five common growth strategy mistakes so you can avoid them!
1. Following the trends – all of them
Analyzing other companies’ growth strategies is a great way to get ideas to grow your own business. But just take someone else’s strategy and apply it to your business? Not so much.
Your company is unique. Even if you are in the same industry and have a similar product, your particular mix of company values, employee skills and personality is not like any other company. So why try to copy their growth, marketing or messaging strategies?
Instead, take what you learn and share it to find out why it works. Then you’ll be in a much better position to decide if that strategy will work for your business.
Related: 6 Essential Components of a Solid Growth Strategy
2. Focusing on the wrong KPIs (or none at all)
You have to have a way of measuring performance. KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are what you will be using for that.
But just having KPIs won’t make it. You should actually watch them regularly and then act on what they tell you. The KPIs you use should be linked to your strategy, and like the trends we just talked about, not all the KPIs your competitors use will be right for you. Choose KPIs that fit your strategy and your business goals.
3. Ignore your customers
Growth doesn’t have to come from more features or product improvements. Customer research and CX mapping help you make impactful and strategic decisions. Understanding your customers leads to improvements in messaging and positioning that endear customers to your business.
4. Don’t create a go-to-market team
Your company probably has several teams working on marketing, product and engineering, customer experience, and more. You’re missing out on some serious insights if you don’t bring those teams together to develop or refine your go-to-market strategy.
Sure, every team has a specific set of responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring them together. Bringing these seemingly disparate teams together ensures that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal. The marketing team will gain insight into the customer experience of the CX team and learn what it takes for the product and engineering teams to launch those “simple” product updates.
The result? A team with a deeper understanding of how the entire business works, a better understanding of how they fit into business operations, and a greater chance that your business will produce a scalable and sustainable growth plan.
Related: Developing the Right Growth Strategy for Your Business Sustainability
5. Constantly trying to reinvent the wheel
Not every growth strategy has to be shiny and new. One of the easiest things you can do is make a list of what worked and what didn’t. Then do more of what worked and (surprise!) less of what didn’t.
It seems incredibly simplistic, but it works. You don’t have to brainstorm 100% brand new ideas every time you do a growth push. If you feel the need to do something different, try testing and optimizing things instead of starting from scratch.
And, seriously, if something doesn’t work even after you’ve tested and optimized? Let drop. There are too many things you could do to encourage growth that don’t try to make something work when it just doesn’t work.
Whether you’re just starting a business or scaling up an existing business, having a growth strategy is key to the success of your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to chart a path and keep going anyway.
If you find yourself encountering one or more of the growth strategy mistakes I’ve mentioned here, take a moment to regroup. Watch what happens and make some changes to your strategy before moving forward.