There are four things to leverage when looking to strategically grow an organization. Before we get too hasty though, it’s worth checking your foundation before attempting to build on it.
The foundation of strategic growth identifies opportunities based on what has been experienced to date. It’s the adage of you can’t know where you are going, until you know where you’ve been. This is not just management experiences, but also customer experiences, because if you don’t filter decisions based on how they will be received by customers then you have a rough ride in front of you. Honor thy customer… now let’s move on.
Growth comes from either leveraging your market knowledge or your product knowledge. There are four different strategies that can be employed here, which can then be executed upon with tactics:
- Concentrate on what you do best.
Penetrating your existing market strategy by driving more purchases or increasing use of your product or service is good business. Maximize the ways customers can utilize what you are offering. Incentivize the use of what you already offer, maybe through price adjustments or trial periods to lure your competitors’ customers your way. - Develop the goods.
Strategic product development doesn’t have to be about creating brand new things. It can happen by adding to existing product features as well. The underlying premise here is that you have a solid understanding of the market and can either add services to your existing product, develop new models or sizes to your existing line, or you are leveraged enough to develop a totally new product (think Gerber foods producing baby clothes). - Take it to the streets.
Reaching new customers means you are satisfied with your current offer to the market and extending it to new markets is a logical next step. Understanding the market means doing some form of research, as you wouldn’t go into a new neighborhood without a GPS-powered app or old-fashioned directions written down on a scrap of paper. Are time/people/funding resources required lined up in a way that won’t negatively impact your current business advantage? - Variety is the spice of life.
Like ordering dinner that’s the next level of “spicy” at a Thai restaurant (which is a mighty bold thing to do), sometimes you need to try something new. To execute upon this, you usually go through a merger, an acquisition or develop a completely new business venture. A company’s strategic diversification strategy can be either related or unrelated to the original business.
If this topic is perking your interest, enjoy a free chapter on the topic from our book The Strategic Planning Kit for Dummies, which covers how any market growth strategy nests into an overall corporate-level strategy.
Now, let’s get growing!
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