6 Growth Hacking Strategies for Small Businesses to Jumpstart Conversions

Your small business, whether it's been around for 50 years or 50 days, needs a strategy for growth. Keeping your loyal customer base happy is a no-brainer. But how do you convert more prospects into new customers?

That's where a growth strategy comes into play. Once you decide it's time to grow, then you have other important questions to answer. How do you know which tactics to use as part of your growth strategy? Which software tools should you invest in?

The answers depend on your business goals: How many conversions are you aiming for, and how quickly? Take a look at six growth hacking strategies your small business can try as you jumpstart conversions.

Growth hacking strategies can be as involved as you want them to be. You can invest a little or a lot.

Make sure to set SMART goals [1](specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) and collect data with each strategy to determine how best to proceed. For example, you want to set a goal of increasing revenue by 10% within six months. Outline the steps you need to take and KPIs to measure as you move towards that goal.

1. Invest in content marketing

Content marketing is more than just writing. It's consistently putting fresh content out there for your brand, whether it's videos, podcasts, images, or events. Content marketing runs the gamut from a website, paid advertising, and social media to email marketing, newsletters, and inbound marketing.

Content marketing gets your audience to your web pages. To optimize your content marketing for conversions, examine your web pages to make sure they have multiple conversion points. For example, have a call now button, a short form for an email address and name, or a chatbot to give your audience their choice of ways to communicate with your brand. More methods of communication can foster more conversions and lead to more growth.

Check out "How to Be Good at Content Marketing as a Small Business" for more tips on content marketing.

2. Use self-service elements

Interactive elements on your website are a big deal because B2C and B2B customers crave self-service. Gartner estimates [2] that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions will be digital, and 33% of all buyers want a seller-free experience.

To foster this, you need interactive elements on your website. Chatbots offer one way to answer questions ahead of contacting customer service.

Posting a quiz on your website is another way to offer someone answers. When someone lands on your website, have a quiz pop up that asks, "Why are you here?" and then gives your audience choices. At the end of the quiz, the user receives an email giving a detailed answer to their question in exchange for giving you an email address. Not only does this quiz give a good impression to the user, but you also get an email address for future marketing efforts.

Having an email address allows your sales team to communicate directly with the prospect to consult with them regarding their needs. Even if they don’t convert now, you can use that email for remarketing or inbound marketing to keep your brand on the prospect’s mind.

Check out some conversational marketing platforms that can help you develop interactive elements.

3. Create a loyalty or discount program

Everyone loves offers and discounts. And people are willing to give their contact information in exchange for an enticement, but you need to convince your users that the exchange is worth it. Consider offering specials or discounts for initially signing up, like "50% off the first three months" or "25% off your first purchase of $50 or more" or something similar.

A loyalty program for B2C customers fosters more purchases with your current customer base. Loyalty programs put offers in front of customers on a regular basis while earning points on purchases.

4. Connect with customers

Sometimes it's worthwhile to employ a strategy that's not about leading to a purchase right away. Reach your audience through webinars showcasing your expertise. Webinars are part of an inbound marketing strategy, a long-term growth strategy that shares valuable content with your target audience. Let’s say you receive emails from prospects interested in your brand, but they aren’t ready to convert. You can send your prospects emails with content, including invites to webinars that highlight your industry expertise.

For example, your team came up with a better way to design custom airlock valves, and you want to share the news with your target audience. Host a webinar highlighting the improvements you made and why they are important. Webinars allow you to present information while answering questions.

Easy-to-use webinar software can make highlighting your industry knowledge with customers a breeze.

5. Highlight testimonials and reviews

Whether it's Facebook, Google, YouTube, or your website (or a combination of all of them), social proof through testimonials is a great way to spread the good word about your brand. When happy customers willingly talk about your brand to others, you have a golden opportunity to grow your loyal customer base.

There are plenty of review management software choices out there for your company to use that will aggregate testimonials and reviews on your website, making them more visible to your potential customers.

6. Retarget non-communicating customers   

Do you have existing customers who have fallen off of your radar? Reach out to them with a relevant offer. For example, you can send an email, text message, or in-app message saying something like, "Hey, haven't heard from you since you ordered [product name] a while back. Have $5 off on us."

Discover some fantastic customer communications management software options for uncovering that just-right message to bring non-communicating customers back into the fold.

The beauty of growth hacking comes from scaling your efforts once you find methods that work. Plus, you can continually improve targeted messaging to maintain your growth at a steady pace.