Business Growth Strategies: Types and Application

Growing a business requires strategic management, targeted efforts, and a clear understanding of market dynamics. However, while optimizing your strategic plan, you’ll discover several strategies you can apply to achieve your business goals. 

Which business growth strategies are right for you? This article will discuss many successful options and examples of companies that used them effectively. Stick around for all the details. 

A business growth strategy is a plan designed to increase a company’s market share, revenue, and overall value. Growth strategies are essential for businesses looking to scale, enter new markets, or develop new products. Without a clear strategy, your company will risk stagnation or losing ground to competitors as everyone is continuously looking to gain an edge in the market.

Components of a successful business growth strategy include:

• Identifying target markets via market research
• Setting clear objectives
• Allocating resources
• Continuously evaluating performance and adjusting accordingly
• Finding new ways to reach existing and potential customers and encourage customer loyalty 

For example, Amazon has used a growth strategy centered around the customer experience to become a leader in the e-commerce industry. They’re constantly evaluating data and making changes to improve the experience for their existing and new customers, such as optimizing shipping and receiving processes to reduce delivery times or making better product recommendations on their website and in promotional emails.

Quantive StrategyAI can also help you create targeted business growth strategies, whether you’re a smaller startup or run a larger chain of companies. Using AI-driven insights, our platform can help you identify strategies that align with your mission, track industry trends, and organize KPIs to monitor progress. 

Companies often use four major growth strategies. Let’s examine each of these growth strategies with examples of companies that used them effectively. 

1. Market penetration: This strategy focuses on increasing market share in existing markets. For example, in recent years, Samsung has gained market share for mobile phone sales in the U.S. by restructuring their pricing to offer lower entry-level prices than competitors. 
2. Market development: This involves entering new geographic or demographic markets. For example, throughout Coca-Cola’s existence, the company has continuously worked to expand into new markets worldwide for continued growth. They’ve even remained flexible with their products to do this, such as adjusting the flavor of Coke beverages slightly to align with taste preferences in different countries. 
3. Product development: Companies develop new products or add features to existing ones to cater to new customer needs. For instance, Google successfully expanded from its search engine to introduce AdWords, a major revenue driver targeting companies wanting to drive more traffic to their web pages. 
4. Diversification: This strategy involves entering entirely new markets or industries. It can be risky but offers high returns if done right. For instance, John Deere, the popular tractor/lawnmower company, recently saw a hole in the snowmobile market and started producing and selling snowmobiles to boost sales.

Along with the major growth strategies, there are also four types of business growth. Let’s review each with some examples of business growth from successful companies. 

1. Organic growth: This is the most traditional growth method, where a company uses internal marketing efforts and strategies to boost sales for existing products or services. For example, Zapier used content marketing strategies to boost sales for its workflow automation software. In particular, they reported in 2023 that 72% of their organic website traffic was generated from SEO-focused blogs that consistently brought in relevant visitors. 
2. Strategic growth: This type of growth happens when businesses form strategic partnerships or alliances to grow a customer base. For instance, Lyft partnered with Taco Bell to create a unique customer experience. Customers could add a Taco Bell stop while scheduling a Lyft ride with the click of a button, expanding the reach, convenience, and sales for both companies. 
3. Internal growth: Internal growth focuses on improving a company's operational efficiency to increase profitability. Manufacturing companies often take this route by reducing waste and operational costs or making processes more efficient to save money and improve margins. 
4. Acquisition growth: This involves purchasing other companies to expand market share, product lines, or expertise. A famous example is Unilever acquiring Dollar Shave Club, which allowed it to break into the male grooming market more effectively. 

While there are several options for business growth, four key avenues include:

1. Expanding product lines: Adding new products can capture more customers or deepen existing relationships. For example, over the years, Nike has expanded from just a shoe company to offering a wide range of athletic apparel. Even more recently, Nike has begun expanding into producing home gym equipment as the demand for those products has grown. 
2. Exploring new markets: As mentioned earlier, expanding into new geographic or demographic markets can facilitate new growth by taking advantage of market expansion. For example, Facebook started out targeting U.S.-based college students. However, they eventually adjusted the platform to appeal to the general public and users worldwide to continue growing. 
3. Adopting new technologies: Investing in innovation can significantly boost a company’s capabilities and customer satisfaction. Salesforce grew by adopting cloud technology to make its platform more accessible in the business environment. 
4. Forming strategic partnerships: Partnerships can open new revenue streams and customer bases. This is one of the best business growth strategies for small businesses when you need more resources and reach to expand. A good place to start is reaching out to other local businesses or others in your industry who complement what your products or services provide. 

Quantive’s StrategyAI platform empowers businesses to execute their growth strategies with precision. Whether expanding product lines, entering new markets, or forming strategic partnerships, Quantive provides real-time insights and AI-powered tools to monitor and adjust strategies in real time. 

Ready to take your business growth strategy to the next level? Contact us today to learn more about how Quantive StrategyAI can help your business thrive.