3 Reasons Your New Business is NOT Growing

The early stages of business development are the most difficult.

You're trying to find your audience and learn how to speak directly to them.

You're fiddling with your prices so they'll be accessible to your consumers, but still give you a worthwhile profit.

You're trying to determine how much of your product you should offer and when.

There's oodles of things going on in the beginning and it's easy to get discouraged right out of the gate.

Today, I want to offer some encouragement and advice because things will get better. In the meantime, here are three reasons why they may feel stifled right now.

1) Your vision isn't properly executed

Think about your best friend in the entire world. Think about what they did to earn the title of "best friend." Most likely, it was because they were consistent. They were consistent in how often they talked to you and in the things that they said. The same thing is true for the relationship between business owners and consumers. You have to know exactly what you represent as a brand. Your messaging and your service has to be consistent everywhere.

For instance, if my product was something that helped the environment in some way, it would be inconsistent in my messaging for the packaging to be a larger than necessary, wasteful box with a lot of plastic bubble wrap inside. Your target audience would not want to buy your product because it's inconsistent with your agenda as a company.

2) You aren't tracking your stats

There's a possibility that it just feels like things are going nowhere, but it could be just that: a feeling. What units of measurement do you have in place to track your goals and growth? If the answer is none, then that makes it difficult to move forward and create new goals.

3) You're doing too much

It's a lot of work being a small business owner, and I'm sure that from reading up on marketing from various websites that you've seen articles that tell you that you need to be EVERYWHERE. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Email, Website, etc., etc. But with the time it takes to come up with posts for all of these platforms alongside running your business, it's just too much. You can't do it all and be effective. It's much better to stick to one or two platforms until you're ready to hire out for someone else (someone like yours truly) to manage your social upkeep.

Bonus Tip: You're not trying new things

Marketing, at the end of the day, is a creative profession. It's super finicky, and very objective. Trial and error is a big part of the profession. Don't be afraid to try new things to reach your audience. Try writing two different emails and sending each out to half of your audience members to see which style worked better. Get your marketing down to a science. Experiment, check the results, tweak, and try again.

About the Author: Katria Farmer is a freelance communications consultant in Wilson, NC specializing in copywriting and graphic design. Her B.A. is in communication studies and her M.A. is in strategic communications. She serves Wilson, Rocky Mount, Raleigh, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. Learn more about working with her: https://www.katriafarmer.com/about