Business Development for the Modern Age
In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business landscape, the need for effective business development has never been greater. In fact, a recent Investopedia article notes that approximately 20 percent of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open. Almost half of them fail during the first five years and only 25 percent survive to 15 years. Why is that? Well, it’s pretty simple, the companies that can adapt to new trends, identify emerging markets, and forge strong partnerships stand the test of time while those that don’t become fading memories.
What is Business Development?
Business development gets thrown around workplaces a lot and most people think it’s just the professional way to say “sales”. In actuality, business development refers to the process of creating and implementing growth tactics for a business. Do sales happen? Yes, but it’s the indirect result of creating more business opportunities.
5 Business Development Tactics
Business development efforts are only as good as the tactics you use so here are 5 tactics you can implement to drive growth and expand the life expectancy of your company.
- Building strategic partnerships: Partnerships with other businesses can help expand your customer base, increase brand visibility, and create new revenue streams. For example, a software company partnering with a hardware company provides both parties increased opportunities to scale their revenue.
- Networking and relationship-building: Building strong relationships with potential customers, partners, and industry influencers opens up new opportunities for your business. Start attending industry events and conferences, joining industry associations, and leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn to connect with other professionals in your field.
- Investing in marketing and advertising: Marketing & advertising increases brand awareness, drives website traffic, and generates leads. This strategy can involve a range of tactics, including content marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and social media advertising.
- Expanding into new markets: Broadening territory can help businesses tap into new revenue streams and increase their customer base. This tactic involves expanding geographically, entering new industry segments, or targeting new customer demographics.
- Innovating and staying ahead of the curve: Innovation can be a powerful driver of growth and differentiation for businesses. Investing in research and development, creating new products or services, or embracing new technologies to improve efficiency and customer experience will put your company miles ahead of competitors.
Invest in Business Development
Ultimately, the best business development tactics will depend on the unique needs and goals of each business but by staying agile, adapting to changing market conditions, and focusing on delivering value to your clients, you can put your business in a great position to transcend eras.
