The 2020 Ultimate Growth Guide - 17 Best Ways to Increase Sales
Welcome to the 2020 Ultimate Growth Guide - the 17 Best Ways to increase sales for you or your organization. This is a long piece with a lot to digest, so feel free to jump around to those aspects most valuable to you here and now.
These are all of the possible ways to grow your business. Doesn’t matter what you’re selling. Could be hardware or software. Could be a Fortune 10 company or a startup. You could be 65 years old or 18. These are the ways you grow.
Some of these methods are going to make more sense for you than others. That’s all good. There’s no one method for success in this game. You can get to the number 10 a lot of different ways. 8 + 2 isn’t better than 5 + 5, it’s just different.
Use whatever methods work best for you, your company, and your clientele. Test em all!
Hopefully some of the resources talked about explain the WHY side of the sales approach. We talk about the difference of Google and FB, and demand generation (FB) vs demand fulfillment (Google). We also talk about BIG THINK and Edward Bernays approach to PR, along with many others.
Below is a googlesheet to help you keep track of and manage all of these as well as links to some of the references discussed.
It’s available here : Chris Keith - 2020 Ultimate Growth Guide - 17 Best Ways to Increase Sales
File -> Make a Copy -> Fill out your own!
Wanna know the best news about the vast majority this stuff? You can do them from HOME! No QUARANTINE EXCUSES!
Growth Never sleeps!
Let’s dive in.
1 - ALPHABET / GOOGLE
2B Monthly active users (can be more depending where you look)
This includes:
Google Search/PPC
Youtube
Maps
Gmail
Shopping
Google My Business
This can be a lot to digest, but here are a few resources for you to get started
Google Skillshop / Online Certification
Long story short, there is a ton of advertising real estate available through the google machine. I’d recommend starting small with a small budget and SMART campaign. TLDR - SMART campaigns optimize your campaign for you using Google’s AI.
They’ve recently made it easy to at least dip your toe in the water with SMART campaigns. Can start off with a small budget ($10/day) and googles AI optimizes your ads for target audiences. At the very least, you can run these (2 weeks minimum is a good idea) and gather data /see whats working and move on from there!
Keep in mind, this is the demand fulfillment part of the sales funnel. Think about it, when someone goes to google, they are looking to get an answer to their question. Keep this in mind as you are working on your verbiage for the ads. Answer the questions you believe people will be asking.
As always, TEST - don’t GUESS. You can spend $150 and at least get good info on what people are searching for that relates to the product/service you’re selling.
When this gets working in your direction, you legitimately can tell people what the demand for your product is, ONLINE. That’s power.
2 - FACEBOOK / IG
2.37 Billion monthly active users (can be more depending where you look)
This includes
FB
IG
Whatsapp
There is an incredible video where a Senator asked Zuckerberg was asked how FB can be such a big company when their platform is free: WE RUN ADS. (worth a watch) LOL.
FB advertising makes all if this possible through the back end, your business manager and ad manager. All of the ads are managed through there. Often times it makes sense to try and partner with an advertiser in this space as you really look to scale up.
Getting started isn’t ultra complicated:
Keep in mind, with everything FB and IG related, you’re in the Demand Generation part of the funnel. Unlike Google, which is where people often go to get an answer to a question, FB is simply a platform for people to communicate. So, for these ads, you want to make your creative/verbiage extremely appealing to someone that didn’t know they were interested in whatever it is you’re selling. You need a strong call to action/demand generation to get significant traction here.
As always, TEST don’t GUESS. Start with small budgets, if things are working, great, if not, switch it up!
3 - OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA
Here is a list of the other major social media platforms that you can pretty easily advertise on:
Linkedin - 260 M monthly active users
Twitter - 333M monthly active users
Bing - 450M monthly active users
Snapchat - 46 M monthly active
Tiktok - 700M monthly active users
Pinterest - 335M monthly active users
^^ All of these websites have paid business manager options for your advertisements.
There are obviously a ton more…
There is value on being active on every one of these websites. Now, depending on what you're selling, some make more sense than others. But, there really is no such thing as bad press, especially when you're trying to grow.
Focus on a couple of these and put effort there. You run the risk of spreading yourself a bit too thin if you try to attack all of em at once.
4 - SEO / CONTENT MARKETING
Ahhh - this is where we’re trying to figure out Google’s secret sauce!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is organically ranking for TOP positions in Google. On the front page. ORGANIC means you can't pay for it. You cannot directly influence this, it comes with time, quality, and domain expertise.
There is a bunch that goes into SEO, and depending on what you read and who you follow, you hear different things. Again, this is Google’s secret sauce, no one knows exactly how to crack this nut, and they're not gonna tell us any time soon.
This article from Growth Machine does a great job of explaining how to approach coming up from ground zero.
Long story short, put up content for a few months. Something. Anything. Make it relate to what you’re selling. As you grow the depth of your website and page, it ads to the legitimacy of your domain from Google’s perspective. Growth Machine will even help you find quality writers at different price points!
It’s also a great way to build a very engaged following. If you have a blog and loyal followers, you've created warm leads. Quality content production creates just this.
Here are a few other articles / thought leaders in the SEO space if interested:
SEO takes a while to get built and then up and running, but once it starts to click, its tough to break and really gets going for you. It’s autopilot, and you’re not having to pay for all the traffic you’re organically receiving.
How much more sales/traffic would you generate if you showed up at the very top of the front page of all of the questions your potential clientele would ask about? Let me answer that, a ton. That is why SEO is important.
5 - EMAIL / SMS
Email / Messaging is huge - capitalize on your already loyal client base!
Email campaigns can be used to get people to purchase again. They can be used to launch a new product. It can simply be used as a tool to get people back on the phone.
But you need to stay focused here to engage and re-engage your audience. In his book, Pre-Suasion, Robert Cialdini talks about the importance of attention:
This form of pre-suasion accounts for what many see as the principle role (labeled agenda setting) that the news media play in influencing public opinion. The central tenet of agenda-setting theory is that the media rarely produce change directly, by presenting compelling evidence that sweeps an audience to new positions; they are much more likely to persuade indirectly, by giving selected issues and facts better coverage than other issues and facts.
The media cannot tell you what to think. You control that. But they absolutely can control WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT. This is extremely important and why they are such powerful entities.
You want your clientele thinking about you (or your brand/company) when appropriate. Email and SMS is the best way to do that.
Play around with a few different approaches. If you have a subscription company, but together a joint email and SMS campaign, urging people to re-up on whatever good or service they are in need of. Test, don’t guess!!
If you’re launching a new product, put together a campaign that asks for feedback! Double down on your most loyal/repeat customers. Engage with them, make them feel like part of the brand!! Capitalize there.
Please - DO NOT overdo this stuff. I hate being bugged via email and text all the time. Less is more. Make it valuable and relevant when you do reach out.
6 - LEVERAGE EXISTING PLATFORMS
If you get the chance, read Modern Monopolies by Alex Moazed and Nicholas Johnson. (notes).
The book breaks down platform companies, and how valuable it is to simply create massive marketplaces that put supply directly in touch with demand.
Think about why Uber is valuable. It's not necessarily PROFITABLE all the time, but it is VALUABLE. It’s a massive platform that puts cars directly in touch with potential riders. (and now a lot more than just that)
The same goes for the APP store w/ Apple. Sure, Apple makes fantastic hardware, and that is the majority of where their revenue is generated, but can you put an actual dollar value on the worth of the Apple App Store? How many companies exist there and are making a killing, because they built an app for IOS? A lot!
So, what does this mean for you or your business?
If applicable, make a badass app - get it featured, sell it/share it on that platform! Drive user growth! Make it easier to operate on mobile! Build in payment options that drive revenue! Capitalize on this marketplace that already exists.
Same can go with Amazon:
Make a badass product - get it featured on/list it on Amazon’s Marketplace, and take advantage of that channel.
Just be careful they don’t copy you 🙂 (I’d also argue that [at least in the eCommerce space] this isn’t your best long term approach or play, as you’re beholden to the Amazon Marketplace) but it is a viable option if you’re not currently capitalizing.
Want people to read your post?
Talk about it on your FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn! You can leverage these already massive networks you’ve personally built!
SPOTIFY is quickly becoming a king in the music/podcast/audio space. They’re more than just music. They want to be the the go to platform for ALL of the audio you’re consuming (just bought The Ringer for 200M)
CHROME! (the internet browser for Christ’s sake!)
Paypal bought Honey for $4B. There was a total of 350 employees when it happened, LOL!!!
Long story short, if you have a good or service that you can be selling in these platforms - GET ON THESE PLATFORMS. Touch base with them to see how you can be featured, etc.
HUGE potential. Platforms aren’t going away any time soon.
7 - VIRALITY
This is legitimately how the largest companies (or certainly those with the most users) in the world have been made. Think TikTok most recently, but how FB/Google/Amazon also expanded exponentially.
Viral Loop definition from TRACTION:
A Customer is exposed to your product or service
That customer tells a set of potential customers about your product or service
These potential customers are exposed to your product or service, and some portion become customers themselves.
The Formula: (again, from TRACTION)
Could be a clever video like dollar shave club or a cool app that puts me in touch with cars like Uber.
This sort of exponential growth is tough to find, but exactly the type of things VCs look for. Do you know where we’ve seen this type of viral growth/trajectory most recently? The spread of COVID-19. Tech people/high finance/the VC world were early adopters on the virus, because the infection numbers and spread were so staggering you could not ignore them.
When things go viral, you can change the world! Powerful stuff.
Moving Forward w/ the Viral Approach (again, very hard to do):
try to build a viral loop into the product
shorten viral cycle time
look for viral pockets
TEST, don’t guess.
8 - GIVEAWAYS
Arguably the easiest way to get a conversion or drive new customer acquisition.
GIVE PEOPLE SOMETHING FOR NOTHING (or at least very little).
This is not a new phenomenon and not one that is going to be getting old any time soon. People like free shit.
A huge benefit of giving people something for nothing is that it invokes the reciprocity principle (also from Cialdini’s Influence), a strong feeling of obligation that you owe them something in return. It’s a major subconscious part of human nature. Capitalize on that!
Perhaps its a PDF, or some other form of engineering,.
For instance, hubspot allows you to use a free CRM. Pretty easy way to get customers, lol.
BRICKELL - legit gives you their starter kit for free! OPRAH - FREE CARS! Youtube TV (and so many other software companies) let you try their stuff for free for a couple weeks. It gets you hooked. This isn’t accidental.
You get the point. If you can work this in somewhere, try it.
9 - PUBLICITY
A great person to study/read about in this space, often referred to the Father of Public Relations, is Edward Bernays. Great resources: (book highlights below)
Bernays has been credited with getting Americans to standardize on a Bacon and Eggs breakfast. (among others, like making it cool to smoke cigarettes, etc) He was working for a ham manufacturer, and they wanted him to sell more ham. Rather than tell everyone how their ham was better than other ham, he put together a full scale PR campaign on the American public based around eating a hearty, balanced, bacon and eggs breakfast. It ranged from famous people talking about how much they loved bacon and eggs to multiple studies referencing PHD’s and how beneficial it was to eat a large breakfast.
Worked pretty well, bacon is still a go-to breakfast food today!
BIG THINK. Sell your vision, not just the current product!
Valuable insight to keep in mind when approaching PR.
Alright, lets transition back to some PR Specifics:
Reporters
Build relationships with them!
What gets reporter’s attention?
Milestones!
raising money, launching a new product breaking a usage barrier, PR stunt, partnerships
anything that elicit’s an emotional reaction from the public
Keep in mind, reporters WANT to find good stories to tell. Give them just that!
Podcasts
Obviously gaining a ton of traction over the past few years. Great way to get in front of an audience that relates to you or whatever it is you’re trying to promote.
PR Firms / Agencies
If you work with a PR agency, they have connections to larger, big name brands. Think GQ, Forbes, etc.
They can get you featured and whatnot, so you can put on your website, AS SEEN IN THE WSJ. This is more valuable from a social proof perspective, rather than driving sales, but it all depends who you are working with, type of product, etc!
Unconventional PR
Think Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Donald Trump (pre presidential era), etc. The stunts that these guys are pulling aren’t by accident, they are carefully thought out and always have an end goal/call to action in mind. Nothing happens by accident, especially with people at that level. Keep that in mind.
Wendy's Twitter is account is another example. No one is safe, haha!
Also, GODADDY - the superbowl commercials, LOL. They were talking about registering domains back in 2008! Many people had no idea what the hell that meant. But they sure as hell had heard of GODADDY.
PR works, but try to be unique when approaching it! Make you and your brand/company memorable!
10 - Good Old Fashioned SALES
Lots of nuance to sales. Here are some key themes to start with, explained in detail by previous posts.
The level of nuance necessary for sales is incredible. There are countless books written on this topic. Here are the most important aspects though:
Always Be Listening
What’s in it for them?
You Can Do Anything, But you Can't Do Everything
Time is your most valuable resource in sales. Where you choose to spend your time is everything.
Opportunity/client tracker spells out exactly how to do just that.
Expectations Are the Root of All Evil
Mismanaged expectations!
Under-promise and over-deliver - always!!
EFFORT Will Win People's Hearts (and close deals)
Can’t take every defeat as a loss. Its a learning experience.
In business, don’t hear no. Hear not yet.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Nothing happens by accident.
Stay on top of people.
ASK for the business.
11 - AFFILIATE NETWORKS
At a high level, you pay someone a commission to advertise and sell your stuff!
Neil Patel does a nice job in this article describing Affiliate Networks. In the Affiliate space, you can either be a brand or an advertiser.
The following are the large affiliate networks that exist out there today:
Commission Junction
Pepperjam
Linkshare
ShareASale
ClickBank
Clickbooth
Retailmenot
There are hundreds more.
If you follow someone online, and they recommend that you buy a product or service, there is about a 99% chance that the link they’re sending you is their “affiliate” link, and they’re getting a percentage of the proceeds from that sale. Doesn’t matter if its a book or an amazon trinket, or a 1000 software package. They’re getting compensated somehow. It’s affiliate marketing.
For the majority of the above Networks, as a brand, you have to be doing about 1MM onlines sales, sometimes higher than that (>5M sales), for them to work with you/partner with you directly and get featured on their website and in their network. Just the reality.
However, if you’re just starting out, ShareASale is a great option. You’re all in for about $650. Good way to dip your toe in the water with Affiliate marketing.
You can sign up to be an advertiser in these networks at any time. Some affiliate marketers make a great living.
There are also marketing agencies in this space that specialize specifically on managing affiliate marketing, if you’re looking to outsource. Mike at Advertise Purple is great!
One thing about this option is the fact that both the affiliate advertisers (and agencies) work on a commission structure. So, you pay them a percentage of sales, yes, but you’re not blindly throwing money and hoping it works. When they succeed, you succeed. The classic Win-Win!
KNOW YOUR PAYOUTS/understand your numbers! Make sure whatever incentive/commission you’re paying your affiliates isn’t eating too far into your profitability.
12 - PARTNERSHIPS
Standard Partnerships / Joint Ventures
Apple and Goldman Sacs - AppleCard
Starbucks double-shot espresso = Starbucks + Pepsi
Win win for both organizations!
Is there some sort of approach or deal you can crack with another big company? Competitor or just a large company in your space? Pursue if possible! Could potentially be a win win - sales is not always a zero sum game! Keep this in mind!
Distribution / Supply Partnerships
Manufacturer sells through a distribution channel
This is absolutely a long term game and requires a ton of time and dedication. You need to be sure you are supporting them adequately. Do they have the sales materials and support necessary to act as your champion? If no - work on materials to get them there!
Licensing
Microsoft -> Dell Computers
Software and Hardware partnerships.
If you’re in this sort of position - go ahead and look to pursue it, lol.
Influencer Partnerships
So most of you are familiar with influencers and have seen them active on social media and now mainstream. Got news for you, this trend isn’t going away.
People relate to people. Influencers are COMPANIES/BRANDS in themselves. This is will continue.
The dollars that flow in this space are incredible. For high traffic influencers, you’re talking >$100K PER POST!
The tough part with trying to go this route is finding the right ones.
Upfluence really helps with that problem. They’ve created a software platform that allows you the search specifically for the type of influencer you want to partner with. It could be twitter or IG. It could just be a blog. It might be across the US, or perhaps you just want to focus on your local market (Denver, right now).
Upfluence lets you target these searches, then gives you contact methods and acts as a CRM to manage the relationship/transactions.
Costs a few hundred dollars/month, but a great first tool when dipping your toes in this market.
Once you find the rate partners: Try to get them to use/love your stuff!
send free stuff
give them a reason to partner with you specifically
SPONSOR! At the very least send them a sample/try to build a relationship
often times they’re looking for $$$ too, so negotiate and give it a try!
Targeting Blogs
The same as the influencer piece above, but these people are generally more writing focused. Upfluence also good to help find people here.
can also search manually on google for best blogs, youtube, delicious, twitter, hashtags
TEST don’t GUESS.
13 - OFFLINE ADS
Up until 25 years ago or so... This was it. Haha! Isn’t it ridiculous how quickly and dramatically things change?!
These all pretty much speak for themselves. Leverage them if it makes sense.
Out of the Box thinking:
REMNANT ADVERTISING - negotiate massive discounts / Last Minute ads
Think spots that people pull out of/need to be filled. You can get massive discounts here!
Track as best as possible… Use specific code, etc.
Not spending too much time here.
TEST don’t GUESS.
14 - REVIEWS / UX (User Experience)
Make sure you're getting reviews on a regular basis and promoting the shit out of them!
Amazon, Google, and FB are huge for this, but advertise wherever possible.
Platforms all in themselves have been built on the basis of reviews!!
tripadvisor, yelp, foursquare, homeadvisor, etc
This is something that speaks for itself
Social proof holds massive validity with human beings, whether you realize it or not. Something as simple as a ton of positive high quality reviews turns a cold prospect into a warm lead. This matters. Make sure you are thinking about it and doing whatever possible to capitalize on it!
Build a product that people think highly of and want to use/tell their friends about, and it will speak for itself. Word of mouth is by far and away the highest ROI sales/marketing action in the business.
Focus on providing an experience that people enjoy, and they will be forever loyal to you and your brand! This will sell itself.
15 - PERSONAL BRAND
If you curate a personal brand that is smart and valuable - people will WANT TO WORK WITH YOU.
It's really simple. Here are some of the best examples of this I've found on the internet in no particular order:
Naval Ravikant falls into the realm of consuming whatever he puts out there. There are not many people that make it to that level, he's incredible. Imagine a modern-day startup/entrepreneur Gandhi, who speaks the best English you've ever heard. Worth your time investment, regardless of the field you're in.
*****This specific thread is arguably the best content available on the internet.*****
Randomly stumbled on Nat's blog. It's great. He's got a couple of companies that are crushing it, not surprisingly. Follow/read his stuff. A couple favorites:
Lessons from One Year of Nomadic Passive Income
(this discusses that for some people, myself included, traveling, is not the answer. We thrive off of growing and being productive, making an impact, etc, and there is nothing wrong with that. Honestly its a superpower)
Found Growth Machine because of Nat’s personal writing!
Patrick OShaughnessy is the CEO of OSAM asset management in NYC. However, what grabbed my attention was his podcast, Investor Field Guide, specifically the following guests/episodes:
Josh Wolfe - Think high tech/ highly scientific VC world
Brent Beshore - Warren Buffet, just smaller scale at the moment
Alex Moazed - Building Modern Monopolies
But all of the episodes are quality. Can only image how many more clients Patrick has brought into OSHAG due to this Podcast and the materials he puts out.
Best sports opinion guy out there. Always relates current sporting events and scenarios back to the business world. Analogies on point and does a great job of playing the long game in a media landscape that makes it increasingly more difficult to do so. His 'Best Of' podcast is a great way to catch up on the sporting world daily for 30 minutes or so.
Scott gained notoriety for being the inventor of Dilbert, but has far more to offer than comic relief. He's a fantastic writer (books are excellent and fun to read) and a huge proponent of Persuasion and Rhetoric.
Paul is one of the Founders of Y Combinator, amongst other companies. He's incredibly insightful on twitter and his essays are some of the best advice out there.
You bet your ass I think Y Combinator is a quality organization. Research their returns :)
Shane Parrish is the author of Farnham Street, a website and podcast dedicated to the mastery of mental models, or teaching your brain how to think. He's an exceptionally deep thinker. There's nothing more important than living and thinking deliberately. Farnham Street is the go-to resource.
Absolutely valuable to work with Shane (if you can get on his client list)/have bought his book as well!
This turns cold calls into warm leads. Invaluable from a sales perspective.
Create a personal brand that revolves around being a value add solution provider. Someone that people CAN’T AFFORD NOT TO WORK WITH!!!
Do whatever you possibly can to get in this space.
There is no one size fits all of this approach. Figure out what you're best at or what you like to do the most, and do it.
The following 2 growth methods are a bit harder to do while Working From Home, BUT STILL VALUABLE!
16 - INDUSTRY EVENTS
Trade Shows
Can be extremely valuable, especially if it’s a crowd that you are looking to target/break into.
Keep in mind, try to set breakfast/lunches and dinners with people, as that is where most business is done. Not at people’s booths. Do your research and the companies and people coming, and try to get some one on one time. If you can host a fun event or dinner within the event, your odds of being successful go up pretty dramatically.
You don’t necessarily have to have a booth at the conference. Go to one that is in your industry and just swing by the booths and introduce yourself/your company. You can make legit hundreds of contacts with people in a day. Just be sure to follow up afterward!
Conferences
Tim Ferriss talks about how he was able to use conferences to help him build a world class network in record time.
These are big business. Jason Lemkin is a SaaS conference advocate, and it seems to have done well for him/they get a decent lineup of speakers at the conference on an annual basis.
Sam Parr actually leveraged Hustlecon the event to start getting major legs with The Hustle.
All you need is to make one connection or find one valuable contact from these events and get a massive ROI. Keep that in mind!
17 - COMMUNITY BUILDING
A great way to think about this is doing things that don't scale, a Paul Graham Post.
Host Meet ups, or exclusive events for your top clientele!
Harley Davidson is legendary in this space. The Harley Owners Group. Jeep has a similar type deal going on. (Think the Jeep wave)
Instead of offering discounts to nonusers, Mac Weldon automatically gives you a % off your order if you have an account set up with them.
Wheels Up encourages you to connect with other members to coordinate trips.
DRINK HAUS has done a great job of this, recently went to a Happy Hour they hosted here in Denver.
They also just teamed up with restaurants DURING the quarantine for the HAUS restaurant project.
They also give you access to these sort of events/new flavors if you’re a member.
Legit - throw/sponsor a party. This building businesses is supposed to be fun anyway 🙂. Sell stuff that has your branding on it that people recognize. (Think Lulu) It all plays!
FB Groups is a huge part of community building. A ton of brands have created a nice niche here.
Exclusive Launches are something companies like SUPREME and MSCHF have perfected. Scarcity is a real thing.
Your Community is what defines you! Don't skimp!
******************
Call to Action:
You can capitalize on the majority of these growth areas WORKING FROM HOME!!! Use this time for growth!
Re-Read the article. Figure out what areas make the most sense to focus on to start. Save the resources you find most valuable and ad them to your customized spreadsheet version of 2020 Ultimate Growth Guide - 17 Best Ways to Increase Sales
Fill out / and start trying different areas for growth!
TEST don’t GUESS
Good luck out there :)
as always, follow @itschriskeith on Twitter for more frequent updates