Thriving startups pinpoint these key areas for their successful growth

A lot of startups fail within their first year or so of doing business, but we’re also witnessing a rise in successful startup companies that manage to thrive. What sets these startups apart from the ones that sadly need to close their doors? A look under the hood reveals several patterns that 99% of successful start-ups follow.

Starting with a narrow focus

You typically find that successful start-ups begin their journeys with a narrow focus. Instead of trying to reach a large market, they condense their efforts. The benefit of doing this is obvious: focusing on a smaller market means you’re competing with fewer rival companies, which should (in theory) help you make money in the early stages.

The potential downside is that starting with a narrow focus limits your profitability.

Nevertheless it’s no coincidence that the most successful start-ups follow this line of thinking. The goal is to establish themselves within a smaller community and work up a positive brand image, which gives them the legs to expand in the future. On the other side of things, failed start-ups are normally guilty of biting off too much, too soon.

Building A Professional Website Immediately

No matter how small a start-up is, the thriving ones will always build a professional website from the moment they go live. This is all to do with understanding the current economic landscape and how people find businesses. Even if you’re setting up a local bakery, a website provides an online home for customers to discover you via Google searches.

Consequently, improving your website design becomes essential for laying sturdy foundations.

Start-ups attract more business through regular and local SEO, and it’s all thanks to their websites. Not forgetting that websites build brand credibility – lots of startups fail because consumers don’t trust them, and that often stems from lacking a website. The most profitable small businesses build their success out of a website – along with the next concept below. 

Establishing a wider online presence early on

Websites set the tone for an online presence, but truly successful start-ups make more out of this via social media. You must establish an online presence across different social platforms to present your start-up as a viable brand. It ties into the first point brilliantly; start-ups use social media to connect with their local community and generate an online hub of activity.

You gain local followers, and then the word starts to spread.

Having a good social media presence also lets you capitalise on trending topics and memes, potentially helping you go viral. It’s so easy for consumers all over the country (or even the world) to discover your brand through social media content. A social media presence also gives users a way to share your company with other people – be it through a direct message, leaving a comment or resharing your posts.

Focusing on customer service

One really interesting statistic from Zendesk found that successful start-ups were 20% more likely to add live chat to their websites within their first two years. This tells us that the best small businesses all have a keen eye on customer service. They realise that providing a good service to every customer is essential when you’re starting out. You can’t fall back on years of branding to make up for anything; you must treat your customers well and empower them with tools to make their lives easier.

Focus on pleasing your customers and success will soon follow.

It’s also why you see a lot of small businesses establish loyalty programs early on. They know it’s all about giving back to the customer, and they’re willing to offer discounts or freebies to secure repeat business. Start-ups tend to be more active on social media as well, meaning they use it as a customer service channel to reply to DMs. Despite being a lot smaller, successful start-ups usually have way better customer support channels than bigger companies.

Gearing a marketing strategy around recommendations

An intriguing aspect of start-up success looks at the general marketing strategies in place. Usually, companies that focus on recommendations do a lot better than start-ups with a broader focus. Why is that? Because a start-up needs to build a strong reputation for more and more people to spend their money.

Recommendations are the best way to achieve this by showcasing how good your products/services are.

That’s why social media plays a big role from the beginning; it lets people share your brand and recommend it to others. This is almost like a digital version of word-of-mouth marketing – and it’s one of the top ways to prove trustworthiness and gain new customers. There will also be a drive to generate positive reviews across the usual review platforms, more so than bigger businesses. A small start-up knows that good ratings and testimonials drive customers through their doors. 

Ensuring they have different ways of making money

Many start-ups follow the previous directives, though some fall at the final hurdle. If you have one source of income and rely on making money through one specific product or service, you are fighting an uphill battle. 

The best start-ups diversify their revenue streams and have multiple ways of making money. 

A great example is the local bakery that sells fresh treats but also has an online ordering system where it sends out pre-packaged goods to customers. At the same time, it also supplies at-home baking kits, recipe books, cooking classes and so on. Apply this line of thinking to your start-up so you’re not over-reliant on one income stream. 
In theory, these areas provide the ideal blueprint for start-up success. Does this mean your business will have a 100% success rate if you follow everything above? No. You still need to work hard and have a genuinely good start-up idea to build upon. There’s also the importance of securing enough funding and knowing where to direct that money. Having said that, it’s no surprise there’s been a 10% increase in the number of start-up loans as of late, showing that a lot of entrepreneurs are finding the secrets to success.