Starting and running a startup business is overwhelming. There are many things to learn or to know – from picking a talented, diverse team; launching your product or service fast; understanding your users to let your idea evolve. On top of that, if you are attempting to capitalize on a product or service for which you believe there is a demand, you must also think ahead and learn how to grow your startup business.

However, growing your business is inevitably linked with keeping it efficient and profitable. These two processes are interconnected. If you have started small, but aim to be big, these are the three basic things you need to master.

Integrate Digital Solutions Smartly

You can not deny that the Internet has penetrated nearly every aspect of our lives. Creating and promoting content that can quickly appear in search results on Google has never been more significant for business growth. Due to this, using digital marketing to reach online customers and followers remains to be one of the most effective ways to run and expand your business. Following a well designed digital marketing strategy along with a bunch of smart digital solutions is key to helping your startup business grow.

Lucky for you, there are tons of digital tools that can help you cultivate an active and effective online presence to engage with your consumers. However, keep in mind that investing in digital solutions is only one part of the story. The other part is integrating them smartly so they can help your business grow and achieve maximum productivity.

Here are three essential strategies involving digital solutions to help you grow a loyal online following.

1. Establish a strong social media presence

How to do it? The best way is to create an appealing website or publish a weekly blog that’s worth reading. Many businesses have been successful in growing their customer base only using Facebook and other social networks. However, building a membership site is always a good idea because, through your website, you can easily control who sees your content, accept credit cards securely, and sell digital downloads.

If you decide on having a blog, be sure to nail down a promotional strategy across your social media networks for each blog post. For even more exposure, you can also utilize platforms such as Medium, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Quora. Capitalize on the massive audiences on these sites, and you will be sure to find instant visibility.

2. Build and nurture an email list

Building an email list offers you direct access to your core audience and potential buyers or customers. Grow your subscriber lists and get customer feedback on your product or service by using wpforms. Why is this important? Simply because one of the best things you can do to grow your business is to create communities.

Getting feedback from your customers or clients shows you value their opinions. By asking them for feedback, you indicate that their opinion is important to you. You involve them in shaping your business, so they feel more attached to your company. Hence they help you grow.

3. Create and launch a smartphone app

Let’s face it; smartphones are in our pockets, not our laptops. Smartphones are what most of us use to consume content and access services. Almost 40 percent of users access their email or read internet content from mobile devices. So, if you want to offer a better experience to your clients or readers, drive traffic with push notifications or grow engagement and revenue, you need to create a custom mobile app for your WordPress content.

Properly integrating digital solutions can also boost your business efficiency in numerous ways. For example, technology can automate time-consuming tasks, allowing your team to focus on things that can be handled only by humans. It can also secure better, faster, and more accessible communication and reports preparation among your team members. However, most importantly, technology can better and more efficiently link your business with customers.

Innovation, Collaboration, and Building Communities

Successfully exploring new ideas is crucial to a startup business being able to improve its processes, bring improved products or services to the market, increase its efficiency and, most importantly, improve its profitability. However, innovation is not just the ability to introduce and implement new concepts in your business; it is also the ability to timely identify problems, foresee and solve challenges, and respond to unique events and external crises in different and creative ways.

Described in basic terms, mindset keen to explore better ways of working is indispensable in unleashing your business growth potential and boosting its efficiency.

The German writer Goethe famously said it “tell me with whom you consort with, and I will tell you who you are.” Same goes for your business- your success depends on the people you meet. The right people and platforms are out there for you.

Opportunities open up naturally. hanks to social media and the Internet, you can easily access and connect to people around the world. You can establish and foster community development, by creating public forums for discussion, which can help you generate new concepts, ideas, refresh resources, and get invaluable feedback. A study commissioned by Google found that there is an 81% positive correlation between collaboration and innovation within a business.

Try always to see the bigger picture, what you ultimately want to achieve, since this is an essential part of providing efficient services. Reach out. Spread the word. Collaborate.

However, building communities and spaces for nurturing new concepts and getting feedback to grow is equally important within your startup business. This is the exact reason why you need to give your team opportunities for internal mobility. Creating internal talent marketplace provide them with access to career advancement opportunities and information, thus fostering personal development. This will give your team feelings of significance, community, and value.

When you create a culture in which your employees can reach their full potentials, you are securing your business growth, boost productivity and efficiency.

Explore unexpected opportunities

In the business world, it is always essential to make decisions carefully and with planning. Moreover, having dedicated so much time and so many resources to your current strategy, you become not just financially, but also emotionally invested in the world you have created. You may be even in a phase of your startup business where you think is wise to stay the course you have chosen since you want your business approach to be focused.

However, risk is a necessary component of any business.

Every entrepreneur must be able to learn to evaluate unexpected opportunities and have the courage to invest time and resources in exploring them. Doing so drives industries forward and push towards success individuals and companies. History has taught us that even very successful businesses benefit by proactively searching for new, more efficient methods of work and development.