Market Penetration
In business, this would be taking the least risky growth strategy and a company would sell most of its current product to its current customers. For a personal-brand growth strategy, this would be walking into your first job, sticking to your niche within the company and doing it really well. This is an important step in your growth strategy. Find the first thing you do well and do it really well. Make sure that everyone around you knows what you do and how well that you do it.
Market Development
Step two in your growth plan is planning a way to reach more people with your expertise. A company doing this would start finding ways to sell more of its products to new regions. For personal-brand growth, this would be taking on more at work, working with other departments to help strategize together, or possibly taking a new job within your industry.
Alternative Channels
When a brand looks for alternative channels to grow its business, it is looking for new ways to reach customers. For personal-brand growth, this would be blogging, writing a book, volunteer work or speaking at conferences within your industry. This step requires that you start working to become a thought leader in your industry inside and outside of the office.
Product Development
This is my favorite step in creating a growth strategy for your personal brand. A company would create and sell new products, but as a person we learn new tricks. An example of this would be a digital-marketing professional who expands to business development, public relations or business consulting. This step in the process ensures that you don’t get left behind as the industry changes, and the industry always changes.
New Products for New Customers
This strategy is common at major companies. You create products for the new customers. For instance, if you are a marketing professional who now does business consulting, you may begin expanding on new areas of your industry and knowledge based on the needs of your new customers. This growth plan allows for you to have more than one part-time position, multiple revenue streams and an increase reach or authority within your industry.
In today’s world a personal growth strategy is necessary to keep from falling behind. As you move through these steps, they get increasingly more difficult. I suggest that you take one at a time, perfect the previous and then move forward. For some people stopping at step two or three is absolutely fine. Just remember to have an idea of where you are going and how you are going to get there.
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