Write an article based on this "Create an online presence for your business. Promote your services or products through marketing. Provide excellent customer service and listen to your customers. Study your competition. Be on the lookout for business opportunities to expand, grow, or diversify your business."
You have to have an online presence to succeed in today's market. Having a website is the most important thing to do first. Then, you can also start a blog and make social media accounts. This helps you interact with customers and reach new ones outside of your initial area. You may also be able to earn money from advertising on your blog or create a fully online store for your products. Your business can grow by word of mouth, but it will grow much faster if you advertise. Make compelling advertisements for your products or services that grab the attention of your audience. Make sure that the platforms that you use for marketing match the platforms that your niche will actually be using. Otherwise, your advertising expenditures will be wasted. See how to advertise and how to advertise your business for free for more information. Excellent customer service is crucial to having a successful business. Make sure that you and all of your employees treat your customers with respect and try to make each customer happy. Your customers will be also best able to tell you what you're doing right or wrong, so listen to their feedback. This can be either through their actions or through a survey.   Listen to your customers when you are developing new products or services that you could offer or when you are making improvements to existing products. In addition, you should definitely eliminate any unpopular products or services from your lineup. In particular, write down any instances in which customers ask if you offer a certain product or service. Add the most commonly asked-for items to your offerings. What do your close competitors do? How are their products priced compared to yours? What diversification or growth paths have they taken? Any of this information can help you adapt your own practices to either distinguish yourself or become more or line with your successful competition. To get this information, you can visit the other businesses' websites or talk to customers that may have had experience with your competitors. In addition, be sure to keep an ear out for new competitors or those from other markets, like online business. Your research of competitors, other successful entrepreneurs, and the market should tell you that the keys to growth are diversification and market expansion. That is, you should strive to offer your customers more options and also seek out new sources of customers. These new customers can either be in a different niche than where you started or a different geographical location. New products can be complementary (go naturally with your current products) or a completely new offering, depending on what your customers want. Listen to your customers, watch the competition, and read industry journals to get ideas for expansion or diversification opportunities.