CEO Projections: Business Growth Strategies

Do your company’s business growth strategies stack up compared to some of the country’s fastest-growing businesses? We always look forward to Vistage Research Center’s quarterly CEO Confidence Index (download full report here) to see how CEOs of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) across the nation are navigating changing economic conditions and gauge their views on investing for business growth.

Vistage’s SMB CEO Projections for 2018 indicates that CEOs share overall confidence in their businesses growing this year. A whopping 83% of CEOs reported expecting increased revenues. Respondents plan on achieving that growth by spending more—even in B2B companies—and expanding into new markets.

According to the survey, most CEOs plan to invest more funds into growing their customer base in 2018 to help expand their company’s reach. Vistage recommends focusing on “attracting, engaging, and closing new customers” to reach a larger audience. Marketing should play a key role in reaching these new customers.

Those CEOs looking to expand into new target markets should follow the lead of other companies by implementing strategic initiatives across marketing, sales, and customer service. Critical to these initiatives, says Vistage, is having “dedicated leadership in place to drive them.” Those companies without permanent executive positions for divisions such as marketing would do well to consider a fractional model to bring in part-time executive leadership capable of effectively planning and executing high-level efforts.

Are you struggling to incorporate marketing into your business growth strategies? Schedule a free strategy session with one of our fractional CMOs today.