How to boost the 5 growth stages of your business lifecycle with smart data fertilizer - Part 1/5

From seeding to full maturity each successful company evolves through 5 distinct stages. It’s an organic, multi-phased process, similar to that of a growing tree. Each stage brings specific needs, risks and opportunities: the economic climate, market trends, evolving technology... Just like trees constantly need water, light and fertilizer to keep growing, companies require funding, access to markets and... data. 

Data as fertilizer, enhancing all 5 growth stages 

Your growth path to full business maturity is riddled with uncertainty. Data will be your trustworthy and rewarding companion in every phase. Of course, human experience is vital. But our human scope is limited and often biased. Data – and the way you manage it - is the only way to be 100% sure that you take the right decisions based on reliable facts and insights. Though you will need to rely on data during the entire growth cycle, the way you do will be different in every stage. 

Would you like more advice on this vital matter?
We’ll happily help you on your way. 

1. The seeding stage: how to hit a smart data growth spurt 

All successful businesses start from the seed of a brilliant idea. You might be a Steve Jobs, launching your iPad and iPhone, based on pure intuition. But a reality check is generally not a bad idea. What is required is a good balance between using your instinct and relevant metrics. 

Entrepreneurs face a sea of possibilities. Picking the winning idea can be daunting. Data analytics can serve as an excellent instrument panel. According to Zhu Yang and James C. Wetherbe^*, you can easily harness the power of Google Trends, Twitter, and analytic tools based on Twitter as a sonar to detect the most promising markets. These tools help you confirm that your idea is more than a hunch. 

• Google Trends shows the trending search tags. These tendencies often indicate what consumers are likely to buy in the future.
• Twitter tweets reflect what people are talking about. Social analytic tools like KeyHole.co, BuzzSumo, SEMrush and TweetReach analyze aggregate data from Twitter. They help you make better sense of social trends, by feeling the pulse of potential consumers via the hottest hashtags.
• Once a promising trend has been spotted, other analytical tools will help you explore it more deeply. The goal is to find concrete consumer needs that are not being met. Sentiment analysis of posts on social media – especially product reviews – can provide insights here. This may require a data scientist who can ascertain whether comments are favorable or unfavorable. The human language is very different from computer language. Humans are more ambiguous. For example, for now a computer cannot interpret sarcastic messages. 

For more information on data intelligence support in every phase of the business cycle please contact your Bisnode consultant. 

Episode 2/5 of our ‘smart data fertilizer for continuous growth’ special highlights the second phase of the business lifecycle: The startup stage: powering up the 4 marketing Ps with data