Your website could use some work.
You aren’t showing up in search.
You need more leads.
You’re doing great work, but your business still isn’t widely recognized.
When you’re trying to grow a business, it’s easy to see everything that could be better. The harder part is knowing what needs your attention first.
Because not every growing business needs the same thing from its marketing. That’s why “Where is your business today?” is the first question in our Five Questions Every Growing Business Should Answer series.
Growth Doesn’t Look the Same for Every Business
Two businesses can have the same goal and need completely different marketing priorities.
One may need to build credibility and create a stronger foundation. Another may have plenty of visibility but struggle to turn that attention into leads.
Knowing where your business is today helps you focus on what you need now instead of jumping into strategies you may not be ready for yet.
The Four Growth Stages
At The Biz Spa, we use four business Growth Stages to help identify those priorities:
Get Started. Get Found. Get Leads. Get Known.
These aren’t rigid steps. They’re a way to identify your biggest needs and opportunities so you know where to focus and what to build toward next.
Get Started: Build the Foundation
Before you can build your marketing, you need a strong foundation.
In the Get Started stage, the priority is making sure customers understand who you are, what you offer, and why they should trust your business.
That may mean:
- Clarifying your brand and messaging
- Strengthening your website
- Defining your audience
- Creating a more consistent presence
Without that foundation, more visibility or lead generation can simply bring more people to a business that isn’t ready to turn their attention into action.
Get Found: Increase Visibility
You can have a great business. But that doesn’t help much if the right people can’t find you.
The Get Found stage focuses on making it easier for potential customers to discover your business when and where they’re looking.
That might mean improving your search presence, creating useful content, building local awareness, or strengthening your social media presence.
The goal isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to show up in the right places for the right people.
Get Leads: Turn Attention Into Action
Getting found is one thing. Getting someone to take the next step is another.
In the Get Leads stage, the focus shifts from visibility to action. You may already be reaching the right people, but your marketing needs to give them a clear reason and an easy way to contact you.
That could mean stronger calls to action, clearer offers, better landing pages, or more consistent follow-up.
The goal is to turn more of the attention you’re already getting into qualified leads.
Get Known: Build Authority and Recognition
Once your business has a strong foundation, consistent visibility, and a reliable way to generate leads, the next opportunity may be strengthening your reputation.
The Get Known stage focuses on becoming a recognized and trusted resource. That might mean sharing expert insights, developing thought leadership, pursuing speaking or media opportunities, building strategic partnerships, or using customer success stories to demonstrate your expertise.
The goal isn’t simply for more people to know your name. It’s for the right people to know what your business is known for.
What If You Fit More Than One Stage?
Chances are, you do.
Your Growth Stage isn’t a judgment of your company’s age, size, or success. Even an established business can return to Get Started when it rebrands, enters a new market, or introduces a new service.
Most growing businesses will have strengths and gaps across more than one Growth Stage.
You may have strong visibility but a website that needs work. Or you may generate consistent leads but still lack recognition beyond your existing customers and referral network.
The goal isn’t to fit perfectly into one stage. It’s to identify what needs your attention most right now.
Once you know that, you can set a clear priority without trying to fix everything at once.
Start Where You Are
Good marketing isn’t about doing everything. It’s about knowing what your business needs and focusing there first.
The Growth Stages give you a clearer way to set those priorities and decide what comes next.
Start where you are. Focus on what matters now. Build toward what comes next.
Next, we’ll look at Question Two: Who are you trying to reach?