Breaking into a market and establishing an audience is difficult, but you've done it. You already have a successful business. Now? You're ready to take it further by breaking into a new market.
Finding success with your first market seemed like a huge challenge. The thought of entering a new market is exciting and intimidating. You must create a new strategy when reaching new people and entering a new market. Not developing an intentional strategy for your new market can hold you back and prevent you from success.
Once you've decided that it's time to enter a new market, you'll need to take the time to plan, prepare, and execute a carefully crafted growth strategy. Here are six tips you can follow to ensure the most effective strategy for expanding into a new market.
The first thing you need to do before you start your strategic growth into a new market is to truly understand the value your business brings to customers, including offerings, differing factors, and mission. These are the things that help you stand out from your competition and give your target market clarity about why they should choose your company over others.
You will want to develop a clear plan for expanding your reach and showcasing who your company is and the problems you solve. These things will make your company stand out to your target market. Show your customer that you understand how you can solve their problem in a unique way.
Understand why your target market would choose your solution and how they can buy it. When you have clarity, you can develop strategies that showcase it to your audience.
To reach more people, be easily identifiable. People need to know who you are and what you have to offer. Awareness tactics are a perfect way to break into a new market, allowing you to tailor your company to a specific audience.
When expanding your brand to create awareness in a new market, you will want to begin those basic marketing tactics. Figure out your target audience, understand what matters to them, and design elements of your brand message to reach them. Showcase a message and values that will stand out to this new market with unique brand elements. You can also leverage niche partner relationships in the market and build awareness from their existing audiences. Your new audience reach will grow as you get your name and brand out there.
Your new marketing growth strategies should include essential quick wins that give you a fast, expanded reach while pushing strategies that will stand the test of time. There are different advertising tools out there that you can utilize as a way to gain awareness, leads, and conversions quickly.
Pay per click ads (PPC)are a great way to reach a new audience efficiently and effectively. As long as you have done your research and know your target market, you can create and execute carefully crafted ads that are relevant and designed to reach them.
With PPC ads, you can choose several unique elements that help make your ads successful, make people aware of your brand, and quickly boost your leads.
Truly knowing your target market will help you utilize social media and other media placements like TV and radio (if applicable) more effectively. You want to be where your audience already is. Understanding who your audience is and where they spend your time helps you target them specifically on social platforms and place media on sites they already spend time on.
One way to think about creating demand is to consider a pre-launch campaign for your product or service. Coming soon, messaging campaigns before launching your product or service in the area will build anticipation in the marketplace. You can also create digital campaigns for potential customers to sign up to be first to know when your product/service is available. Movements like this build anticipation and creates a list you can use for future marketing efforts.
In terms of messaging, storytelling reaches the emotional center of your target audience and is the best way to draw people to your business. Please address their pain points, show them you understand, and show how your product will provide the solution they need. As you pre-launch your brand and show how your product will help your target market, demand for your product will grow.
Understanding the customer journey is essential to bring your products from unknown to known. Build your marketing growth strategies around this customer journey, creating a flow from awareness to sale to customer loyalty. Make this specific to your new market for maximum effectiveness.
To bring your products to your new market, you must execute a planned launch promotion relevant to this audience. When you are ready to do business in your new market, gain excitement with intentional promotions. You will want to create a marketing funnel to drive engagement now and into the future.
If you used the pre-launch strategy from the above section, you have an email list primed and ready for promotional messages. Consider where you want to announce your entry into the market and the messaging cadence. It's okay to hit the same audience more than once, but be sensitive to overload so they only write you off. If it fits your business, consider making a limited-time promotional offer to incentivize first movers to buy. Lastly, ensure you have mechanisms to capture interested prospects that don't take action like remarketing and email signs ups.
As you talk to new leads while launching your market, you'll want to focus on connection and engagement. Building relationships with leads and customers is essential for building long-term connections.
You must have a communication plan for customers after the sale that provides valuable information, upsells if needed, and provides help if they have questions. These communications include email, knowledge bases, videos, FAQs, and post-purchase follow-ups. Since they are customers, your messaging needs to fit where they are in their lifecycle, and you may speak to a different prospect.
Expanding your business into a new market can provide significant growth. However, when you've been focused on one market for so long, it can prove to be quite the challenge to switch it up. Multiple areas must be focused on when building a new marketing growth strategy to gain traction. If you need help figuring out where to start, get your growth score to clarify where you need help the most.