Attract New Customers in New Markets
Do you feel like your business has the potential for increasing sales but can’t quite get it right? Well, you aren’t alone. As businesses evolve, so do their needs. In this scenario, relying on your existing clientele is no longer an option. And if you want to ensure the steady growth of your business in the changing world, winning and retaining new customers will be your priority in the years to come.
To combat this challenge, you must look for new customers in areas where you haven’t marked your presence yet. It may not be the same territory you are comfortable in, and you may experience “the fear of the unknown,” but your efforts will surely be worth it.
Read on to learn why you should target customers in new markets- and how you can do so!
Expanding into New Markets: What Does it Mean for Your Business?
Entering a new market means growing your business by researching and targeting related industries or niche product areas where you can achieve success. Simply put, you are offering your products and services to people who need them but haven’t come across your brand before.
Let us now look at what you can achieve by entering new markets, with some examples.
#1 Beat Your Competitors
Businesses are always looking for new ways to shine through in the highly competitive market. By entering a new territory after due research, you may discover something that can give you an edge over your competitors.
The age-old tale of Netflix and Blockbuster is a fine example of how entering the global digital entertainment market skyrocketed Netflix’s success. While Blockbuster stuck to the DVD rental market, Netflix went online with a streaming service and quickly expanded its reach to online viewers internationally.
#2 Increase Your Customer Base
Tapping into new markets will give you the opportunity to connect with different target audiences who can benefit from your new products or existing ones.
Kodak’s comeback is a fine example. After becoming near-obsolete, Kodak decided to expand to a new, rapidly rising market: cryptocurrency. Kodak announced the KodakCoin, a blockchain platform that aims to preserve photographers’ rights over their images. As a result, their share prices doubled.
#3 Satisfy Your Existing Customers
Adapt or die: the world’s leading businesses swear by this mantra, and for a good reason. When your customers’ expectations shift, your business must rise up in response, lest high churn rates should wear you down. Thus, expanding to new markets allows you to ensure your existing customer base remains loyal.
Here’s an example: A well-established education business was at the risk of shutting down amidst the COVID-19 pandemic because their customer base needed a safer way to learn. The solution? They quickly entered the EdTech market and started providing online courses, retaining their existing customers, and winning new ones.
How To Enter New Markets and Win Customers?
If you have decided to enter a new market, you will need to strategize to ensure smooth sailing. Here are some ways how you can get started:
- Reduce your prices: Research your competitor’s products and prices and reduce yours. Introducing your product at a more affordable price than the existing businesses in the market helps you attract new customers quickly. Reduced pricing can also draw your competitors’ customers to you.
- Launch improved products in a niche market: Being a market innovator will take you to the top. You can develop an improved product by making a small functional change or creating a novel offering altogether. Enhancing existing products with small changes allows it to compete directly with the current versions. You can also advertise your product to a smaller segment of the existing market. Your improved product may also catch the eye of customers outside the current target audience for the current product.
- Explore new geolocations: As the local markets become saturated, you can find more lucrative markets in other locations. These can be different cities, states, countries, continents- any market that shares similarities with your current one. This approach requires intense research and strategically adopting localization and global standardization.
- Use new channels: Want to penetrate existing markets similar to your own? Use the multi-channel approach. Connect with your target audience via multiple marketing channels, and you will expand your brand’s visibility. Here, the focus is on existing trading environments that your leaders and decision-makers understand. And so, this approach is relatively risk-free.
Final Thoughts
If you want to expand to new markets, do it quickly! Establish yourself before your current market flattens out and leverage new opportunities to keep your sales up. Perform market research, pay attention to customers’ needs, develop a strategy, and implement it timely.
And remember, even if you face hurdles in new markets, they can be valuable learning points for your future undertakings.
