Expand Your Market Reach

Are your current target markets and channels big enough to support your plans for growth? If your business and ambitions are thriving, at some point the answer will be “no.' One solution can be to expand your line of products and services. But if you're serious about growth, don't overlook your company's potential to grow by expanding into new markets.

That expansion begins with market research, and your market research can begin with your existing customers. A strong e-commerce infrastructure and advanced fulfillment capabilities can play an important role in positioning your company to deliver products and services to new markets, but word of mouth is still a powerful tool for helping you enter those markets.

Jay Lipe, president of Emerge Marketing and author of The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Business, says you should be speaking with your clients on a regular basis to see if they can recommend prospects your company should pursue. Don't worry if those prospects are located within the geographical area you already serve or are part of an industry you may have saturated. Your clients' connections may extend beyond those boundaries, and just tapping their contact may help you to break down old marketing barriers.

The next step is to assess the new markets you identify. If you're looking at geographic expansion, Lipe says, you need to analyze several factors, including the market's size, the amount of growth it has experienced and is projected to experience, the competitive environment and consumer preferences within that market.

When you identify opportunities in new geographic regions, even within the domestic market, bear in mind that styles of business and corporate cultures may differ from your own. Lipe recommends that you “find ambassadors that understand those local customs and cultures and can help the organization's sales force to understand them.' Networking through your industry's professional association may help you to establish those local contacts.

You may also find new market opportunities by considering how your products and services might be bundled with those of other companies. Think about your company not in terms of what it sells, but rather in terms of what solutions it provides. Then think about which related solutions could be packaged with your own to serve both companies' customers better. The revenue such a joint venture creates may be greater than what either partner could have generated operating solo.

Remember, too, that if you do have an adequate e-commerce infrastructure in place, there's no need to focus exclusively on the domestic market. The Internet “turns a company global overnight,' Lipe notes. “Every organization should look for export markets as a potential growth engine.' That's big thinking—perfect for companies who have outgrown their existing markets.

To learn more about expanding your market base, read “Marketing Optimization—An Introduction' and “Making Effective Business Decisions: Measuring & Maximizing the Return on Investment of Market Research.'