Finding the right niche can be extremely beneficial for a growing business. Indeed, many startups and small businesses strive to identify and service a niche in their industry in order to consolidate their position and establish a reliable source of revenue. However, there’s a big downside associated with conquering a given niche: niches are, by their very nature, small and specific.
If your company only addresses a niche concern or demand, then you remain vulnerable to shifts in the business landscape; niches are unlikely to grow quickly — but they can dry up in a flash. With that in mind, today we’ll explain how companies can expand and diversify effectively. Here’s how to move beyond niche appeal:
Find New Audiences
Audience development is key to long-term business viability. At the end of the day, a business can only extract so much value from a given group of individuals. As such, business owners should constantly review demographic-based data to identify new potential audiences to engage with branded material. These new audiences may be based on superficial connections with your current target market, or they may have more subtle commonalities. Regardless, new audiences should extend naturally from your current customer base.
Rebrand
If a business has a strong niche-associated brand identity, it could be difficult to expand into new markets. For instance, a company that solely makes shoes for weight-lifters might struggle to make inroads with other types of athletes tennis players, runners, etc. In such a scenario, the business may benefit from a new image. Rather than just focusing on its previous niche, the new brand image can encompass more areas and speak to more people.
Flood the Zone
Businesses that want to make a big impression on new customers need to work extra hard to gain their attention. “Flooding the zone,” so to speak, with high ROI marketing and advertising efforts is one of the best ways to do that. This strategy requires a substantial upfront investment, but can pay off massively in increased brand awareness and product recognition. Remember, it usually takes three to four interactions with a brand before a customer decides to make a purchase.
Create Great New Products
Simple enough, right? The bottom line is that consumers still respond to excellent new products and services. So if you want to move out of your niche, demonstrate you can do so with a new line of stellar products and services. By proving that you can create new products you can begin to compete with new businesses and start catering to new customers. Unless you get this step right, no amount of good marketing and brand strategy will make any difference.
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