At Glover Strategic Marketing, I have helped companies like yours grow; I want to share how you can achieve growth even when a small customer base limits you. You can achieve growth without relying on new leads by expanding your offerings, informing your customers of your offerings, expanding your geography, becoming better at serving your customers, working in tandem industries, and being more targeted.
Expand Your Geography Through Acquisition
Hey, it may be obvious that a great way to grow is to tackle a new market, but it is still worth mentioning. Taking on new geography is a fantastic way to grow your business. The question then becomes “How,” “When,” and “Where.”
In some industries, the only way to expand is through acquisition. While other sectors are not so strict. There are fewer hurdles when expanding without having to acquire an established business. However, the process is not as simple. Your team will be required to do a lot of due diligence to uncover if a potential market is suitable.
Evaluate resiliency
When you are looking to expand in an area, how resilient is the potential market? The potential in the marketplace can be fantastic today, but what will it look like in a few years or when the economy sputters. Market research can help you quickly evaluate your prospective geography. While assessing, ask:
- What is the potential customer base?
- Is the proposed expansion in an area dominated by a volatile industry? “If the economy faces rough waters, will yours be one of the first vendor expenses to be cut?” Source Kinesis
- Is the population in the area expanding, contracting, or are the psychographics changing?
- Talk to the prospective customers. What is their response to the move?
- What is the competitive landscape?
Acquisitions
Entrepreneur published an article full of great information: 10 Factors To Consider When Making An Acquisition. Read the full article here.
- Look at the rationale behind the acquisition
- Study what you’re acquiring
- Have a third party as a mediator
- Manage expectations well
- Get to know the team management
- Have a proper integration plan
- Focus on human capital
- Impact on financials
- Consider the pros and cons of a new market
- Analyze line of business
Acquisitions have always been an adventure, but the fun does not stop once the acquisition is complete. You must inform your customers of the change and share more than just the name change.
Here are a few topics to consider when developing the marketing and messaging with an acquisition:
- Do the customers gain anything from the acquisition, such as access to more resources, a more knowledgeable workforce, or better guarantees?
- Will the customers continue to work with the same team?
- Does the new area have the same customer breakdown that you are familiar with, or are there new customer segments?
- Was the acquired company better or worse at marketing, and can you leverage any of their previous activities to improve the overall strategy?
If you are ready to expand and want to make sure your customers understand the value you are bringing into their area, I can help. Contact me today for a free one-hour consultation. Creating custom messaging and strategy for your company’s specific needs are some of the many things Glover Strategic Marketing can help you achieve. There is no obligation and no pressure, just a frank discussion of your company’s needs and goals. What are you waiting for?
Read the series on how to achieve growth without relying on new leads: expand your offerings, inform your customers of your offerings, expand your geography, become better at serving your customers by becoming the gold standard, expand to tandem industries, and expert opinion: be more targeted.