Piecing Together the Requirements of Marketing to a New Industry

It's an unfortunate fact that if a company were to focus its services exclusively to the needs of a particular industry, regardless of how successful it was in delivering high-quality solutions, it would at some point reach its cap. After all, even if this company managed to secure every member of that industry as a client, there are only so many industry members to serve.

The same problem comes about when considering an SMB and the reach of their service area. There are only so many clients to be gained in any particular industry, even fewer if your competition happens to target the same industry as you. Therefore, it becomes a requirement for any business interested in growth to diversify somewhat. This requirement, however, is not without its benefits: it opens a business up to entirely new streams of revenue. Yet it takes a little more effort to expand than simply saying that you're expanding: there are other activities that must be completed first.

Selecting a Target With Ability and Opportunity
Naturally, in order to begin targeting a new industry vertical, you have to first establish if you are able to do so. First of all, are you fully prepared to take on the responsibilities of an entirely new source of clients? Secondly, is there another vertical that would bring in sufficient business in your area?

This second concern will require some research. You will need to do some significant searching on the Internet, some research into your targeted area census data, and more than a little staking out these businesses on foot. Determine what industries are present in your area, and which have the highest number of potential targets. Is there a particular industry that you can identify as not having much representation from your fellow providers? On the other hand, which industries are already saturated with providers, and are probably more trouble than they're worth to break into? These activities are generally classified as lead building exercises, which we can always help you out with.

Identifying the Needs of Your Target Market
Once you've found a viable market to tap into, you'll have to identify their needs, and what their lines of business require of their providers. Chamber of Commerce meetings are excellent venues to network with members of your target to collect this information. Are you currently in a position to fulfill their needs? Do you provide the solutions that they require? Are there any specialized certifications or accreditations that their industry will require you to hold?

Once you've identified the assorted solutions that the target requires and established any other needs that they hold, ask yourself: is this vertical worth it right now? Is it a SMART goal, which is to say, is it specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely? If its members require a specific and measurable set of solutions that you don't offer at the moment, determine if your prospective payback from this vertical will be worth the capital costs and effort (influencing whether or not your goal is realistic) it will take to add those services to your offering. Do you currently possess all of the resources you will require to serve this vertical's needs, and if not, are you able to take on (or attain) those resources on in a timely manner? If not, you should consider evaluating a different vertical.

Gather Other Pertinent Information
Once you've established that your prospective vertical is, in fact, a viable source of clients, you'll need to ensure you are fully prepared to deliver solutions when you first approach them. Becoming familiar with the language of your targets (including tone, syntax, and their typical jargon) will prove extremely helpful when you do eventually reach out to them. Establish who they themselves are trying to market to, and take note of any customer demographics or niche opportunities that are revealed.

Once you've established who your prospective client is trying to talk to, make yourself familiar with what they're talking about. Try to pick up on the more popular pain points and what solutions exist to resolve them. Identify other industry trends through collecting other data, and get to know your targets a bit better by appearing as a vendor at their industry events and networking.

Produce Proof of Value
This step is important, as it ensures that you will be able to show your new prospects that you know what you're talking about, rather than just telling them. This is as relatively simple as producing a case study or two to show your knowledgeability and expertise. Most crucially, make sure you show your targets that you understand their pain points and the solutions that are available.

Put Yourself Out There
Finally, it's time to offer your services on the market. Selecting a highly-visible approach based on what your research had found to be effective, begin a few campaigns marketing your business to your newly-embraced audience. The reason your approach needs to have high visibility is simple: these new targets may have known you to be someone who had not provided the services that they had needed, and so they may disregard the first few impression-generating materials they see before your message can be absorbed.

Gentle insistence needs to become your M.O. as you work against that preexisting conviction. Reach out to some of you current clients with acquaintances in the industry to see if they'd be willing to talk up your services, offering them bonuses and discounts for successful referrals. Using some of that research you conducted earlier, invite some of your target industry's members to lunch and learns and other events that are specially geared toward fulfilling some of their needs. Beyond that, simply reaching out and providing information and maybe even a demonstration or two of what your services can do for them can be a good way to not only show off your capabilities, but also to promote some word-of-mouth sharing of what you have to offer.

If all of these preparations are fully attended to, you should be ready for success within your new industry. It may help to think of it as going into business all over again, except that this time you're going in with an established reputation as well as your services. This reputation is a very valuable asset in your efforts, as a good one can help to make the onboarding process of new industry clients much easier. This being said, your reputation can also be fragile, and is apt to suffer damage if you are to bite off more than you can chew.

If any of these steps is cause for concern, JoomConnect is ready to help out. We have experience dealing with the needs of many different markets and the numerous personalities that one might encounter as they expand. Reach out today at http://jmct.io/letstalk.