Breaching Into New Markets: 5 Things You Can Expect To See
As businesses grow, they tend to want to try to branch out and explore new markets that they think would benefit from their product or service. This can be a change in demographic targeting, or trying to reach brand new locations including cities, states, and countries! So what can you expect from this move? Here are five things that come with breaching into new markets that you're very likely to see!
A Lot Of Trial and Error
The number one thing that you can be sure of in new campaigns is a lot of trial and error. Even the top digital marketing agencies need to test out different platforms, campaigns, creative, etc. to find what works best for this new segment you're hoping to reach. Luckily, social media advertising makes it simple enough to run campaigns concurrently to compare their results. As you start to move in the right direction, your digital marketing agency will take the data they have and build out campaigns that are the best from the last round. The cycle continues until you start to see the levels of results expected for your business/industry. Some markets are easier to figure out than others, so you could get lucky and see results relatively quickly. Keep in mind that the more niche you product or service is, the more challenging it can be to find new markets to break into. That being said, commodities can be challenging as well because of market saturation. Your digital marketing team will have to get creative to make you stand out from the crowd! During the testing phase, please be patient with your team; they are working on your account as much as they can, and as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Just as a note, editing ads on a daily basis actually causes more harm than good because the platform can never optimize! Your digital agency has a plan and they won't leave you out to dry.
Results You Didn't Expect
Another thing you can expect when trying to breach into new markets is a litany of results that you never saw coming! Now, before you get too excited, we do want to warn you that these results can be unexpectedly good OR unexpectedly bad. Unfortunately, that comes with the territory of trying something new. Of course, more often than not, bad results can be turned around with some work and brainstorming. You may do hours and hours of research into your new market and think that you know the ins and outs, only to be proven wrong when your campaigns start. This is not through any fault of your own; people are finicky and can change their preferences in the blink of an eye. Because of that, you and your digital marketing agency could be taken by surprise and need to re-evaluate your plan of attack. Don't let this discourage you from pushing forward! Your next plan may get you even more results than you initially expected!
Slower-Growing Results
Similar to the last point, when breaching into new markets, you should be prepared to wait longer before you see results. As you would imagine, the trial and error period can be quite long before you find something that sticks. After all, you're venturing into uncharted territory, so you need to see what you're dealing with before you can come out on top. Think back to when you first started marketing your business at all; it probably took quite a bit of time to get off the ground. When your breach into a new market, it's similar to starting from scratch, but you have a slightly better idea of your brand and what people like about it. There's always going to be a learning curve, so trust the process and don't rush! To make the most of your testing period, you should run several campaigns, ad groups, and ads and gather data about their performance. Change up the creative, your targeting, and general demographics to find the sweet spot! This process can take several weeks to a few months, but to successfully break into a new market is worth the wait!
Different Trends Than Your Current Market
We we said, people change their minds all the time. You should not be surprised when you notice trends that you never saw coming! Let's say you sell shirts. In Country A, your red shirt is the top seller, so when you plan to move into Country B, you center most of your initial efforts on promoting your red shirt. You make one or two ads featuring other colors just to show that you offer more than one item. You would assume that the red shirt ads will be the best-received, right? Well, in reality, Country B cannot get enough of the yellow shirt you have on just one ad! You can't usually predict these trends, and they can seem to come from nowhere. In some cases, particularly when moving into a similar market to your current one, you may get the same trends. Moving between countries or cultures tends to be trickier to predict. It's also crucial to research any differences in holidays because shopping trends tend to increase around gift-based celebrations. You don't want to miss an opportunity to make more sales! Also keep in mind that different parts of the world are experiencing different seasons at any given point. If you're selling kayaks in the US, your best time will be March-August. If you want to breach into Australia, you'll want to focus on their summer from around September-February. Obviously, more universal products and services can be marketed year-round, but it's something to consider nonetheless.
Success After You Get Going!
If reading this has been scary, we want to make sure that feeling goes away! Is breaching into new markets a challenge? Yes, absolutely! Is it impossible? Not by any means! We have helped dozens of clients in over 20 industries find success in new market with new audiences. We would highly suggest working with a digital marketing agency if you're hoping to get the best results. Your team will handle all of your social media marketing needs, including reaching new customers. If you're willing to be patient and put in a bit of effort, your business will soon see great success! The good news is, the more experience you have with expanding your market the easier the process becomes for everyone involved. Don't limit yourself because you're afraid to fail; take the leap and you'll find out that people all over the country or the world wants what you offer!
We hope you've found this article informative. Overall, it's a great idea to attempt to branch out when business is booming at home. Do so with patience and care and you'll soon be booming wherever you go! If you're ready to start breaching into new markets, call the BusySeed team at (888) 353-1484 . We will get you started in the right direction with intensive market research, campaign development, and constant monitoring of results. We work with all industries and won't stop innovating until you get the results you desire!
