If your business is considering entering a new market, it represents an opportunity for growth, but it does not come without considerable risk. Allow The Web Guys to help minimize these risks with our digital marketing expertise. Balancing risk and reward at levels that your unique business can sustain is the name of the game – for every company out there – which makes doing your homework in relation to entering new markets paramount. Finding a winning go-to market strategy is very doable when you have the tools you need to succeed.
Go-to-Market Strategy?
To begin, we should clear up what the hubbub about go-to-market (GTM) strategies is all about. Your GTM strategy refers to your plan for distributing and delivering the goods or services you have on offer to a bright and shiny new market, and are various considerations that you should keep in mind in the process, including:
- The market size and your competition within the space
- How well your products or services fit the market in question
- The customer journey and common pain points
- The relevant audience demographics
- Local, regional, national, and international market variations (as applicable)
- The appropriate marketing approaches, including sales funnels and price-point strategies
When you address each of these variables as part of a greater whole, it puts you in an excellent position to assess your best options and to develop a GTM strategy that allows you to slide into your finest fit in the niche, general, or regional market of your dreams.
One Step at a Time
As with other endeavors of this magnitude, you’re going to have to do some legwork, and fortunately, there are some concrete steps you can take to get you where you need to be. In the end, entering a new market is much like starting a new business endeavor – with all the excitement, risk, and effort that entails. By having a game plan at the ready, you’ll be far better prepared to take on whatever comes your way.
Ready, Set, Go
The first step in the process is taking stock of your business enterprise and determining whether or not you’re in a good place to enter a new market. If you bite off more than you can chew, such as by entering the national market before you’re ready, it can do a lot more harm than good. Toward this end, there are several primary factors to consider.
Ask Yourself the Tough Questions
You naturally want to expand your business, but this doesn’t answer the question of – Why this new market and why now? Before moving forward, it’s important to do a bit of soul searching and to have a solid grasp on exactly why you want to pull the trigger on this market at this time. Having measurable objectives in mind is a good place to start.
The Right Stuff
Growing your business requires infrastructure, and if your internal capabilities aren’t what they should be, it’s time to take stock. If the investment required to support an expansion is within the realm of possibility, keep pressing forward.
Talent Search
Expanding to a new market requires people power, and you’ll need to evaluate your human resources as they stand. Questions to ask yourself include:
- Do we have the talent necessary to finesse our business in a new market?
- Do we have the human resources in terms of numbers?
- Does our team have the capacity to take on a range of new projects (in terms of both time and ability)?
- Will we need to increase our sales team, hire an external agency, or employ new marketers?
Let the answers to these questions guide your forward momentum. Taking the plunge before addressing the matter of staff can hobble your efforts.
Timing Is Everything
There is more to entering a new market – in terms of timing – than simply diving in when you feel like it. Taking all the following into careful consideration can help you get your timing just right:
- Your readiness
- Your target audience’s current level of need
- Your target market’s current economic situation (whether on a regional, national, or global scale)
- The current political climate (as relevant)
- Whatever unique factors are relevant to your unique products or services
Gauging Your Best Fit
All of the above dovetail into researching your ideal target market for suitability and demand. For this, Semrush’s Market Explorer has got you covered. As the name implies, this tool allows you to explore potential markets – at all levels – for potential demand (related to your goods and services). The Market Summary portion of the report you generate will provide you with a wide range of relevant info, including:
- Who owns what in terms of market share
- The total addressable market demand (the percentage of the total addressable market that is currently ready to pull the trigger on the category of goods or services you offer)
- An overview of the market’s competitive landscape
- Who the Niche Players are, who the Game Changers are, and who is transitioning from niche to game changer (identified in the Growth Quadrant)
- How traffic is trending
The Locals
It’s important to recognize that, no matter how closely you evaluate a market, it has its own idiosyncrasies that should not be overlooked. The best way to get a handle on your target market’s peculiarities is by paying adequate attention to all the following:
- The local economic situation, including price sensitivities (such as the average disposable income)
- Local laws and regulations
- The local political climate
- Language barriers
- Seasonal concerns
If you’re entering a global market, things are that much more challenging, and doing your homework on a broader scale is well advised.
A Digital Marketing Pro Can Help You Expand with Confidence
At The Web Guys, our digital marketing professionals are also pros at helping companies like yours strike their own profitable balance in terms of go-to-market strategy. Learn a whole lot more by contacting or calling us at (317) 805-4933 today.
