Businesses are constantly seeking innovative ways to attract more customers and boost sales. Developing a market development plan helps companies identify opportunities for growth.
If you want to learn how to create an effective market development plan, it can help you expand your products and services or explore new markets.
In this article, we’ll explain what a market development strategy is, why it’s important, how to create one and provide an example of a successful strategy in action.
What Is A Market Development Strategy?
The goal of a market development plan for business expansion is to take current items and introduce them to new markets. Businesses frequently employ market development techniques to find and create fresh chances to offer their goods in untapped areas.
To reach new customers, a firm that manufactures and sells mobile phones to consumers in the United States can choose to start marketing and offering the same phones for sale in Canada.
Companies can use a market development strategy to launch new product lines for new customers or to upsell existing customers.
For instance, the same business that makes phones may choose to begin producing smartwatches. They may market this new product to potential clients and sell it to their existing clientele.
Why Is It Important To Have A Market Development Strategy?
Having a market development plan is crucial as it may assist you in expanding your consumer base and expanding your organization.
You may also benefit from developing a professional market growth plan by:
- Boost the caliber of your goods and services
- Get new clients
- Upsell present clients
- Create brand-new goods or services
- Boost the margins on sales
- Develop the resilience of your organization
- Encourage sustained business growth
- Increase revenue and lead generation
- Give your clients greater value
- Boost the awareness of your brand
- Reduce the cost of production per unit
How To Create A Market Development Strategy
There are certain fundamental actions you can take to get started. Each company may choose a somewhat different path to establish a market growth plan that aligns with its goals, products, and industry.
The following rules can help you design a successful market development strategy:
1. Research Your Development Opportunities
It’s critical to determine your greatest development potential before branching out into a new product or industry. This information can help you achieve your goals and identify the most promising opportunities. To start looking at your potential for advancement, you can:
Identify Your Target Audience
Determine who your target market is before introducing your product to a new market. To evaluate the goals, characteristics, and histories of this target market and as certain whether your product would be of interest to them, you may construct buyer personas.
Analyze Your Market
After, you’ve determined who is your target market, find out who your possible rivals could be by doing market research. To identify your strengths compared to competitors, as well as your weaknesses and opportunities, perform a SWOT analysis.
Survey Your Current Customers
Ensure you understand your current customers’ needs and how to provide them with added value when expanding your product range for upselling. Before you create new items, you may poll your clients to find out if they would be interested in them.
2. Establish your growth goals
Think about the aspects of your company that you want to grow by entering a new market or launching a new product. Sales is one of the main areas you might concentrate on.
- Profit margin
- Workers
- Items
- Clients or users
- Geographic locations
Next, set a clear goal for each area you’re focusing on. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
For example, if your goal is to increase sales, a SMART goal could be to boost sales by 30% in the next six months. This approach helps you communicate clearly with your team, stakeholders, and business leaders about your goals and how to achieve them.
3. Allocate resources
Next, think about the essential resources you’ll need to achieve your development objectives. These resources might differ depending on the business, but they frequently consist of, raw materials, software, marketing materials, and start-up capital.
To assist you in staying organized, you may utilize a project management application or make a list of these resources. To choose the project management software package that best meets your objectives, utilize a search engine to learn about the many options available.
Following the creation of a list including the essential resources you require, you can determine the sources of these resources.
Before expanding your product line or launching your current items into a new market, think about having a backup plan for each resource. This can help ensure the success of your first launch.
4. Develop A Marketing Plan
Once you’ve set aside the needed resources, work with your marketing team to plan the launch of a new product or reach new customers with an existing one. This can help build interest and make your brand more recognizable.
You can think about creating a strategy plan for the following marketing possibilities and channels:
- Email marketing
- Advertisements on social media
- Local marketing
- Posts on blogs and digital content
- Print and radio adverts
- Billboards, and television ads
To find out which marketing channels your target audience prefers, go back and review the information you’ve gathered about them.
Work with your marketing team to set goals for your campaign, such as the number of people contacted or clicks to your website. As the campaign progresses, track these goals to identify areas for improvement and measure your success.
5. Launch Your Product
Once your planning and research are done, it’s time to launch your new product or introduce your current items to a new market. Share your goals, progress, and next steps with your team to boost your chances of success.
Share your overall campaign and sales strategy with key team members to ensure they understand their responsibilities and how success will be measured.
To assist your team stay organized and on track, give regular status updates on the launch timetable, impending projects, and deadlines.
6. Analyze your results
Track your outcomes after launching your new product or entering a new market to make sure you reach your objectives and please your clients. As soon as possible, begin gathering sales information.
Use this information to check how successful your launch is and whether you’re meeting your goals. It can also help you find areas to improve and make your campaign more effective.
Finally, utilize this information to deliver your results to the company’s management and important stakeholders. This might assist you in communicating the outcomes of your market growth strategy as well as the next measures you want to take.
Tips To Create A Market Development Strategy
The following advice will assist you in developing a successful market growth strategy:
1. Use Clear Communication
Ensuring that every member of your team is aware of their responsibilities and your goals is crucial to the execution of a successful market development plan. Communicate crucial information to team members in directly, and follow up often to address any queries they might have.
2. Document Important Details
Take the time to write down the important aspects of your market growth plan. This can assist you in presenting your plan to significant stakeholders and serve as a guide for you to refer to at every stage of the process.
3. Invest In The Right Software And Tools
Explore different tools and software that can help you track the KPIs you’ve selected to measure your company’s growth. Investing in the right software can improve efficiency, enhance collaboration, and save time.
4. Be Flexible
It’s important to adapt to new consumer trends and industry changes when entering a new market or launching a new product. Regularly review your market strategy and monitor your KPIs to determine if any adjustments are needed.
Market Development Strategy Example
Here is a good example of how a business might employ a market development plan to bring in more clients and boost sales:
1 Example
On campus, a brand-new social networking site that was created especially for Bridge mount University is gaining popularity.
The social media site’s creators see an opportunity to connect with users from other institutions and universities as the platform expands. The business modifies its account guidelines to permit registration by any college student.
As more students spread the word about the social media site to their peers at other institutions, its user base steadily expands. Following the social media network’s successful rollout to other schools and institutions, the firm opens up platform registration to non-students.
2. Example
They study the new market and adjust their social media presence to make it more inviting. Then, they develop a marketing plan to attract new users to their social networking site.
By gradually expanding from one target group to another, the company can tailor the social media platform to meet the needs of different customers.
This helps improve their service quality, provide more value to existing customers, and attract new ones.