Owning a small business comes with its own perks, but it involves a lot of hard work. As a local business owner, you might face various problems, one of them being the inability to find new customers. Not to say that your current customers aren’t great; you might still be barely breaking even and making very little profit.
One way to fix that is to appeal to a different audience. In doing so, you’re running the risk of losing your current customers. Here are some tips you should consider if you’re trying to reach a new demographic without abandoning your initial target audience.
Partner with another local business
If you have an idea of the kind of people that might be interested in your product or service, you should go straight for the kill. Find another company, the products or services of which they use, and partner with them!
The key is to partner with a business that’s just different enough from yours (in other words, selling different products), but doesn’t contradict your message. For example, if you have a coffee shop, you can offer catering for events in your area. That will give you more visibility. If you want to keep it friendly, try to stay away from controversial businesses.
Research your new audience
Don’t just go out on a whim; do your research! Create a full portrait of your new demographic. Try to understand their mindset and the forces that drive their buyer behavior. Think of it in terms of marketing, branding, packaging, price, and product quality. What can you change to spark the interest of your new target market? Keep in mind their geolocation, use their IP addresses to find out more about their geolocation with this free geo IP tool.
Use surveys and conduct interviews
Online surveys are handy and require minimal funding. Write a list of questions you’d like to ask your new target audience and distribute your survey through your website and social media. You can partner with other businesses that would be willing to display your survey on their websites or invest in some online ads.
If you have the opportunity, you should opt for in-person interviews. Take advantage of focus groups! Remember to keep it short and sweet. Nobody likes to spend more than 10 minutes answering questions.
Adjust your message
Think of all the branding you’ve been using so far. Why has that brought you the clients that you have now? How can you change it with your new demographic in mind? Use the information you’ve generated about your new audience and adjust your branding accordingly. If you don’t want to lose any customers, it’s incredibly important to stay on brand. Use Charlotte bulk mailing lists to print your new branding and messaging.
Don’t make drastic changes too quickly! Think of all the businesses that have done that and lost loyal customers. Change the things that you need to change, but keep the same concept.
