If losing your key customer could send your company scrambling or force significant cost-cutting, it’s probably a good time to start looking into diversifying your clientele.
It’s important to build strong relationships with your customers; however, problems can arise if you heavily rely on one or two key clients in the long-term. To create a resilient and profitable company, you need to diversify your customer base. It can serve as a way to protect your business from revenue fluctuations if customers fall away.
Take an honest look at your small business and the marketing tactics you’re currently using. Is there anything about how you may be conducting your business that could be pushing consumers away? Could you be turning off millennials if you have no website or social media presence?
Here are 5 ways you can expand your clientele, increasing your chances of long-term success:
1. Establish an online presence
In the early stages, one of the first things you should do is to develop your online presence. You could be missing out on opportunities to get the word out there about your business if you’re not online. The 2018 Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report revealed that only 50% of small businesses in Australia own a website and showed that 62% of customers would not consider a small business if they don’t have one. Once you’ve established your website or social media page, it can provide a general picture about who appreciates the brand and who interacts with your promotional posts.
2. Build strategic partnerships
Partnering with a business that compliments yours is another great way to reach new markets, expand your customer base and create a competitive edge. The alliance must be mutually beneficial. When you approach another business owner, make sure you touch on how it can benefit his or her business. For example, you could promote a shared offer or aim for a longer partnership by creating new products or services.
3. Expand your offering
Expanding your product or services could be an effective diversification tactic. You could tailor an existing product to a new market, i.e. creating an app that appeals to Gen Y and millennials or offering your product or service in a different language. Take the time to study the new demographic and learn their buying habits so you can tweak your marketing messages. Try testing the waters before you dive in as you may find out that your products or services don’t appeal to the target market, and that’s OK!
4. Expand into new locations
Opportunities might exist to expand your business geographically. With an online content marketing strategy, it can essentially make expanding geographically limitless. A new region can be tapped into through investing in promotion in that area. You could also tailor your product, so it’s regionally themed or open a branch in a new community.
5. Referrals & customer testimonials
Don’t be hesitant to ask your customers to refer you to others. Start featuring your customer testimonials on your website or start requesting them. Building case studies highlighting how your company helped may attract new business also.
Additional Resources
For more information to help you run a successful small business, check out the following articles:
- Small Business Marketing Tips to Boost Your Holiday Sales
- Tips for Surviving Your First Year in Business
- Working Capital: What is it and Why Does Your Small Business Need it?
- 25 Ways to Grow Your Small Business Fast
If you’re looking for funds to help give your venture the boost it needs, a small business loan could be the solution! Call 1300 00 LUMI or visit our website to see how an unsecured business loan can help you.
