Specializing in a particular niche allows you to distinguish your company in that sector. For example, if you are focusing on providing IT services in the education sector, it is easier to get recommendations and capture a good chunk of that market size. The challenge comes when your chosen niche begins to limit your growth. There are a number of strategies your company can implement to grow beyond your niche without radically changing your business plan. You can use IT marketing strategies to sell a new proposition and reach customers you previously excluded. Here are three tips to do it:
1. Look Outside Your Current Geographical Boundaries
There are tremendous benefits for focusing on a specific geographical location. When you’re clients are local, offline marketing is an important tool to bring in new business. It is easy for you to carry out installations and to troubleshoot on site. When it’s time to expand your business, an easy win is to start looking to clients who are not as near your premises as you are used to. The beauty of many of the managed IT services that your company provides is that they do not need onsite and in-person assistance. You can serve your clients from a distance. Additionally, as you continue to reach new locations, you could soon be in a position to set up a new office there.
2. Target Different Industries
In the starting example, you may be targeting a particular industry with your IT marketing such as the education sector. You can provide services to many different schools, colleges, and universities, but if you want to grow outside your niche, consider targeting other industries. The IT services and support that you provide in that sector can be tweaked and tailored for related industries. You can get into IT services for medical practices and law firms and even for government by leveraging on your existing experience and expertise.
3. Target Varying Company Sizes
A third way to expand outside your current niche is to look at the size of the companies you have been targeting. You may be well-equipped and experienced in providing managed IT services to large multi-national companies with lots of staff and many remote workers. You can expand outside this niche by finding small and medium companies. They also require a lot of IT support, and while the contracts may be smaller in size, there are plenty such businesses looking for a bit or a lot of support.
Starting out in a niche market is a great way to get into business and make a name for your company. When it’s time to expand, however, that can begin to limit your reach. You can apply the IT marketing tips discussed above to grow to new industries, locations, and company sizes.
