Getting a new business off the ground has always presented challenges. Lacking an established brand makes it extremely difficult to convince people to believe in you, and startup resources are often too limited to support exhaustive marketing. Being smart and selective with your approach means keeping a strict focus on a narrow audience comprising only those most likely to be interested in what you are offering.
If you can impress those people, you can win them over — resulting in opportunities to exceed their expectations and build a positive reputation through social proof. The question then becomes what to do once you have cornered that limited market. If you do an excellent job, you will eventually run out of new prospects within that narrow audience, making further growth seem difficult. At that point, your future lies in expanding your audience. This blog sets out four ways in which you can adapt your digital marketing to reach new audiences.
Use Broader Framing and Phrasing
When you focus on impressing a niche audience, you inevitably adapt your marketing materials to suit their specific needs and preferences. You know what technical terms they will understand, how they will want problems and solutions to be framed, and how they like to be addressed. When you open up your marketing approach, it is essential that you dial this back.
Take out the technical terms that may be misunderstood. Research what messaging is likely to resonate most clearly with a broader audience and make the necessary adjustments. Keep in mind that you will not be able to win over your new audience in a single step — your goal with your initial marketing should be to lay the groundwork for future materials. Once you have made people familiar with your core concepts, you will have the chance to make a more complete pitch. Reviewing your approach against a communications framework such as the 7 Cs of Communication can be a useful starting point.
Embrace a Multilingual Approach
For businesses seeking new prospects, one of the best ways to find untapped potential is to look overseas. There are large numbers of people who do not speak your language or who simply prefer to use sites that address them in their native tongues. Catering to them by offering content in their languages can achieve remarkable business growth.
To do this, the starting point is localising all content on your website — including the blog copy, navigational elements, and all other materials. This requires not only translation but also an appreciation of how references and tones work in one language but can fall flat in another. Accounting for cultural differences is far from easy, but it is time well spent given the revenue potential it creates.
Try New Social Media Platforms
Every narrow marketing audience has a social media preference, making it perfectly sensible for a growing business to focus on one or two platforms and pay less attention to others. If all your customers use Facebook, for example, you can handle all your social promotion through that platform. When trying to reach new people, however, new platforms become important.
Moving into new platforms will require stepping outside of your comfort zone. If you have never tried marketing on TikTok, for instance, you should seriously consider giving it a try. There may be a significant number of potential customers on platforms where your brand does not currently have a presence. Even if the results take time to build, you will have learned from the experience.
Partner with Varying Influencers
Sometimes there is limited scope to win people over directly. No matter how carefully you craft your content and spread your message, people may ignore your brand for reasons that are difficult to identify. When that happens, you need to take an indirect approach and look for ways to reach them without your history getting in the way. That is where influencers come in.
Social media influencers hold a great deal of power, even when they do not have vast audiences. Their followers highly value their opinions and will pay close attention to their recommendations. Partnering with influencers in untapped niches and giving them the creative freedom to adapt your marketing messages to suit their followers allows you to reach fresh qualified leads through an authentic and trusted voice.
How Professional Academy Supports Your Journey
Adapting your digital marketing approach to reach new audiences is a core skill developed throughout Professional Academy's range of accredited marketing qualifications. From content strategy and digital channels to audience segmentation and brand positioning, CIM qualifications equip marketers with the tools to grow effectively.
Programmes available include the CIM Level 3 Foundation Certificate in Professional Marketing, the CIM Level 4 Certificate in Professional Marketing, and the CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing.
To find out more, use the Qualifications Navigator to find your ideal course, or book an advice call at a time to suit you.
