Get your slice of the pie!
Today I thought we should talk a bit about goal setting and market share. After all, the goal of marketing your business is to obtain clients and preserve your share of the market.
So let’s talk first of all about what exactly market share is. At its most basic definition, market share is the total number of loyal clients that your business has managed to retain over a specific period of time.
I hope you caught the key word in the definition above: loyal clients.
Without loyal clients you really haven’t got market share. While it’s true that having many one-time buyers can positively impact your financial bottom line, without the retention of these clients you have not captured any market share. In other words, the criteria is not about attracting clients, but bringing them in and keeping them. It’s about turning these customers from simply being purchasers of your product or service into advocates, referring others to your business as well.
The process of retaining and increasing your market share is continuous. The business cycle, like the cycle of life, always has someone exiting and someone entering. Even loyal customers will eventually die, move, or no longer require your product. Therefore, you should always be looking for ways to expand your market share.
There are a number of ways to do this, and some are naturally more involved than others. But let’s touch on a few of the more simple tips in today’s article.
1. Be innovative to stay relevant.
One way to improve your market share is to try to spot new trends ahead of your competitors. Watch the news, listen to friends, and check out new technologies on the Internet. Spotting and implementing advances and technical improvements in your niche can help set you apart from your competition.
2. Be responsive to your customers.
There is nothing worse, especially from a customer’s perspective, than having the sense of being ignored. We all like to think that we matter, and the failure to respond quickly to the needs of your clients will send them flocking to your competitors.
3. Ask for feedback and use your customers’ ideas what appropriate.
Ask your customers what they like – and don’t like – about your products and services. Not only will this allow you to be more responsive and make improvements to your products and services, but it makes your clients feel valuable as well. There are lots of ways to obtain this, including online surveys through services such as SurveyMonkey and MailChimp
4. Buy out your competitor.
That’s right, I said buy out your competitor. If you have the financial resources, it may help to purchase a competitors business. This gives you direct access to, and ownership of, their client lists.
5. Be flexible.
Are you available when your clients need you? Is your product or service able to be modified to better fit the needs of your client? These are just a couple of very easy ways to gain customer loyalty and grow your market share.
These five tips are fairly simple to implement. Understanding what defines market share, and applying one or more of these tips should provide you with the fundamentals to start growing your business.
Until next time…
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