The opinions expressed by Entrepreneur authors are their very own.
“Stay in your lane.” We hear all of it the time now – in our skilled lives, in our personal lives, in our relationships. This phrase advises us to stick to what we know, leads us to specialize quite than generalize, and encourages us to find a market area of interest and stick to it. Sounds like good advice, right?
Actually, I’m not so sure. When I began my PR business over ten years ago, that is exactly what I did: I focused on the market segment I knew best and I direct my services only to them. However, over the years, I looked at different industries with interest, wondering how my business would change and how I might evolve personally if I forced myself to enter recent business sectors.
Business owners have the luxury of trying to keep things fresh and exciting for themselves, and while I definitely have enough challenges in my personal life, it’s amazing how I at all times seem to invite recent challenges in my skilled life. I think it’s because it gives me energy and keeps me on my feet. The world is moving so fast, technology is advancing so fast, that I feel that my company simply has to change with the climate in which it operates.
So here’s my recent advice to other entrepreneurs: master your lane, yes… but then have some fun on the road, changing lanes and overtaking the competition while having fun with the many highways and back roads!
Reasons to expand
Entering recent markets is not for everyone and is not suitable for every business. A specialty cheese shop in Anytown, USA might want to stay exactly where it is and do exactly what it does. Sure, a store might want to add online sales for distance shopping, but its brand is about serving a mostly local customer base with inventory that cannot be found anywhere else inside a 250-mile radius.
But the candlemaker, which initially focused solely on the home furnishings market, may very well consider expanding its operations once home sales stabilize. My client expanded its activities into the corporate sector, implementing a campaign aimed at corporate retreats and a recent line of scented products for rest techniques in the office. Its sales increased 17% in the second quarter of its entry into the enterprise space.
So before you think about ways to grow, first consider the the explanation why you may want to grow, including:
- Your initial market has change into saturated and you are experiencing limited growth potential. I began in one office in the city center, in a foodie-friendly city, which worked great for my core expertise, which was the food industry. But after a few years, after I had introduced all the local restaurants and establishments I wanted to represent, I discovered myself at an impasse. From there it was a logical progression towards the city’s hotel market.
- The recent people you invite have additional areas of experience. As my company grew, so did my staff. They brought with them skills and industry knowledge beyond my very own. For example, one of my editors had extensive experience in book publishing. I used her knowledge to break into the book promotion industry, and soon the one writer I represented grew to two, then three.
- To sustain with current market trends. Some firms can afford to stick to just one thing and do it exceptionally well. Others are more susceptible to the changing winds outside. During the pandemic, when people were hardly eating out or vacationing (my area of interest markets at the time), yes was they purchase goods for home consumption and focus on their home bases. It was an opportune moment for me to start broadening the scope of my camera lens to include retail brands and the real estate sector.
How to develop in 4 starting steps
Once you have the motivation and valid justification to expand into recent sectors, combined with the bandwidth and human resources to do so, here are some suggestions I’ve used myself to turn around my business from a hospitality and travel company to one that now also spans finance, technology, wellness and not-for-profit:
Step 1: Start by targeting adjoining industries. For example, if you serve the residential real estate market, move your sensors toward business real estate. If your clients are malls and shopping malls, your experience will translate well to large event facilities akin to sports arenas. The goal is to bring some institutional knowledge to the table while learning specific ins and outs of related fields.
Step 2: Attend industry events and conferences. You don’t have to find customers first; a good approach is to simply find a group of individuals in your goal industry with whom you possibly can network and from whom you possibly can gain a higher, deeper understanding of the field. At one of the national association meetings I attended, I invited a speaker to lunch who really impressed me with his presentation and asked if he can be willing to mentor me. Several months of email exchanges ensued in which he shared invaluable information and guided me to the most efficient next steps.
Step 3: Don’t grow too fast. Identify just one or two recent industries at a time, and then set yourself the goal of creating yourself in that realm before attempting to expand into much more recent areas. As with any recent area, the more you explore it, the more familiar you change into with it.
Step #4: In recent industries, limit your services at first. This may be compared to dipping your toe in the water to acclimatize to the temperature, quite than jumping into the deep end headfirst. An example from my very own transition journey: I do social media; my team knows social media. So when I embarked on my first financial enterprise, we didn’t need to know the details of title, liens, and escrow instantly; we just had to know how to create an effective social plan for the client that may bring the expected results. Within a few months we had learned the proper language and nature of this industry; the client didn’t mind providing us with the right jargon and post content ideas initially, if only we could take this now-essential task off of their hands.
Another example: When I first encountered technology, I felt a little insecure due to my boutique approach to lifestyle. That’s why I didn’t offer this particular client a full marketing and PR package. To start with, I only proposed media relations, and once we proved our effectiveness in this area, our services agreement added promotional and promoting functions. Essentially, the success of your minimum bid deals will likely be a good litmus test for the remainder of your customer deals.
Serving recent industries over the last few years has been difficult and at times frustrating, but also refreshing and surprisingly rewarding. Every time I land a client in a recent field, I feel a sense of accomplishment that I never dreamed of when I used to be just starting out and just hoped that a half-dozen or so clients would keep me afloat.
Moral of the story: there is no need to limit yourself. When you are feeling it is time to reach out, reach out. You’ll never know what you may grab onto next unless you expand!