Market development strategy is a growth strategy put in place by companies or organizations to present their product or solution to target audiences that they have not yet reached or are not yet serving.
As an example, let’s say your software publisher has a new product offering. In order to come up with a market development strategy, you need to research who the new product would work best for and how best to target them – that will be, in a nutshell, your market development strategy.
Points to consider when creating a new market development strategy
There are several factors to consider in determining whether your business is ready to develop a new market development strategy for your product:
- Is there a specific target audience (market) that you are not serving yet? Would this audience really benefit from your new product offering?
- Do you or your team have the necessary bandwidth to develop and measure the effectiveness of a market development strategy?
- Will your efforts to reach this new market be worth the investment of your business or organization? (What is the return on investment?)
Examples of market development strategies
Here are some popular market development strategies:
- Geographic Expansion – One way to reach new audiences with your product is geographic expansion. For example, if you are currently only targeting US customers, research what it would take for your business to grow your audience globally. Or, if you currently only serve New York City tech companies, consider whether it would be a good idea to target San Francisco tech companies as well.
- Upselling to Existing Customers – If some or all of your current customer base could benefit from your new product offering, consider using your relationship with them as a gateway to the introduction of your new solution.
- Attract non-users – In addition to (or separately) upselling to current customers or customers, you can also develop a plan to target non-users of your product. This can be achieved through a variety of methods, including offering free trials, cold awareness, advertising, etc.
- Attracting Competitive Customers – Who Else Is Making A Product Like Yours? And how do you convince their customers to migrate to you? You may be able to adjust your prices, offer incentives or discounts, use lookalike audiences in advertising, or provide a superior user experience.
