How to be successful in a saturated market
Do you want to penetrate a heavily saturated market? If you have an online business and are worried about the competition, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily time to throw in the towel. It’s easy to get cold feet with a new business venture or even an existing one if you feel you cannot keep up with the ever changing market. Fortunately, there are some steps to help you remain competitive and even make you the market leader when done properly.
Don’t let a crowded market put you off
Today, the power of the internet has made it possible to enter most markets relatively easily. This means that some markets can become oversaturated quite quickly which many business people might want to avoid. However, just because a market is saturated, it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for opportunity. It’s important to consider why this market may be so saturated, the chances are it’s because there is a high demand for the products or services being offered. This suggests that there are plenty of eager buyers to target, and with the right online activity, you could be one of the main players in the market.
It’s important to remember that there may be markets that are unsaturated which may seem attractive to enter but the downside of this is that they are unproven. This is high risk as it can become more time consuming and costly and may not workout in the end anyway. At least with a saturated market, you can see clear positive signals about where opportunity lies.
Opportunities within a saturated market
Often, when it comes to a saturated market, many of the big players are where they are now as a result of luck, being the first to get their foot in the door or because of effective digital marketing. Fortunately for you, many businesses fail to implement the latter. This gives your online business a huge advantage to use digital marketing to get ahead. There are a number of tactics that can be used in digital marketing, the first step is identifying a goal and creating a strategy.
Search engine optimisation
One opportunity that is missed by too many businesses online is SEO which stands for search engine optimisation. As the name suggests, search engine optimisation involves the practise of optimising your website for search engines. Many businesses and even marketing agencies often overlook SEO because it is a long term approach despite the fact that it is one of the most effective ways to improve brand awareness, visibility, site rankings and traffic.
This missed opportunity could allow your business to climb through the ranks in search engine results and get your page above competitors. This is important because ranking on the first page of search results is an effective way to get more clicks which in many cases leads to more conversions. SEO is best done by specialists because it requires effective planning, use of tools and implementation in order to see results.
Paid advertising
Another way you can improve visibility and drive sales is through paid advertising. In this case we are talking about paid search ads. These are the advertisements that appear above organic results in search engine results pages. This method of digital marketing is cost effective because it works on a cost per click basis meaning you only pay if your advertisement gets clicked on.
The reason paid advertising is so effective is because it enables you to be extremely targeted when it comes to reaching your desired audience. You can target users based on a number of factors such as age, gender or location. You can also set a daily budget which means you don’t have to worry about spending more than you can afford.
Email marketing
Another marketing method that is often neglected is email marketing. This is an extremely powerful way to reach your audience with an effective call to action that often drives users back to your website. We recommend using email marketing after SEO and paid advertising activity as it is only really effective once you have built up a number of site visitors.
Once you have collected enough data it is possible to email users based on the way they engaged with your site. If they got all the way to the checkout but abandoned the cart, you could send a reminder email saying ‘did you forget something’ which is a great call to action to drive them back to your web page and could result in a sale. You could also use it to offer promotions to potential customers and get them over the final hurdle which is parting with their cash. This form of marketing is also known as ‘remarketing’.
How to stand out in a penetrated market
Now we have discussed ways in which you can increase the traffic that visits your website, you might want to consider other elements that are crucial to make you stand out from the crowd. In this section we are going to discuss niche, user experience, pricing and your unique selling point.
Niche positioning
Instead of marketing to everyone who could benefit from the product or service you offer, niche positioning focuses exclusively on one group. Here, you can demonstrate an extensive knowledge, passion or understanding of a niche market and what their wants and needs are. From here you can position your product or service as ‘expertise’, this could result in less competition, more brand loyalty and higher profit.
Good User Experience
Whether it’s customer service or the experience of your online store, a good user experience can be the difference between a sale and even making customers return to you in the future. The best way to ensure your online customers have a good user experience is to have a website that is aesthetically pleasing, is easy to navigate and loads quickly.
One of the best hosting platforms for ecommerce businesses is Shopify, used by huge retailers such as GymShark, Kylie skin and Tesla. Shopify has a range of ready made templates that make it easy to set up an online store that is user friendly and liked by search engines. If you need help setting up your Shopify store or marketing it, an official Shopify Partner like Our Digital Team could help you.
Pricing
Another crucial element of any business is getting the pricing of your product or service right. However, this is easier said than done. Some ways you can identify the right pricing strategy for your product or service is through extensive market research. This can help you to understand customers’ wants and needs and their willingness to pay for what you are offering. Many established brands charge a premium because customers are prepared to pay it, if you’re new to the market however, the chances are customers will be less willing to pay high prices. The important part of pricing strategy is to make sure your business is profitable whilst keeping customers happy.
Unique Selling Point
Finally, make sure your brand, product or service actually offers value to your customer. You can do this by having a clear USP (unique selling point). If your product or service has added value or offerings, this could help your business to really stand out from the rest giving you substantial advantage over your competitors.
