Three Ways To Expand Your Business Outside Your Core Industry

By Andrew Munro, who co-founded AffiliateWP in early 2014. His trusty treadmill desk allows him to write code at an incredible 3 mph.

If you’ve been doing business for some time now and have scored several marketing victories in your industry, you are likely ready to expand your business outside your core industry. But how do you do that?

The idea of expansion can be daunting. However, with a little bit of planning and some smart marketing strategies, you can easily step beyond your core industry and set foot in a market that you haven’t previously explored. Here are a few smart ways to do that without feeling overwhelmed and intimidated.

1. Partner with companies outside your industry.

In business, stepping outside of your core industry can’t be a one-day job. You have to take the slow path because you’re exploring a market that’s entirely new for your products or services. So if you want to start earning some profit, you’ll first have to gain your audience’s trust.

A very effective way of doing that is to partner with companies outside your industry. But in doing so, make sure to look for brands that people already recognize and trust.

Don’t rush into a partnership; you want to find the right fit for your business. When you do find the right partner, it’s important to strategize on how to make the collaboration a success.

Look for inspiration. One very successful example to consider is the partnership between Uber and Spotify. Both companies are from two different industries, but they partnered together to create a campaign that allows Uber users to connect to Spotify and DJ their rides by selecting their own playlist. Now users might be more interested in choosing the two partners over other competitors knowing that it can offer them a personalized ride that they are more likely to enjoy. It’s a great way for both parties to attract more customers and boost their sales.

2. Anticipate customer needs.

Another brilliant way of stepping outside your core industry is to think outside the box and offer a solution before the customer even thinks it’s a problem. Anticipate customer needs and be the first one to tell them how to solve the issue.

For example, popular athletic brand Nike and technology king Apple did this to help athletes take their workout experiences to the next level. The two brands have been collaborating since the 2000s when iPods were first launched. At that time, they partnered to bring Apple music to the workout sessions of Nike users through the combination of Apple’s iPods and Nike’s sneakers and clothing. Later the partnership successfully transitioned to its next level and became Nike+. In this partnership, the duo allowed its users to sync the activity-tracking technology built into the athletic clothing with various iPhone apps to track their workout data.

The companies worked together to help people record their workout sessions to boost their endurance and track their progress. The ultimate goal was to offer an improved user experience by taking users’ workout sessions to the next level. The partnership was a hit, with both parties experiencing a win-win situation.

3. Look for ‘off-label uses.’

One more way to expand your business outside your core industry is to look for “off-label uses” of your products. This practice is common in the pharmaceutical sector where licensed medical practitioners will prescribe a medicine used for one issue to treat a different health condition. In fact, 1 in 5 prescriptions written in the United States is for off-label use. But you don’t have to be in healthcare to use this strategy. All you have to do is think outside the box to see who else other than your traditional users can benefit from your business.

So there you have it: Some smart but easy ways to expand your business outside your core industry. Now it’s your turn to implement them the right way and reap the benefits.