Entrepreneurs with small businesses are often eager to expand their brands to help grow their consumer base and their bottom line. There are several benefits to strengthening one’s business by way of extending their brand. Having a strong brand helps you establish yourself as an expert in your industry; a consistent brand also makes a company more appealing to potential clients or consumers. However, any brand extensions require adequate research and forethought if you want to do the best job possible.
A small business doesn’t become an expansive company overnight. Building a lasting brand is a long-term process that requires a concentrated effort and the right strategies. Read on for four various brand extensions to consider when trying to expand a brand.
Expand your products
Starting a business from the ground up is incredibly challenging. This obstacle is why it’s tempting to stick with what works once a company finds success with a product. However, no business will succeed if they refuse to change and adapt to market demands and advances.
To keep one’s brand relevant for the long term, it helps to consider extending their current line of products. With a line extension, brands work to add other branded products within an already existing product line. This improvement allows the brand to keep their current customers interested while attracting new consumers with other products.
New categories of projects
Category extensions allow a brand to introduce their company to consumers in a separate category. These category extensions are more successful for brands that have an established reputation in their industry. This expansion allows the brand to branch out into an entirely different category of a product without alienating their customers while beginning to offer a more extensive array of categories within their industry.
Try a new niche
Market extensions can be a trickier endeavor for brands. However, when done successfully, market extensions attract consumers from a totally different niche. The most active market extensions introduce consumers to a brand that they may have never heard of otherwise and help that business move into a new industry.
New location
A brand that is looking to expand outside of their current locale should consider geographic extensions. While considered the most expensive method of strengthening one’s brand, the use of online marketing campaigns makes geographic expansions more effective. While introducing products to a completely different region presents a considerable risk, the opportunity of tapping into a totally different set of consumers is worth it.
There is a multitude of ways a business can strengthen their brand. With the right research and strategies, brands can apply these various extensions to their business plan to help expand into a new market and draw in a new audience.
