7 Market Penetration Strategies (+examples)

If you have ever wanted to discover market penetration strategies, you have found the right article.

Today, we are going to review 7 simple, proven strategies that professionals use to penetrate their market and gain more market share.

7 market penetration strategies include:

1. Retain current market share
2. Gain new customers
3. Increase market share
4. Assess the potential of current customers
5. Sell to competitors’ customers
6. Identify ways to increase customer loyalty
7. Offer incentives

Let’s now dig deeper into each of these strategies and provide some examples.

7 market penetration strategies and examples

Below are the 7 market penetration strategies used by the best companies. Companies that want to own a larger market share do this by strategically designing a more effective market penetration strategy. 

Let’s get started with number one:

1. Retain current market

Goal number one in marketing is to keep your current customers doing business with you. 

You can do this many ways, and there are almost endless possibilities on how to retain customers. Many companies simply provide existing customers with incentives to buy more. They do this through discount programs and loyalty programs.

You could offer special discounts for existing customers or unique, high value product bundles. 

You can offer a discount on your product or service to current customers who have already purchased it. 

One thing that is absolutely core is that you communicate regularly with your current customers. If you need help here, I highly suggest you read this helpful article which will help you communicate more frequently with your current customers:

What is Your Email Marketing Strategy?

In addition to a discount program, another great option is to develop a loyalty program. Loyalty programs encourage people who want or need what you regularly sell, like a gym membership or delivery service such as Amazon Prime, to buy even more things from you because they get something extra.

2. Gain new customers

Gaining new customers should be part of your marketing strategy at all times, not just as part of  market penetration strategy.

There’s tons of ways to gain new customers. 

One simple strategy, but not always easy, is to better utilize social media to promote your product or service. 

Social media sites allow you to communicate with prospective customers and share information about your product or service. Of course, you can also use social media for customer feedback and suggestions, which will help you improve the quality of your products/services.

Additionally, search engine optimization (SEO) is often used as a method to attract new users and expose them to your products and services.

We also use direct mail, print, media, online advertising, local marketing strategies and more to gain new customers. Whatever you use, be sure to test a lot and record accurate metrics.

For a very helpful article on gaining new customers, go to this excellent tutorial:

Website Marketing and Online Advertising

3. Increase market share

Market share is a measure of how much of the market you have. 

It's important to have at least a basic understanding of the total market, and the market share of your competitors' customers, products, services, and sales channels. Here are some basic questions that can help you gain some important insight:

• How much of the total market does each competitor have?
• How many customers are buying from each competitor? In what quantities or frequency do they buy?
• What are the main differences between your products and your competitors' products? Or do you compete on price only?
• What sales and marketing channel(s) does each competitor use: direct sales force, retail stores, e-commerce site, telephone ordering system (with call center), mail order catalogs, etc.?

For an excellent article on writing your market penetration strategy, go here:

How to write a market penetration strategy (5 simple steps)

4. Assess the potential of current customers

You can use your own past sales figures to assess the potential of current customers. 

To make this assessment, look at your sales records over the last five years and identify trends that show which customers have been buying from you. It is important to consider any recent changes in the market or other factors that could impact your business's performance.

For example, if many of your existing clients have stopped buying from you, then it may be time for some serious thinking about how to attract new ones. You could look at ways in which you can improve customer service or give better value for money, or perhaps introduce new products or services that appeal directly to their needs.

For one of the most important strategies in business, go here for an incredibly helpful article that will help you uncover a lot of critical customer information:

Recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) | Marketing analysis

5. Sell to competitors' customers

The next step is to look at competitors' customers. Think about the product or service they offer, and consider whether your customer base would be interested in something similar. Is the company a good deal? Do they have good customer service? Would you be happy to recommend them to someone else? If the answer is yes, you have a clear idea of how to compete with their products or services.

It would help if you also considered what it would take for your customers to switch from your competitor's product/service to yours. For example: suppose Product X is cheaper than Product Y but offers less quality and less convenience than Product Y (and vice versa). In that case, each group will want something different from their supplier—and may even resent their supplier when they don't provide it!

One of the most effective ways of gaining customers from your competitors is by using the word “FREE”. Fo a very helpful article on exactly how to do this, go here:

How is “Free” used in marketing? (5 clever strategies)

6. Identify ways to encourage loyalty.

One of the best ways to increase market share is of course to keep your current customers longer. Another way is to get them to buy more from you, more often. And another method is to teach them how to refer customers to you.

Here are some more helpful tips on how to increase loyalty:

• Offer discounts on related products or services.

• Offer special deals for customers who buy multiple products.
• Give away samples of related products or services to loyal customers to encourage them to explore new options and expand their usage of your brand, even if they don't end up buying it right now.
• Offer free shipping on related products or services. This is especially useful if you're trying to get people into your store, where they might be more likely to purchase something else while they're there anyway!

For a very helpful article on how to increase sales, go here:

How Do I Increase Sales? | 3 Strategies (+Free template)

7. Offer incentives

If you already have loyal customers, this is a great time to give them a reason to stay with you for continuous growth. 

Offer incentives for existing customers to remain loyal:

• Give them a discount on their next purchase. If they spend more money with you, they'll be more likely to keep coming back.
• Offer free shipping. Again, if they're going out of their way to get something from you and pay for it, there's a good chance that customers will buy again in the future!
• Throw in an extra item with their order (such as some candies or mints).  Many companies call this “an unannounced FREE bonus”, as a thank you for doing business with us. This is always a nice treat for the customer to receive, as long as the connection to the product, service or business is clear, i.e., if your customers are cat owners, don’t send them a dog bone unless its part of a very well thought-out marketing campaign.

This adds value and shows that you appreciate them as customers. It may even lead them to buy something else that wasn't part of the original order because they wanted what was included so badly!

Conclusion

For your business, it's important to implement a marketing plan that includes strategies for increasing market share, retaining customers, and gaining new ones. With the right approach, you can absolutely increase sales and reach more customers.

References

1. A Tactical Framework for Market Penetration with a Multidimensional Organization: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329602174_A_Tactical_Framework_for_Market_Penetration_with_a_Multidimensional_Organization
2. The Influence of Market Penetration Strategies on Market Share in the Hospitality Industry in Arusha, Tanzania: https://ijsrm.in/index.php/ijsrm/article/view/4103