Are you missing the chance to make more money for your business? Sometimes your best customers are the people everyone else is ignoring. This is called an underserved market.

What is an underserved market?

An underserved market is a large group of people who have been ignored by businesses in a certain industry. This group can represent a certain gender or race. An underserved group can also be people who live in a certain location (such as a neighborhood or city), or a group of people who share certain beliefs or experiences.

So, why would anyone want to sell to a group of overlooked people? If they’re being overlooked, there must be a good reason for that, right? Well, it depends.

First let’s go over some popular reasons why businesses overlook a group of people (by accident or on purpose).

Why Businesses Don’t Sell to a Group of Potential Customers

1. Difficult Production and Delivery

 Sometimes, business leaders think it will cost too much extra time and/or money to provide their service or product to a certain group of would-be customers. For example, delivering certain products could cost extra time and money if a certain group lives in a rural area that’s far away from any major roads or highways.

2. Not a Good Fit

Some business owners might believe that certain groups don’t naturally fit in with their current customers. So, appealing to a different group could be difficult when it comes to marketing and advertising. For example, an online comic book store might be used to having mostly male customers. However, many girls and women also enjoy comic books.

Still, the store’s owners might wonder how to create social media posts and online ads that appeal to girls and women, without neglecting their current customers.

3. No One’s Done This Before

Most of us like to have a successful person or example to follow when trying something new. But if no business like yours has ever reached out to a certain group of potential customers, then it’s hard to know how to connect with that group.

So, what’s the point of reaching out to an underserved market? The point is that underserved groups can bring in more money to your business. Sometimes the “pros” and bigger businesses are wrong.

An underserved group of customers could be waiting to buy services or products from a business like yours.

How to Get More Customers from an Underserved Market

1. Look at yourself and the people you know.

Is there a product that you kind of like, but could work better for you, or for people like you? How can that product or service work better for you?

2. Lean into being “The First.”

When you decide to reach out to a new group of potential customers, make being “the first” to offer a product/service part of your business. Mention this when talking to these customers, on social media and in other ways that you promote your business.

Final Thoughts

Reaching out to potential customers takes time. But your hard work can literally pay off when you create a business that stands out from other companies. Having a unique brand is very important when trying to get more customers.

This will help you stand out from other businesses like yours. And having a unique brand is very important when trying to get more customers.

Photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash