Increasing your market share can seem daunting, but if you don’t do it, your competitors surely will.
In this article, we'll explore five proven strategies to help you outmaneuver the competition and claim your rightful place in the market. From understanding and segmenting your target audience to harnessing the power of SEO, we'll dive into practical tips to help you leave your rivals in the dust.
What is market share?
First up, let's demystify market share.
No surprises here – market share is exactly what it sounds like: how big a slice of the total industry pie your company claims in a given period. It‘s a handy indicator of how well your company is performing compared to its competitors.
To work it out, there’s a simple calculation: your company's sales divided by the total sales in your market. For example, if you pulled in $5 million in sales and the total market was worth $100 million, you've captured a 5% market share. Not too shabby!
However, as with all metrics, market share can only be accurate if you carefully consider the inputs. That's where Total Addressable Market (TAM) comes in – the total demand for what you're selling, including potential customers you haven't reached yet. Full disclosure: TAM is a little trickier to calculate, with a few possible methods to choose from.
The key to getting it right is leveraging good market intelligence. If you have analysts at your company, it’s time to put them to work. Ask them to provide you with total market sizing, projected growth rates – the works! Armed with that knowledge, you can set pragmatic yet ambitious goals to systematically increase your share of the market.
Boosting your market share is a battle, but one you can win with the right strategy and insights. Stay focused on the metrics and opportunities that matter most, and your competitors won't know what hit them.
With all that said, let’s dive into five strategies you can use to increase your market share.
Strategy #1: Understand and segment your market
If you want to grow your market share, the first step is getting intimately familiar with your target audience. We're not talking surface-level demographics here – you need to analyze the living daylights out of your market. From there, you can start to identify the juiciest segments – the ones packed with growth potential.
For example, let's say you're selling fitness wearables. Global market, massive TAM, right? But that's way too broad. Split that into smaller customer segments like health nuts, pro athletes, weekend warriors, and tech-loving casuals. Study their distinct wants, needs, and buying behaviors.
With those profiles dialed in, you can purposefully design features, messaging, and campaigns that resonate with each high-value niche. Instead of blasting generic messages into the ether, you'll be a growth-seeking missile locked onto your most promising targets.
Strategy #2: Innovate and differentiate
You can have the best product in the world, but if it comes across like a carbon copy of what's already out there, good luck gaining any traction. Differentiation is key, and that means constantly innovating and mixing things up.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel or spend millions on R&D every year – as Milena Babayev, Director of Product Marketing at Mastercard, says, "There are plenty of ways to innovate and grow your market share without building a whole new product."
Sometimes the best innovations are refreshing tweaks to your existing offerings. Take a page from Starbucks’s book – seasonal drinks like the Pumpkin Spice Latte aren't brand-new products; they're clever remixes that tap into people’s desire for something novel.
The same principle applies to your business.
You could upgrade your product’s features, adjust your pricing and packaging (more on that in a sec!), or create bundles tailored to different customer segments. Find creative ways to make your business stand out in an increasingly saturated market – that’s what’s going to help you build buzz and attract new buyers.
Strategy #3: Pull the pricing lever
But what if you’re already innovating and painstakingly tailoring your strategies to each market segment? Well, then, it might be time to get strategic with your pricing.
That doesn’t mean you should start throwing discounts around willy-nilly. Instead, you’ll want to take a critical lens to your current pricing strategy and see if it’s serving your goals. Pricing is a powerful lever that can redefine your position in the market – if you use it correctly.
One option is the classic “low price, high volume” play. Yes, it means trimming your profit margins but undercutting the competition can instantly make your offering more attractive to price-conscious buyers.
But maybe you're already the value leader, or you've got a premium product that demands premium pricing. In that case, go high-brow with it. Position yourself as the high-quality option worth the higher price point. Just don't get complacent – you'll need to constantly reinforce the differentiated value you're delivering.
If you’ve got a subscription product, you might want to adopt a freemium model or offer users a free trial of your paid offering – it works for Spotify, and (unless implementing your product is super complex) it could work for you, too!
The key is aligning your pricing strategy with your overall positioning and goals. Are you going for mass market domination, or are you looking to cultivate a more exclusive vibe? Plan it out, execute relentlessly, and watch your market share grow accordingly.
Strategy #4: Take your marketing up a notch
Time for another key ingredient that can propel you past the competition: killer marketing.
Forget the feature-led ads of yesteryear – to move the needle, you need eye-catching, attention-grabbing campaigns that make your brand impossible to ignore.
Your look, voice, and very identity all need to be razor-sharp and aligned with how you want customers to perceive you. Is your vibe fun and cheeky or more prestigious and luxurious? Craft messaging and visuals that reinforce that positioning at every turn. Need some inspiration? We’ve got 10 cracking examples for you right here.
If you’re playing in a crowded space, you can't afford to blend into the background. Build a brand that sparks an emotional connection and then support it with daring, buzz-worthy marketing that expands your reach into valuable untapped segments.
Strategy #5: Harness the power of SEO
Imagine you’re looking for a new lawnmower – what’s the first thing you do?
Chances are, you’ll turn to our old friend Google. Whether you’re selling task management software or hair straighteners, your future customers are likely doing the same – hitting the web to solve their problems.
That makes search engine optimization (SEO) one of the most potent weapons in your arsenal. In a nutshell, SEO is the art of crafting your website and content to get prime real estate on those coveted search engine results pages (SERPs).
So, where do you start? Kick things off by developing a steady stream of high-quality, audience-focused content. That means blogs, guides, videos – you name it – providing detailed answers to your target customers’ most common questions and pain points. Forget the hard sell – your aim here is to lure potential customers to your website and show them that you know your stuff.
For instance, if you're launching an email marketing solution, start creating definitive content on topics like email list building or how to write an effective email. Do this months in advance. This serves two huge purposes: establishing your brand as a go-to authority while guiding potential customers to your site with strategic keyword targeting.
Speaking of keywords, getting them right is critical. Identify the high-value terms that relate to your products and services and attract serious paid search spending from rivals. Tools like SEMRush can highlight which keywords your competitors are bidding on so you can optimize and hijack those clicks.
You'll also need to ensure your website's technical foundations are optimized from top to bottom. That means strong internal linking, lightning-fast load times, and zero broken links – removing any friction that could negatively impact user experience and search rankings. If potential customers have a clunky experience on your site, say goodbye to your hopes of converting that hard-earned traffic.
If your business has a local or regional component, don't ignore the power of local SEO either. Make sure your brand is prominently listed across local directories, review sites, and navigation apps. And don’t forget to use geo-targeted keywords, naming the places you operate in – for example, “coffee shop Detroit.”
Finally, should you do any of this without diligently measuring and optimizing performance? Of course not! Our friends at Google are constantly releasing updates that shift the goalposts, and your competitors are changing up their strategies too.
So, make sure you keep an eye on critical metrics like organic traffic sources, conversion rates, and revenue. Use that data to double down on what's working and ditch what's not. You’ve got to play the long game when it comes to SEO.
Key takeaways
Increasing market share is a never-ending battle, but one you can consistently win with the right tactics. Keep these key takeaways in mind as you wage your campaign:
🍊 Segment your total addressable market and design targeted strategies for the highest-potential segments.
🧪 Differentiate with a steady cadence of innovative moves – new features, pricing/packaging, customer experiences, etc.
💰 Align your pricing strategy with your positioning goals – are you the value leader, the premium option, or targeting mass adoption?
🐝 Build an emotionally resonant brand supported by daring, buzz-worthy marketing that expands your reach.
🏆 Become an SEO leader by creating authoritative and educational content, targeting high-value keywords, and optimizing your site’s technical foundations.
