Back to NewsWhether you are expanding an existing business into a new market or opening a brand new business – learning how to leverage the best local barter exchange in the area can allow you to rapidly gain a foothold in the market.
As Canada’s only national exchange with local offices across the country, BarterPay is poised to come along side you in your launch strategy.
In this Part 1 of a 2-part blog series we will look at expanding an existing business to a new market.
Before expanding to a new market (either as an owned or franchised location), you should first consider whether or not you have figured out all the nuances of your business and whether you are ready to expand. Expanding too early, or at the wrong point in time in the business life cycle, can be detrimental. If you do not have the necessary infrastructure of people, finances and communication, you can stretch yourself too thin and possibly disrupt the success you are experiencing in current markets.
Are there changes you should make before opening additional markets? For example, you may want to make sure your staff and management team at your existing locations are on solid ground, and the systems you have in place run well. This is important when you want replicate anything in a new city or country.
You will also need to assess whether or not there are differences in the competitive landscape, economic diversity/strength and supply chain in the new market that could create major roadblocks to success if the strategy is not well thought out. (e.g. Target Canada did a poor job in pre-launch strategy and were an epic failure…if nothing else because they didn’t call BarterPay first ) 🙂
Once you have determined that you are ready to forge ahead into the new market consider the following areas that you could use a barter exchange to leap frog where you would be otherwise:
1) New customers – Since you are launching into a new market, every customer is new to you. We have a ready network of customers who would consider purchasing from you if available on trade. The Barter Coaches in the market will work hard to inform all of the local members of your presence and get them to try your products/services. They are your built in sales team! Once you are ready to open you could soft launch to the BarterPay members as first customers, who can provide you feedback prior to your hard launch date.
2) Local service providers – BarterPay has a list of great small to medium size businesses that would love to work with you in all the markets we are in across Canada. We can source these services in most markets:
- Office / Commercial cleaners.
- Human resource consulting / Key staff hiring
- Social Media / PR Services
- Water Cooler Service
- Bookkeeping
- Computer Services / Telephone Services
- Printing
- Construction / Renovations
- Real Estate Agents and sometimes actual space for rent (if you haven’t already lined up a location)
- Other
3) Advertising – not only can we provide advertising to BarterPay members. Each market has a variety of options to allow you to advertise to potential local customers.
- Radio
- Local TV
- Newpaper
- Magazines
- Flyers
- Billboards
- Websites
4) Launch Event – you can obtain most if not all of the following through barter to have a great launch event at your new location:
- Catering
- Entertaiment
- Bouncy Castles
- Sound & Lighting
- Extra portable toilets
- Photographers
As you can see there are lots of different ways to use Barter Credits to advance yourself in the new market, allow us to come along side you to ease the transition. There may also be areas in your existing market that barter vendors can reduce time consuming tasks your team is performing, so that they can focus on helping your expansion efforts.
All Posts