Struggling to Narrow Your Focus in a New Industry?

Targeting a new industry but don't want to go too broad?

Here are a couple of ideas for figuring it out. 

1. Get insights from a couple of industry SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) about the 'right' way to segment the market for your agency. 

2. Find established service-based companies specializing in the industry. Study how they segment the market. Look for which segments are profitable and which ones they avoid.

Here's the thing...

Finding people who have already figured out the market dynamics will speed up your learning curve. 

It'll also help you make more informed decisions and quickly adapt to the new industry.

CQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is talking to industry SMEs a fast way to figure out market segmentation?

Because subject matter experts already understand the 'right' way to segment the market, insight that would otherwise take significant time and trial and error to piece together independently.

What can be learned from studying established service-based companies in a new industry?

How they segment the market, and specifically which segments are profitable versus which ones they intentionally avoid. That real-world pattern reveals where the actual opportunities and pitfalls likely are.

Why does looking at what established companies avoid matter as much as what they pursue?

Because avoided segments often signal known pitfalls, unprofitable niches, difficult clients, or poor fit, that would otherwise have to be discovered the hard way through direct experience.

Why does finding people who've already figured out market dynamics speed up the learning curve so much?

Because it skips the trial-and-error phase entirely. Learning from those who've already mapped the market saves the time it would take to independently rediscover the same segmentation logic.

What's the actual benefit of using these two approaches together?

Faster, more informed decisions and quicker adaptation to a new industry, since both approaches draw on existing expertise rather than starting the market segmentation process from scratch.