When you’re running a business, it’s fair to assume that you’re going to want as high a volume of customers as possible. The more customers you have, the higher your profit, and the happier you are.

 

If you have looked for advice on attracting customers in the past, there’s a good chance that this advice tells you to target a specific demographic. This is generally wise counsel, and every business should know its niche and how to market to the specific people they believe are most likely to buy.

 

However, focusing too hard on a specific demographic can also be damaging. Sometimes, it’s good to take a step back and critically evaluate your business for all potential customers. You don’t want to be focusing so hard on trying to attract one particular kind of customer that you ultimately deter all others. Below, you’ll find a few suggestions as to how you can take steps to ensure that your business endeavours are as inclusive as possible.

 

Embrace the diversity of people

 

If you run a fashion store, you will likely be accustomed to stocking clothing options in a relatively small range of sizes and styles. This means that anyone who doesn’t fit these sizes is going to view your store as useless, and you lose a potential customer. However, if you expand to offer plus size clothing options, use plus size mannequins, and offer “tall” and “petite” options, you’ve quadrupled your potential customer base.

 

This lesson can be extrapolated into all kinds of business types. If you run a cinema, think about how you can make it more accessible for those who suffer from vision or hearing loss. If you’re a restaurant, consider providing gluten-free options on the menu to accommodate those with Celiac Disease, and so on and so forth. Expanding to accept diversity from your customer base, rather than expecting customers to conform to a standard societal “normality”, will always reflect well on your business.

 

See your business through different eyes

 

Every kind of business or product has a use than is applicable outside of its core demographic. As an example, consider the fact that speakers seem to be designed only to appeal to fans of tech, so this would be the core target demographic. However, smart speakers can also be extremely useful for older people, who may need to call for help without being able to get to a phone.

 

Your product or service will also have an additional use; you just have to find it. Conducting focus groups should give you an insight into the uses of your business that you hadn’t even considered— and will open up a whole new demographic that you can market and advertise to as a result.

 

To conclude

While focusing on your core demographic is always going to be beneficial to your business, spending a little time working through the points above can really help to expand your customer base. The steps above are relatively simple, but they could help to draw a new demographic to your business, meaning you’re able to enjoy increased revenue as a result.