Standing out from the crowd can be tough. Your business needs to identify market opportunities that can help your company grow and develop. There are various opportunities out there, but to avoid arming your team with the wrong tools, assessing and planning a strategy is key.

However, before you start building your plan, understanding your businesses vision and goals is important. Looking at your strengths and weaknesses, you’ll have a better idea of identifying opportunities and creating growth.

But how can we achieve this? What are the best tips for identifying real market opportunities? Well, in this article, we will cover all you need to know and get you started on the path to success.

What Is A Growth Opportunity?

A growth opportunity is a project or investment that could potentially increase, eventually becoming a profit for the investor. Investors are usually presented with new investments of potential projects that can significantly grow to make money.

14 Ways To Identify Growing Market Opportunities

Using social media.	Social media can never be underestimated when it comes to business marketing. You should be utilising it in different ways, for example, advertising and showcasing your products to new customers, but also, you can use social media to find information about customers and opportunities for business growth. Follow trends and see what the public likes and dislikes, capitalising on what is hot. Jumping on trends can open up many possibilities and see a whole wave of new outcomes. With social media, you can also engage with customers, interacting with polls and quizzes to see what they want and what they like about your products. This is possibly the best strategy is one of the best ways to identify market opportunities and it can be done for free.
Take smaller risks at first and see what works.	Taking smaller bets at first and seeing what sticks is a good place to start. You can throw your net wider and see what catches on, rather than placing all your eggs in one basket. This can save you time and money as with a wider range of possibilities, you can quickly and easily see which avenues don’t have potential, with smaller losses for failures. For the small pockets of opportunity, be ready to act and move fast to maximise the gains from these changes.
Speaking with your current customers.	Just because you have customers now, doesn’t mean you can improve. There are many different ways to speak with your customers. Some methods such as surveys and focus groups can allow you to get right down to the point with customers and what exactly they like. You want to be armed with a selection of questions that can dig directly into the tick of things, such as ‘what is missing with our brand?’ or ‘where did you hear about us?’. They can lead to more opportunities and see what you do well and what you can improve upon.
Looking for gaps.	Find the gaps, take the opportunity. One of the lessons usually taught to many entrepreneurs is to look for gaps in the market and what opportunities are there for the taking. These are places to take and take advantage of. With the current situation in the world, there have been more gaps opened than usual. Social media and the new wave of marketing has sparked unprecedented transitions. Be curious and plan to attack. Have your team ready and equipped to go after these short-notice actions.
Researching the competitors in your industry.	Knowing what your own industry is doing is great, but understanding what your competitors are doing can be just as important. Many people say to focus on yourself, however, you can learn so much from evaluating other businesses in your niche. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? You can see what they are doing successfully and where you could improve or change. Use this knowledge and make sure you get the upper hand.
Look at the possibility of upselling your current customers.	Selling to an existing client is a lot easier than having to search for a new one. Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you. Upselling is a great way to expand your services to meet the customer’s needs. At the same time, you will increase revenue and now have another product to sell. Win-win, right? This can be done by simply using questions and seeing what your customers like and could do with more of.
Start thoroughly researching the market.	Yes, we know, this is a simple idea. However, the easiest and probably most effective way to find opportunities for business growth is through thorough market research. Giving your team ammunition to hunt down the right path to growth is important and this starts with researching the market. Begin with these four steps, define the opportunity you’re looking for, create a marketing research plan, collect data with a report of the findings, schedule the attack.
Trying your luck with online forums.	This is used less often than other opportunity finding methods, however, online forums can be a great way to find opportunities that others may miss. Online forums, such as Quora, Facebook and Reddit are places where people literally write about their problems and complaints about products and services. Here, you can find a goldmine of data that can give you plenty of tips and solutions to your business. Of course, be warned, you can spend hours and hours scrolling.
Leveraging your best skills.	Your best skills are where you should put your energy towards. For example, you may be good at marketing on Instagram. Use this skill! Of course, trying different options is great, but don’t forget to do what you’re really good at. Sometimes it can be easy to try and do everything. Did you know that between 5% and 25% of revenue can be from skills? The best entrepreneurs double down on their best skills, rather than trying to diversify in as many as possible.
Viewing the international and foreign markets.	Flex your passport and venture out to explore foreign and international markets. There are plenty of benefits to using this technique to finding opportunities. You can find more revenue streams, new investment opportunities, you can see a diversity of products and even finding new talent for your business. Of course, before jumping in and choosing any country, research is key. This can involve checking the economy and legal restrictions for different nations. It would also be wise to look into professional translation service providers to make sure communications are smooth.
Using goals to your advantage.	When you know what your end goals are for your business, that is great. But not knowing how to get there can be daunting. By having goals along the journey, you allow your business to know the direction it is going in. For each goal ticked off, you get an insight into what the net goal should be to take you even closer to the overall vision. The best business owners use different goals to imagine various possibilities that can then be shaped by the creative combination of their available resources.
Taking your chance when opportunities arise.	As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot. With business opportunities, the window is usually limited and you need to act fast. The key here is to capitalise when the time is right. This means not dipping your toe in and seeing how it feels. You need to commit and have a full focus to get the full benefit of this window. In business, these windows are rare and you may never see the chance again. You have to be quick, decisive and thorough to ensure you maximise the potential.
Having a look at other industries.	Researching your own industry is recommended, however, sometimes by looking at other sectors, you could spark some creativity and utilise tricks no one is doing in your niche. Thinking outside the box and trying something that has been successful in another field could be a great way to open the doors to new opportunities. Have a think about companies you use regularly that aren’t in your industry and see what they do well and what they could improve on. You may just find the answers are all around you. This could be anything from better websites, marketing or ease of use for their services.
Partnerships with brands that are well recognised.	With the current pandemic, major industries such as tourism, retail and hospitality have been heavily impacted. This has created a huge buzz around online businesses, as most people can only shop online. We have seen a massive increase in new e-commerce start-ups, creating more competition than ever. So, what does this mean for you? Well, it is recommended to partner up with well-known brands to boost credibility in this unknown time. Working with recognised influencers and brands can be a simple way to ensure the risk isn’t too big for your business.