Land and Expand Strategy

What is content marketing?

Content Marketing is about promoting products, services and ideas by providing information to prospective customers from a company’s website or blog.

The ultimate goal is to get people to buy something from that company.

When it comes to the Land and expand strategy in content marketing, it means first targeting your potential audience.

This is done with a piece of high-quality written content that you have created.

Assuming that people have liked it by commenting or linking to it.

The same piece of content can then be expanded it into different forms such as

video
podcasts
powerpoints presentations
pdf books

This will help you reach an even wider audience without creating new original pieces for each platform.

Table of Contents

What Is a Land and Expand Strategy?

Land and expand, in pretty simple terms, mean starting small before expanding into other areas.

Take the example regarding doing business.

Being too forward, too fast with your potential clients can turn them off from you and your business, and you will lose a chance at the deal.

What’s worse, you may lose any other opportunity in the future.

A much more practical and attractive approach is to close a minor deal.

Landing a single, smaller, and more targeted deal will let you work alongside your client as a trusted partner and service provider.

Also read: How to create a content marketing strategy for your business

Land and Expand as A Business Tactic

The land and expand strategy work on the notion that your current customers are also your best sources of revenue. Also, that upselling and cross-selling engagements will exist.

This happens automatically when you know your customers well and when they trust you.

It starts when a representative or agent lands a straightforward deal with an organization. Then, a healthy relationship is formed between the seller and the client. Besides, founded on trust through the provision of exemplary services.

The seller then continues to provide services to the organization. Moreover, earning more significant deals and projects across different departments.

To put in place this, these are some broad steps.

Land a minor deal with a client.
Provide services to it to deepen relationships and trust.
Expand by conquering opportunities within the same organization.

The land and expand strategy are a business tactic and not a sales tactic. You do this to further your business as a whole and not only your sales.

Here are some pointers on applying the “land and expand strategy” in your business offerings.

Deliver Exceptional Service to Target Key Customers

Providing quality services from the beginning is a sure way to generate rave reviews and references. If you do a great job with your first assignment. You will earn trust as a service provider for future projects. Too, they will feel comfortable tapping you for references for new accounts in new areas.

Executives in key customer demographics likely swim in the same waters. Especially if within the same vertical. They know each other through previous conferences and events. And what’s more, they have trusted colleagues to each other.

Use this webbing network effect to your advantage.

Build an “Opportunity Chart”

An “Opportunity Chart” is a tool that outlines all potential buyers within the client and their areas of interest. Putting this map together lets you identify the places you have deemed helpful to pursue. Also, it will be much easier to finish after “landing the deal” with the client.

When you help, your direct contact with their needs, you will also be acquainted with the other divisions of the organization. Moreover, you will be able to learn various things. They include the markets they handle and how you can help with their purpose.

Write them all down. Mix and match a category with a point of contact, and plot out a plan of action to interact with each area.

You Want Customers for Life

You should almost always be thinking ahead to your next project with a customer. Look for ways to provide value to your client so that you would become a trusted partner.

When you provide adequate and quality service to your client. They would not look for any other provider. Yet, this is not easy.

Maintaining customers for life takes dedication, hard work, and patience. Set up measures to build a productive and lasting business relationship.

But companies encounter obstacles in the implementation of this strategy. Here are some common misconceptions of some companies on landing and expanding.

Some providers treat “land and expand” as a mere sales strategy. Also, implementing aggressive cross- and up-sell quotas. In reality, it is much more than that, and sales are only a puzzle piece some clients don’t value as much as other facets.
Some are more preoccupied with chasing new organizations. Instead of cultivating relationships with existing ones. This is being driven by fears of losing out to competing vendors.
Some fail to turn the first project implementation into a “radiating” case.
In connection to the above, they also fail to foster relationships with another department. Also, division or region.

To avoid these, it is of utmost importance to acknowledge that customer success is above your sales success. Land and expand is a customer-oriented model. So put the needs of your customers first.

Land, Then Expand, Keywords

The land and expand strategy are not only a business-specific tactic but can also be applied to SEO, especially on keywords.

Another idea that is becoming prevalent in the SEO space is the concept of topics.

Nowadays, Google is becoming more innovative in understanding an article’s topic. Also, how the many different keywords cross over. As a result, many search users search for the subject rather than using a past keyword.

Yet, it does not mean that SEO professionals should ignore the value of keywords within the articles.

Suppose your site contains an article that ranks very well in the SERPs for something with several keywords. Then there is an opportunity to get those rankings higher, even bring them to the top for the topic of that article. That is “land.”

You can then use a tool to dig underneath the data and look at the keywords the article is ranking for. Besides, look for opportunities to add them to existing ones. Also, build new articles around them altogether. That is, “expand.”

Expand a Page

If a site already ranks well and high on the Google SERP. It will be worth it to keep the page updated with more information. Moreover, expand upon the page’s subject with related topics. Adding more value and developing that content will improve the page ranking. It will also enhance your site.

Here are the steps to achieve that:

Go to Google Search Console and check out the pages of your site through the “Site Profile.”
The metrics will show what pages and topics are doing well. Pick one which you think could turn even better. This is based on the click-through rates and site impressions.
See where the traffic for that topic is coming from by clicking on it. Add the position tab to find queries ranking from around 5 to 15, as they are good places to build and expand upon.
Go to the page on your site and start your content management software.
Search for the keywords on your content page. CTRL+F works wonders.
Open a new tab and Google some keyword terms you found on your page to know who ranks at the top of your niche. Use their site and content as a guide or inspiration to improve your own.

Do not expect to rank top for all these terms and words. What is important is that you are making efforts to improve your presence.

Once that is done, you can take your efforts up a notch. Using an SEO tool like Ahrefs or UberSuggest. Find keywords and long-tail variations you can consider using.

Using Ahrefs, you can look at how an article fares and see if there are opportunities to expand. A master list of keywords. It will show what relevant keywords are on the site without any optimization.

Expand the Other Pages

There will be times that you have exhausted your subject. And the article has accumulated so much depth. Also, a complexity that it does not make any sense to expand it further anymore. But there are still sub-topics you can generate content around.

Entering Google Search Console will let you see a list of keywords related to the initial topic.
See the terms that get the most searches but are pretty low on the ranking as those subjects can offer you chances to improve your site’s ranking.
Find similar words in which your next group of content will be built around.

If you are on the fence about whether the words are relevant enough or not, head on over to Google Correlate. The tool gives insights and impressions into what topics are searched for after a particular phrase.

Why Use Land and Expand?

The land and expand strategy fosters trust between client and provider. And trust is essential in any business venture.

Second, it is easier to upsell an existing client than foster relations with a new one. Third, and the hassle encountered with gathering the attention. More so, servicing a new client is not worth the benefit to be received.

When you land and expand, you do not need to worry that much about competition or lengthy sales cycles. If your client buys something from you and derives value, then they are most not leaving.

Land and expand are effective. Moreover, the scalable business strategy puts the customers’ needs in the center. But, of course, it can be pretty long to put in place. Seeing as trust is not built in a day. But an implemented land and expand tactic will pay its dividends in the long run.

A clear pathway with the end goal of a healthy. Ensure a long-term relationship with your customer client. This paves the road for a successful business journey with your business partner.

Yet, landing and expanding is not only applicable to business. As highlighted above, SEO also benefits from this approach.

The key is finding keywords that can be built upon and creating content that delivers value. There are many SEO-related tools for your convenience in achieving this. Google Search Console is the most prominent.

Expanding a page may not be enough. Sometimes, you have to branch out to other pages and subtopics to make the most of your strategy. Related keywords can serve as a great starting point for another set of articles aiming to deliver value.

And there you have it! That is how you land and expand and how it applies to SEO keyword searches.

Importance of Land and Expand

Once you decide to put in place this framework, you’ll find that it takes center stage in everything you do. At its peak, it may even be driving more than half of your total revenue. If executed (a big IF), Land and Expand strategies can help you:

Increase your cross-sell and upsell rates while also protecting you from discounted deals.
Reduce the overhead cost of acquiring more revenues. This is in line with fertile customer growth and retention patterns.
Taper the risks associated with selling. Do this by increasing the number of customer touchpoints and conversion timeframe.
Pitch the value proposition of your offering to your clients with an extended sales timeframe.

Conclusion

Land and Expand is a marketing strategy where you start with the idea of expanding into other markets. You’ll need to have a plan for this in order not to waste time and money. Neither resources on ventures that don’t pan out in your first attempt. Suppose you want help developing your land and expanding strategy to be successful from the get-go.

We also offer services like SEO campaigns and digital marketing strategies. They are designed around expanding upon what already exists.

FAQs

What is a market expansion strategy?

When a company’s sales reach saturation in its currently-established outlets, it may expand by exporting its existing or new products into other potential markets.

What are the five marketing strategies?

Businesses use the 5 Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People to place their business.

Which strategy is a type of expansion strategy?

Diversification strategies are used to expand a company’s operations by adding markets. Also, products, services, or stages of production to their existing operations. The purpose of diversification is to allow the company to enter different sectors than its current line of work.

What are the four product-market growth strategies?

The Product Market Expansion Grid offers four main strategic approaches: