If you are a small business owner who provides a product or service, you absolutely need to be using niche marketing! Whether you consider your product to reside within a “hot niche” is completely irrelevent because focusing on niche marketing will not only keep you better in tuned with what your clients want, but also give you a massive advantage over the hoards of struggling businesses who are wasting their time trying to keep up with the big timers.
What exactly do you need to succeed at niche marketing?
1. As stated before, you need a product or service to sell. I know this may sound obvious to most, but you’d be surprised at the responses I’ve received when asking this same question. It is important that your product is specific and caters to the unique needs of a targeted client base. This can usually be an altered or improved version of a mainstream product, but with a more robust list of features and/or options. Big companies like to cut corners – so you want to leave no stone unturned.
For example: The company who invented biodegradable golf tees. They recognized a problem with plastic golf tees often getting left on the courses as well as being non-recyclable, so they came up with a solution that is not only beneficial to the player but also to the club owners and the environment – 4 birds with one stone!
2. Next you need to research your market and narrow down their needs to a specific niche. Pay attention to all details including age, location and Geo-targeting, income level, sexual orientation and marital status. The more accurate you can target your niche, the more effective your pitch will be.
For example: You discover that all golfers in your local area are between the ages of 23-65, with 73% of them being married men in the upper class income bracket. Within that 73%, more than half of them golf only on the weekends. The value of this information is priceless!
3. Get a good grasp on the economical aspects of your niche product/service. Whether you have a product already or are still in the developmental stages, you need to analyze certain factors such as cost, inventory, competition and required skills needed to take your product from your brain to your bank account.
For example: How much will these golf tees cost per unit? Is outsourcing an option, or would it be more profitable to manufacture in-house? These are all examples of economical related issues you have to face.
4. The last part is the best – how will you market your product? This step requires creativity and “outside-the-box” thinking. The most effective way to market any product or service is on the Internet, so you have to decide on branding elements such as your logo and slogan. You have to find a web designer who can capture the spirit of your product while maintaining the credibility of your sales pitch.
You will use your research and reach potential clients through various forms of media and technology. How well will your married golfers react to an ad banner with a sexy girl in a bikini bending over to pick up a golf tee? Will they react well, or will the promiscuous nature make them question the credibility of your product?
Niche marketing is all about discovering the ideal customer for your product, not the other way around. Once you reveal the target audience, your product will sell itself because you KNOW there is a need to be filled. Be sure to follow these four steps and you’ll be on your way to niche marketing success in no time!
