The Reasons You Should Try NICHE MARKETING
“Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like” – Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb
As much as you would like your business to cater to everyone, it’s just not viable. As you probably already know, no two customers are exactly alike. All consumers have their desires, needs, and preferences, which makes marketing a hit or miss most of the time. Also, trying to connect to all of them with one marketing message isn’t just ineffective; it’s also a waste of time and marketing dollars.
Too bold of a claim? Well, that’s because we believe that you should try niche marketing at least once in your life!
You see, the message you put out there will not always appeal to everyone in your demographic. The tone you use will also be off-putting to some. No matter how hard you try, the campaign that you thought would have the most impact will be lost on an entire segment of your target audience.
If you own a small business with limited resources, this can be very disheartening. Without a budget and a platform, reaching out to every single consumer is impossible. Luckily, you still have a opportunity to make some real profit by focusing on a specific market. By concentrating your efforts on your most valuable audience, your time and effort won’t go to waste.
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What Exactly Is Niche Marketing?
Niche marketing is a marketing approach that is focused on playing up your strengths to reach a specific segment of customers who want or need your products or services. It’s about creating a marketing message for people who will respond to that message. The idea is to focus on customers who are likely to get excited about what you can offer, and directing your marketing resources to reach them.
For example, shoes for vegan women would be a specific niche market, as would shoes for plus-sized females, shoes for nurses, and shoes for transgendered individuals. All the above are niche markets within the big market for females' shoesWith niche marketing, you’re preaching to the choir, so there’s more room to generate a higher ROI.
How Does Niche Market Functions
The key to developing a niche market is research study. By diligently investigating specific niche markets, a business can determine what unique segments currently exist, and explore where brand-new ones could be successfully established. It's necessary to think about whether it can become profitable as soon as you have actually found a possible niche market.
If it's a specific niche market with no competition, it could be that companies have actually currently found it not to be profitable or worth the effort. That could be a sign that your idea is possibly successful if there are a small number of comparable items or services. The technique to capitalizing on a specific niche market is to find or establish a section that has accessible consumers, room for growth, and no dominant competitors.
You can define a specific niche based upon many factors, however some common ways are:
- Values
- Interests and hobbies
- Geography
- Price
- Earnings
- Quality
Benefits of Niche Marketing
There are several advantages to targeting a specific niche market:
- Minimized competition
- Focused service efforts
- Offering expert competence
- Establishing brand name loyalty
The more specialized the services or products you offer, the less competition there will be, which provides services an opportunity to take advantage of a larger market share and less cost competition. Targeting a narrower audience also allows services to focus their efforts on dealing with specific customer needs.
If you sell backpacks, for instance, there are numerous types you might provide, and if you attempt to use them all, it's going to be essentially impossible to serve all consumer types. Expect you focus on backpacks designed for devoted hikers who go on multiday trips and camp outdoor. In that case, it ends up being much easier to concentrate your efforts on making the very best possible item for that customer.
This focused effort provides an opportunity to become referred to as the specialist in a particular services or product and makes a business more likely to be suggested by its clients. Solidifying a niche market position can assist a service with confidence broaden its offering into new, wider markets.
Drawbacks of Niche Marketing
There are several drawbacks to targeting a specific niche market:
Smaller market = limited development.
There is a much smaller sized market and target audience when you're going specific niche. Because of having a much smaller market size, it can be more difficult to start, and can indicate that development could be slower. This could be a drawback to you as there can be minimal development if you're looking to grow really quickly.
A greater ROI isn't ensured.
Having a smaller sized target audience can likewise make it more difficult to have a larger revenue margin or market share. Going specific niche can imply that there are potentially fewer varieties of clients, which could be a danger to the business.
Less rivals = lost chance to enhance.
It can be tough to compare to rivals too, if they are using mass marketing, and you are selecting specific niche marketing. It's even harder if they're not there at all. If you're the only brand making a particular type of item, how will you understand how to enhance without another brand pressing you?
Common Mistakes That You Should Avoid In Niche Marketing
As easy as niche marketing sounds, it takes a foolproof strategy to make it work for your business. Many businesses fail in niche marketing because they were unable to pick the right niche. The followings are some common mistakes that you need to avoid.
Picking a niche with very low to no demand
Let's be real. The only reason why you're even considering niche marketing is to make more money, right? So, why bother if you prove that there is low or no demand for your product or service? At this point in time, you can go back to the drawing board and try choosing another niche, or you can look for ways to create demand for what you want to offer.
Picking a niche in a dying industry
Twenty years ago, almost everyone owned a film camera and had to go to a photo processing shop to see how their pictures turned. However, with how digital imaging has grown leaps and bounds over the past decade, developing a roll of film has become impractical and much more expensive. The lack of competitors may make it seem like a right niche to take on, but unless you can find a way to make film photography cheaper and more convenient than digital photography, entering a dying industry doesn't seem like it's worth it.
Picking a niche that has no potential of growing
Are you confident that your niche market will still want and need your products or services after three years? How about 5 or 10 years? If you answered yes, then seal the deal by drafting your growth plan. If you answered no, then you need to move on to another niche.
Picking a niche in a highly competitive industry
Having a hundred other competitors in your chosen niche only means two things. One, you haven't narrowed your niche enough or two, you're trying to enter an already saturated market. If your industry is jam-packed with "been there, done that" ideas, then it might be better to explore other angles or options.
Picking a niche that doesn't interest you at all
When faced with the difficulties of having to choose between profit and passion, expert marketers have one answer and one answer only. Always choose your passion. Now, you don't have to love everything about a niche. What matters is that it's something that you know you can work on for a very long time. If a niche bores you to death, you won't want to spend any time on it. It's that simple.
Picking one single niche that you can be successful in may seem a bit overwhelming, but don't let the pressure get on your head. The best thing that you can do now is to start trying out different ideas instead of just waiting for the right approach to fall into your lap. The earlier you enter the market, the sooner you'll find out what works and what doesn't.
So, How Do You Pick The Right Niche?
Here's the good news. Once you pick the right niche, it's all going to be smooth sailing from there. To make it even easier, here's an easy step by step niche marketing guide that will ensure your success.
Uncover your passions
Make a list of things that interest you. What are the passions that you can build a business on? You are not required to have all the answers now, but try writing down everything that comes to your mind in the next couple of days. Don't edit yourself. Just write.
Look for problems that you're interested in solving
Once you've uncovered your passions, the next step is to look for problems that your niche market is experiencing. A good marketer always looks at how a product or service can solve a problem. Check online forums and platforms like Quora to see what sort of questions people are asking that are related to your niche.
Spy on your competition
Having some competition isn't always a bad thing. Spying on both direct and indirect competitors can help you spot opportunities to differentiate your brand. Want to create something unique? Then create a spreadsheet and log in all the data you can find on the competition.
Look at the figures
Numbers don't lie. You can determine how profitable a niche is by doing your research. A quick way to know if your idea is worth pursuing is by searching for it on Google and looking at web traffic, product orders, social media followers - anything that you can quantify at this point. If you can't find much information on your niche, it just means no one has found a way to monetize it yet.
Launch your idea
Once you've armed yourself with all the essential information about your business idea, then it's time to test if it will work. The easiest way is to create a landing page and direct targeted traffic to it. If you get the right amount of visitors and responses in the first two weeks, then go ahead and launch it.
Final Thoughts
There isn't a definitive choice between specific niche marketing or mass marketing when it comes to the most reliable marketing method for your business. However, with research study, planning, and the right tools, you can find that niche marketing could work well for your company; there are lots of advantages for doing so.
When you're going specific niche, there is a much smaller market and target audience. Because of having a much smaller market size, it can be more difficult to get started, and can suggest that growth could be slower. It can be tough to compare to competitors as well, if they are applying mass marketing, and you are selecting specific niche marketing.
By directing your marketing efforts on a specific segment of your demographic, you'll be able to identify and address your niche market's wants and needs. Stop being the small fish in a big pond. You can build your brand to be a big fish in a small pond, and make a significant profit while you're at it - with niche marketing.
