Niche marketing is often touted as one of the best approaches to building a profitable online business. But just what does niche marketing mean?
There are actually two distinct sides to niche marketing: one consists of creating a unique or unusual product or service; the other focuses on identifying and appealing to a relatively small subset of possible customers. The two approaches are not mutually exclusive. In fact, if you have a niche product you are almost inevitably going to be selling to a targeted customer base. On the other hand, it is possible to develop one or more targeted “niche” marketing approaches to a product that also has broad appeal.
A niche business is not necessarily a small business. One of the most successful companies in the world at niche marketing also happens to be one of the largest - Toyota.
Toyota’s primary product is practically the definition of a mass market product-automobiles. And they don’t make the massive investment required to manufacture an automobile line without hoping to sell millions of them. Yet Toyota has also proved remarkably successful in identifying and exploiting niche markets for their mass market products.
Not so very long ago, car makers had so little faith in the marketability of green vehicles that they really weren’t interested in the “fringe” market that cared a great deal about fuel-efficiency and the environment. Where other companies saw primarily risk, Toyota recognized an opening and charged ahead to develop the first commercially successful hybrid automobile. Toyota was the first company to make a breakthrough effort to serve and capture that niche market, and their boldness continues to pay off. While other companies play catch-up, the Prius remains number one and growing in popularity and market penetration.
Toyota has fully exploited the potential of niche business in both their product and their marketing approaches. Far from trying to blend in and look like an ordinary car, the Prius was designed to be highly recognizable. This turns out to have a lot of appeal for many consumers who care about driving an environmentally friendly car. They are proud of their commitment and their niche status.
Toyota’s approach to marketing the Prius reflected the same sophisticated awareness of the power of niche marketing. They developed advertising and outreach targeted to environmental organizations and the publications most popular among ecologically sensitive consumers.
Toyota’s triumph with the Prius is a great example of the power of niche marketing from both the product and the customer standpoint. Of course car manufacturers start out in a realm where a niche is still a pretty large market. But the story of the Prius also illustrates one of the most enticing potential payoffs of niche marketing. What starts as a niche market can sometimes transform into a mass market.
So what can your online business take away from the success story of a multinational automobile company? A lot, in fact.
The first lesson is to concentrate on recognizing and defining the niche potential of whatever general product or service area you are interested in. Can you fine-tune an existing element of your business to target that niche or develop a new element to fill the need? Learning to think small can actually be the key to breaking into any well-established business area. You are not likely to compete successfully with Amazon as a general purpose media seller. But there may well be some limited area-say, Japanese anime or reprints of old art books-where with some expert sourcing and a little research you could develop an expertise and attract a loyal group of customers.
If your product is specialized, your web presence will need to be as well. Your site and your advertising and promotions will be carefully designed to win you optimal visibility to the buyers in that niche.
Your niche may never be as big as the Prius, but a cleverly focused niche marketing approach can yield great rewards in market share and profitability in your business too.
By: Eric Fernandes About the Author:
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