Aug
30
A niche market is a specialized market segment where you cater to the demand of products/ services that are not currently being supplied to by the main suppliers. It is essentially a narrowly defined market segment.
Why establish a niche market?
Simply because of the great advantage of being the sole supplier - a monopoly, or a single dominant supplier - in your target market. Small businesses may be unaware of that particular niche while large businesses won’t bother with it. The trick is to capitalize on this and develop a niche market where customers are accessible and which isn’t already owned by an established vendor.
Why Niche marketing?
Niche marketing is a very effective means of advertising as it focuses on a specific target group. Unlike other forms of marketing which tend to focus on the entire market niche marketing centers around one particular market segment. This focus on a particular market segment enables you to address the unique requirements of that target group. There a few guidelines to follow when carrying out niche marketing:
1) Meet customers’ unique needs.
Product features and benefits must have a unique appeal to your target market (market niche). You have to provide a tailor made product that will satisfy the unique requirements of your customers. A good starting point is to consider all possible product/ service variations that you can offer.
2) Say the right thing.
It’s important that you speak out to your audience in their language when reaching out to your new market niche. This is to say that it’s critical to understand how your target market works and communicate with your target market as a member of the group not as an outsider. Product features may need to be altered including basic elements apart from carrying out a separate campaign for your new niche.
In situations where the new niche market isn’t affected by demographics (changes in language or customs, an understanding of the key issues of your member’s is still needed to succeed. For example, an online business, which caters to men’s leather goods, wants to also target working women.
As it is with men, they too prefer the ease of shopping online but in their case, they would like more content as they are then able to make a more comprehensive evaluation of the products and the company which markets them. The Web marketer needs to alter the way of communicating by way of expanding its site along with revising its marketing campaign in order to successfully generate more sales from the new niche.
3) Always Test-market.
Prior to taking your next step, perform an assessment of your direct competitors that you’ll encounter in your latest market niche. By doing this you will be able to determine an action plan of how you should go about positioning your products against them.
In order to obtain a good overview of the situation, it’s best that you carry out a competitor analysis by evaluating competitors’ brochures ads, and Web sites, while keeping a lookout for their key sales points, pricing policies, delivery and customer service for instance.
4) But what if there is no existing competition?
As hard as it’s to believe, having no competition at all doesn’t mean all is well. True, this might suggest that other companies haven’t as yet been able to come up with the product or service which this niche wants to buy. On the other hand, it may well be that various companies have attempted and failed in penetrating this group. It’s a good idea therefore to test-market your products carefully in order to determine the market’s response to your products or services and message.
By: Susan Hutson About the Author:
Bizymoms.com receives more than 4.5 million targeted visitors per year. Bizymoms offers
advertising options to meet the needs of any business, or
work at home opportunity and a variety of other issues popular with the mom community. Visit our U-Pick Advertising page for more information and personalized attention from the Bizymoms
online-advertising team.
Gifts for Babies
Aug
29
There are so many tremendous business opportunities available that it can be tempting to jump from one opportunity to another. However, the price you will pay is that you will never develop a long-term business strategy and you will never become known as an expert in any one area. Remember this phrase, “Do not try to be all things to all people.” You should focus on one or two target markets and then build a business plan focused on reaching these targeted markets.
Find a niche that suits your interest and expertise. Remember that you need to be seen by your target market to effectively market to them. A great way of gaining visibility within your target market is to host or lead seminars directed only to this group as well as speak at their conventions and meetings. If you work with widely diverse clientele, it will be extremely to nearly impossible to develop focus, leverage time and energy or maintain education efforts necessary to providing outstanding service.
How to Develop Focus
What should you do if you currently do not have a target market or niche? First of all, try to pinpoint the type of client you most want to work with. What are their traits and characteristics? In identifying a niche, you want to make sure the prospect in that niche share a common perspective and have similar problems. If they do not, it will be very difficult to market to them-no matter how narrow it is. Within your target market niche you must identify an “ideal client profile.”
The better a job you do at developing your “ideal client profile,” the easier it will be to focus your energies on your top priority market niche. In thinking about your ideal client profile, don’t just consider how much each client can help you earn. Also, consider quality of life. Before focusing in on just one or two groups, make sure you will enjoy servicing these individuals. If you find it difficult to turn any prospect away, realize that you may pay a heavy price by trying to work with every prospect who calls you or shows up at your office. For example, if you are marketing to your entire community with no particular target market, you could spend an enormous amount of time and money and receive a small payoff for all of that effort. An unfocused mass marketing campaign is never a good idea. Narrow down these individuals and leverage your time and energy effectively
Leveraging Your Time
There are a limited number of hours that we can work each day and each week. Once you’ve identified a profitable market that you can service extremely well, you can focus on it, and more importantly, leverage your time. Focus on becoming an expert in the subjects of greatest interest to your target group. If you leverage your time, you will be able to penetrate your market accurately and quickly. Remember, the more you work with your target group, the more you will understand their needs and be perceived as an expert. For all of these reasons, leverage your time and energy by selecting a niche and work to become known as an expert in it. The first step in providing outstanding service to a niche group is to educate yourself on your target group’s needs and challenges as well as the obstacles they face.
The Power of Continuing Education
No matter what group you market to, you must continue to educate yourself on your target groups particular needs, challenges and solutions available to them. Do not assume that information you acquired a year or two ago will suffice to keep you on the “cutting edge” of professionals servicing this group. Read books and magazines that cover topics of interest to your target market and take specialized courses in relevant areas if necessary. Be familiar with all products and services that you will need to offer in order to satisfy the needs of your target market. You will become known inside this community as someone who really understands their issues because you do. Working with only one target market will allow you to become extremely proficient in servicing that market in addressing their various challenges.
Remember that niche or target marketing is effective because people tend to feel more comfortable dealing with someone who has a great deal of experience in their specific area of need. By positioning yourself as an expert who caters to the needs of this target or niche group, you willfind it easier to get referrals as most people are more comfortable making a referral to an expert rather than a generalist. As your expertise grows in your area of specialization, you will develop focus, understand the power of continued education and leverage your time and energy more effectively thus enabling you to acquire more target market clients.
By: Jeff L Moore About the Author:
There is no better time to re-evaluate your current situation than the present. Jeff Moore is president of JM GetMoore Insurance & Financial Services L.L.C. and can be contacted via email:
jeff@getmooreinsurance.com or through his website:
http://www.getmooreinsurance.com
Jeff L. Moore is recognized as one of the Rio Grande Valley’s leading experts in the field of business planning services, having dedicated over 10 years to helping small business owners, addressing four major areas of their concern:
1) Buy/Sell Agreements & Funding
2) Estate and Succession Planning
3) Key-Employee Protection & Executive Bonus Arrangements
4) Business Planning & Consulting
Multi IP SEO Web Hosting
Aug
17
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:
Do you want to start a profitable business online, achieve financial independence, and become successful using
niche marketing, then you need to visit:
http://nichemarketingbusiness.com and get your FREE niche
marketing mini course right now!
Copyright Lawyers
Aug
13
Niche Marketing means buying or selling a product or service in a special area of demand. With expected record numbers of new Home Base Internet Businesses starting in 2009, a need for more exclusive products is needed. Niche Marketing will show your expertise in the Internet marketplace.
What is Niche Marketing? The word niche is defined as “a special area of demand for a product or service”. The word marketing is defined as “the opportunity to buy or sell”. If you put the two words together, Niche Marketing means buying or selling a product or service in a special area of demand.
Why Niche Marketing in 2009? Because it makes sense! The competition to sell common products is very crowded and competitive. With expected record numbers of new home base internet businesses starting in 2009, a need for more exclusive products is needed. The Internet Marketing niche, by itself, is becoming very crowded and competitive. It’s the turf of marketing gurus and every time a guru launches a new product, no new Internet Marketers could have a chance in winning.
The Trend is towards more demand for expertise Niches. Having no expertise is where most novice marketers often fail. But if you can analyze a profitable market niche and if you can combine that with your own passion or expertise, then you have a good chance to be successful!
Search the web to get answers on following common questions. How to build a highly profitable business around your passion, hobby or expertise? How to identify if there’s a high demand for your expertise in the Internet marketplace? There is Niche Marketing software out there that can help you learn these things about your potential niche market. Niche Marketing is not about focusing on the big picture; it is about focusing on the small picture and the smaller the better. Visit forums and taking note of what people are most concerned about. You can then search the Internet for products and services that will help them solve those problems. Gather the information about the topic. Analyze the competition. Take the time and put forth the effort to look at the product or service that your competitors are offering. Identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Look around for current trends. Visit Your Local Bookstore. By identifying the hot market books that are being sold in bookshops, you can identify a hot niche marketing topic. You should particularly note the ones that are self-help or how to books. There is a market for every kind of informational product. Finding out what books people are most often buying can give you some insight into what the hot market subjects are. Armed with this information, you can go about creating a niche marketing website that will have a better chance of becoming successful.
By: Fred Lotgering About the Author:
Gifts for Toddlers
Jul
17
Marketing on the internet can be a daunting task. How can one expect to compete with the big dogs who are dominating the search engines for the most lucrative keywords? The answer is niche marketing. This article will explain 5 key tips to creating and rolling out successful niche products. Once you learn the formula, you can repeat it across as many niches as you like and rake in some serious cash.
1. Picking a profitable market
Niche Marketing offers no secret formula for finding profitable markets. You just need to find niches where products are already selling. Go to transparent marketplaces to find this out, such as clickbank. Take a look at the top 5-10 products in each category and you will quickly see what kind of products sell well. Don’t be afraid to enter competitive niches, such as weight loss or acne. These are huge industries with ready and willing buyers. The smallest sliver of this market can make you very rich indeed.
2. What do they want?
To put it in the simplest terms, being successful at niche marketing means putting yourself in your potential customer’s shoes. Figure out what it is that ails them - what they are looking for - and then give it to them. Sounds simple enough right? It’s amazing how many people overlook this simple fact. You do not have to re-invent the wheel here. And don’t worry if you do not immediately know the answer to a market’s ailments. We will discuss this momentarily.
3. Keywords Are the Key
After you have found a profitable market and seen the types of products that sell well in that market, you need to do some keyword research. Keyword research is something that is obviously unique to niche marketing on the internet. Luckily, there are many free tools out there to help with keyword research.
However, as you will be focusing on a specific niche, you will want to find “long-tail” keywords, meaning you will want to focus on phrases of 3 words or more in order to be ranked high in the search engines. Many of the free keyword tools lack accurate data for these long tail keywords. My free niche marketing guide details which keyword research programs provide the best bang for your buck.
4. Make Your Product Stand Out
Making Your Product stand out is a very important factor in niche marketing. If you have your own original product, you don’t have to worry about this, as the uniqueness of the product will differentiate it from others in the same market. If creating your own product sounds too challenging or time consuming - and it can be - you can always acquire products with resell rights. All you have to do is slightly modify this content so as to brand it as your own - create different graphics and web content. This way you have your own unique product much sooner than you would creating your own from scratch - A small investment that can return huge rewards.
5. Promote Your Products in the Right Places
The internet is huge, with billions of pages and growing every day. What you want to do is find the top websites that your potential customers visit and get the word out there about your product. Forums and social networking sites - such as facebook and squidoo - are a great way to advertise your product and build backlinks to your site which will help your website get more visitors.
By: Chris Prato About the Author:
So there it is, now you have an overview of the tools you need to enter any niche and be instantly profitable. Obviously it is difficult to explain all the detail of these 5 steps in this small article, which is why I put together a 101 page, no-nonsense
free ebook detailing how to set up your own online niche marketing business.
Chris is webmaster and internet marketing enthusiast. He is currently offering his highly sought after Power Profits: Online Revenue Blueprint ebook absolutely free, but it won’t be free for much longer. Goto http://www.supernichemarketing.com to claim your copy before the price goes up.
Child Custody Lawyers
Jun
29
Niche marketers should price their products and services based on the value received by the customer: it is the customer’s perception of value that counts. If you calculate price based on cost and/or the competition, you are not in a niche market or you are pricing incorrectly.
Niche market customers buy your product or service because it is different from the other options available. That difference is your value and it can be worth a premium price. Value is subjective and not every customer will need your product’s unique benefits, but this is how niche marketing works. As a niche marketer, you focus on serving a market segment that has been overlooked or underserved; the value or difference you add is your special knowledge of their unique needs.
The value can come in the form of unique product or service features that you add. That value could come in many forms, even prestige. For example, Tiffany’s is a “prestige” brand for jewelry; people buy jewelry at Tiffany’s because of the brand. Yet, diamonds are diamonds. You can buy the same quality diamonds at Costco, but you don’t get the prestige buying experience. For the Tiffany’s customer, it is worth the price premium to walk out the store with the Tiffany’s bag or box.
Value based pricing is determined as the highest amount that a customer will pay for your product or service given the unique value that you offer when compared to the other alternatives. By giving the niche customer exactly what they want, there are no other real alternatives. If that is the case, price it accordingly.
John Bradley Jackson brings street-savvy sales and marketing experience from Silicon Valley and Wall Street. His resume also includes entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate trainer, philanthropist, and consultant. His book is called “First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing”.
Check out his website at: www.firstbestordifferent.com or his blog at www.firstbestordifferent.com/blog
By: John Bradley Jackson About the Author:
Divorce Lawyers
Jun
19
The key to attracting new customers to your business, whether online or off, lies in understanding a few simple things about how the brain works. Usually at an unconscious level, people are constantly scanning their environment to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, the safe from the potentially hazardous, the desirable from the unappealing. The major challenge for the small business marketer is discover what motivates their target audience, and then to speak as directly as possible to those fears, desires, goals, priorities, and needs.
But it Worked in the Movies
You’re only kidding yourself if you think you can be all things to all people. That insidious form of self deception falls in the same category as ‘If you build it, they will come’. Woody Allen is quoted as saying that ‘Eighty percent of success is showing up’, but bear in mind that comedy (and sometimes drama) is often based on exaggeration. Showing up — which can range from creating an Internet presence to attending networking meetings — is a good start, but it generally won’t get you too far unless you throw in a dash of originality, competitiveness, and a strategic plan of action.
Since people are constantly looking for specialized information, services, and products, a strategy worth pursuing is to devote at least 50% of your marketing efforts to reaching niche markets. Granted, marketing is no more of a ‘one size fits all’ endeavor than anything else, but what isn’t going to change is the fact that people are generally drawn to things that are customized, personalized, or otherwise geared to their personal preferences.
Are You Talking to Me?
Considering that your prospective clients and customers are continually scanning the Internet, the media, and their environment for information that’s relevant to them, why not tip the scales in your favor by tailoring your marketing message directly to the different niche markets you’re trying to reach? Whether it’s senior citizens, new homeowners, parents to be, recent graduates, newlyweds, or frustrated job hunters, capturing people’s attention can sometimes be as simple as recognizing them as individuals or as a member of a specific demographic group.
For example, have you ever inadvertently ignored someone who was saying to you ‘excuse me’ or ‘you dropped something’; but if they called you by your name, you’d immediately snap out of your haze and pay attention. Again, it’s just a matter of breaking through people’s filtering systems and being noticed. That’s often the number one step to effectively marketing your products, your services, or yourself. Actually, I’d break that down into three parts: get noticed, connect with your prospect, and put them in a receptive state of mind. If you convey the impression, right off the bat, that your service or product is tailor made for their needs, wants, or specific situation, then you may have fulfilled all three requirements in one fell swoop.
Once you’ve clearly and compellingly presented your case for making your prospect’s life easier, more secure, healthier, more comfortable, prosperous, convenient, happier, or more problem free, your remaining challenge is to anticipate objections, lower sales resistance, and inject your offer with a subtle, yet perceptible sense of urgency. If you’ve painted a vivid, benefits-filled picture of your service or product, their motivation to experience those advantages will help you convert them from a prospect to a customer.
Copyright 2006 Joel Sussman
By: Joel Sussman About the Author:
Joel N. Sussman, a New York business writer and Internet marketer, has created an online small business resource, called “
Marketing Survival Kit.com”. Get access to hundreds of free and affordable business
marketing ideas, strategies, and tools by visiting
http://www.marketingsurvivalkit.com
Criminal Lawyers
May
20
Niche marketing in a nutshell is setting ourselves up to be the Big Fish in a Little Pond. As business owners, we need to take the time to plan how we will assume the role of expert and problem solver for our niche market.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”
~ Benjamin Franklin
With all the talk about niche marketing, it seems that we could all sit and spin our wheels everyday without making much progress. When progress equals money then it’s time to start planning our success. No matter how great our product or service is, if we have the wrong concept and wrong marketing strategies then very little will work Right!
Sharing your expertise is the most effective way to become the Big Fish in a Little Pond. Stepping up into the internet marketing area can make us feel very small - more like a minnow tossed about in the ocean but with careful planning and solid vision, we can transform ourselves into a leader that others come to for solutions to their problems.
Your niche marketing plan needs to include your strategies for assuming the role of expert and leader within your niche. If you don’t “feel” ready to assume that role then start training your mind and attitude to become the expert within your chosen business.
Before you can assume the role of leader, you need to know yourself - your talents and gifts in this area. Write down your strengths and outline the steps you will take to display what you offer your target market. If you are a gifted organizer, you can write develop a blog, write an ebook, start a newsletter or create a content rich website helping others become more organized. These strategies translate easily into any niche. Locally, in your home town, you can begin to hold private one to one classes or pull together group seminars to share your expertise with others.
Now, I know that one of the next questions will be “how does this make money?” There are many ways to monetize (make money) with this niche marketing strategy.
Through articles and blogging, get your followers to visit your direct sales web site. Offer your ebook free to visitors and offer it to other web site owners as a freebie they can offer to their own visitors. Use links to your website and online store within the ebook to generate sales. Organize online seminars and chats where you can present your solutions and products that will make their lives easier. Even by adding Google AdSense to your blog and content rich website will help you earn with the traffic if you do not actually “sell” a tangible product.
Aspiring to be the Big Fish in a Little Pond will give you the focus and motivation to work your way to the top of your niche market. Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are striving to be seen by others as THE person to find for answers and solutions.
When it comes to online marketing for our business, we can get the proverbial “cart before the horse” when we start advertising and marketing our business because we are in a rush to see results. We start advertising everywhere and anywhere. We quickly throw together an ad and hit send only to become discouraged when the end result is little traffic and even less SALES. We fault the system or our choice of business when actually we didn’t take the time to plan our success.
Our success lies within our ability to present ourselves as THE source for answers and solutions. Plan your success within your niche market with your own strategies to get yourself to the role of leader - a mover and shaker within your niche. Once you have achieved that role of expert, SUCCESS is sure to follow!
By: Tam Carson About the Author:
Tam Carson is owner of
Article Marketing Profits blog helping other online marketers and home business owners that want to learn how to promote your business on the internet. Stop by and sign up for feed updates at
Article Marketing Profits today to learn how to boost your income with article
marketing!
Malpractice Lawyers
May
3
Believe it or not, a lot of companies - both small and big - create their marketing program towards a specific audience. This niche audience is carefully selected and pinpointed to market segments to specifically maximize the program’s effectiveness.
Take for instance one company called HP or Hewlett Packard. This particular company markets and sells machines that are able to do everything, from scanning to faxing, printing, etc.
The target of this company are those home offices as well as much larger companies and businesses. For this market, their products are those whose price range are a bit higher.
The fact of the matter is that a marketing specified to a particular niche market is very cost-effective. Think about it, offering a service or a product to a selected group of people in a specific area almost certainly certifies it being bought.
Advertising on the radio for a specific ethnic audience whose rates are a lot lower compared to mainstream radio programs is better. Your budget for marketing significantly could go far, making you able to get more advertisements a lot more frequently or combine a comprehensive mix of media.
Building a niche is actually a risk that could allow you to make your business grow. These rules help you achieve just that.
Make sure your niche meets very unique and original needs
Benefits that you offer must have an appeal that is special to your specific niche. These benefits must be compelling and new. The needs of your audience must be identified by you, then tailor these to the service or product you are to sell.
Consider all variations your service or product could offer. For instance, marketing and selling soap has significantly changed. But if for example you were able to sell a soap that is able to remove the chemical chlorine from the hair of swimmers, that is a very unique market, as well as a compelling one.
Your niche could be your neighbors who have their own swimming pools and even the Olympic swimming team.
Speak the niche language
Saying something is a whole lot different from saying the appropriate thing. It is always best to understand the specific language as spoken by the niche you intend to penetrate. Their hot buttons should be known to you and communicate with your niche pressing these buttons.
Doing this ensures that the way you communicate is via being one with them and not as an outsider.
Test your market
First things first though, it is a wise business decision to assess the competitors that are currently in the niche you want to penetrate.
Doing so eventually helps you to determine just how it is you could position yourself against their product.
Looking at your competitors web sites as well as brochures is a good way to have an idea on what they use as selling points, delivery, pricing as well as other services or offers.
But if there is no competitor existing, what would you do? This is really not a very good sign. Though it could mean that no one has thought of what you have thought of, it could also be possible that no company has been able to penetrate that specific niche.
All in all, creating a niche is easy as long as you are willing to exert the necessary effort to build it.
By: Scot Standke About the Author:
Scot Standke has worked with many individuals in
niche marketing & specializes in helping entrepreneurs build wealth & gain access to new
niche markets through ecommerce & internet
marketing.
Toddler Beds
May
2
Niche Marketing, it is one of those things that is so simple that it is complex. The understanding of the niche market and the customer that fits the profile for that market is one of the main reasons why small businesses excel, yet the lack of understanding of it one of the top reasons why small businesses often fail. Many people do not understand 1. what it is or what it means and 2. the power of it when paired properly with your target customer and leveraged with the business brand.
So what is a Niche?
It is a specialized product or service for a special profile customer. i.e. a Doggie Day Care. It is a day care only for dogs and not for pets in general and the only people who could benefit from such a service are people who own dogs.
People may think to themselves, why would someone want to ‘limit themselves’ or narrowly define their market? But think of it this way.
How ‘Big’ is Your Small Number?
If you are in the clothing industry (t-shirt business) for instance think of the two ways you are likely to make money. First you could mass produce t-shirts overseas and sell them for a high mark up. Think of selling t-shirts on street corner stands in popular tourist cities and the Wal Marts across the nation. They sell for less but you can sell them in mass quantity. Or on the flip side you can sell limited edition products. Sell less shirts that market to a specific gender, race and income profile person. This is a niche.
Think of this, by our very nature, we often start small businesses with a niche in mind. Say you have worked in a certain type of corporate industry for many years and you get that entrepreneurial bug. You say to yourself, ‘The people who run this company are clueless. They are missing a big opportunity by not offering our clients XYZ service or product’. So you go off and incorporate your business and you start your business with that niche offering in mind. But then between getting sidetracked by trying to learn the business of running a business which you were totally not expecting and getting your marketing collateral and website in place, you realize that now 3 months have already passed and you haven’t even been soliciting new clients. Now you are worried that your 3-6 month savings is going to run out, so you go into panic mode and start getting goofy and desperate. You tell everyone you meet you can do the same services that your other company provided but for a cheaper price.
Yes, perhaps you can do all that stuff, but the question is: Why would you want to overwhelm yourself like that? And better yet, why would you devalue yourself at the beginning. When you offer a niche service, it means you are an expert in a specialized field, hence you are worth more. Even though capitalism is the way of the U.S. the people who are most successful in their respective niche markets did what they had a passion for doing and learned how to solve a problem. Although many businesses understand what their niche is from the beginning but the disconnect is they don’t usually understand how to position or market their niche or how to find their ‘target customer’. So instead they start expanding their business model and begin offering too many services and products that ultimately their target customers get confused and begin to compare them to the likes of their former employer or companies that have a stronger presence and credibility and store front. In order to avoid getting lost in the sauce, you have to focus on a smaller market not a larger one. You can either be the big fish in the pond or the little fish in the sea.
How Do I Figure Out My Niche?
1. Do something you love and the money will follow. Do not think of popularity of a trend or something that ‘can make a lot of money’. Do what it is you really like to do, whether it is offer one specific product or service. In the end if you truly love doing that thing, on the days you are not feeling so upbeat about business, your love for that thing you do will help to keep you inspired and motivate you to find a way to make it work out. (this is your niche)
2. Solve a Problem. Think of the problem you solve for the marketplace by offering their product or service. People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy based on something that brings value to their livelihood or solves a problem. (this is your value add)
3. Identify who could benefit from this product or service: Detail everything about the profile of your target customer including gender, age, race, socio-economic background, the color of their shoes, whatever common things you can think of regarding your customer. (While some of these factors may vary from business to business, this more or less becomes your target or profile customer).
Note: 1, 2 and 3 essentially make you your elevator speech.
4. Wherever They Go, There You Are. Think of the places those specific customers congregate, socialize, interact. Think of the publications they read, their online and offline shopping trends and habits and start spending more time in those places. You should know as you have spent a great deal of time with this type of person. They should all be found in common places. If you are struggling be more specific about #3. (This becomes your short and long term marketing strategy).
5. Empower people. If you want to become a powerful person, you must empower others. People often think when they ‘give away’ important and valuable information or resources that people will use it ‘against them’ and they will become powerless. On the contrary, both your customers and your competitors will see you as a resource and ultimately they will build trust in you.
By: Shonika Proctor About the Author:
Shonika Proctor, the Nika’Nator, is a youth and teen entrepreneur coach. She helps aspiring and emerging young entrepreneurs ages 18 and under to start and grow businesses. Sign up for her complimentary 10 day ecourse, The Making of a (Young) Renegade CEO, at
http://teenentrepreneurblog.com/?page_id=15
Parenting Toddlers
Dec
7
As ‘less than guru’ online marketers, we’re constantly asking the question “What makes the difference?”…
What really is it that allows some niche marketers to achieve success beyond our wildest dreams while others haplessly flounder. While there a number of elements, I will attempt today to isolate just a few. These are some of the things I feel to be of key importance in obtaining the online income you desire.
1. Knowledge - It seems crazy to say but despite all the info products, all the articles, all the forums, all the free reports, all the blog posts, alot of people still find it hard to nail down specifics on how to attain a certain outcome like a profitable niche site or a high selling info product.
The problem of course is information overload. It’s not a lack of information rather so much information that sorting through it to find what really works and what doesn’t becomes the main challenge.
2. Resources - When you are already successful as an online marketer you have resources that the average online entrepreneur doesn’t have. You have access to teams of people who can increase your productivity and earning potential exponentially. As a newbie however you have to do everything yourself. Your goal at this point should be working out how you can get more work done with the same effort with the help of either other people or automated software programs that can carry out various tasks for you.
Since we’re talking about Niche Marketing in particular, consider this.
Average Joe niche marketer wants to start making money from niche sites. He spends his time creating the website following a certain plan, promoting his site, and so on. Having to do all the work himself he might be lucky to create 5 or 6 solid niche sites in a month.
At the same time Guru niche marketer decides he wants to ramp up his niche marketing income. So he asks his programmer to whip him up some software that can create these niche sites automatically. He spend a few minutes per day running the software and all the work he would have had to do manually is taken care of. That’s what I mean by RESOURCES!
The good thing is that there are software programs that have been created for such purposes by these marketers that are now available to the public. If you can sift through them prudently without succumbing to the ever present sales hype you can find certain tools that can help you, the average niche marketer, get the same advantage that the guru’s have.
Again, combining the right knowledge with the right resources along with of course taking plenty of action can turn anyone into a niche marketing guru period!
By: Scott SoloffAbout the Author:
Multi IP SEO Web Hosting
Oct
7
What most on-line marketers don’t understand is that almost any form of marketing is in fact niche marketing. If you go after a specific target audience for your product or service then you are actually targeting a niche. Most business owners need to focus their marketing efforts on choosing a proper niche instead of trying to “blanket the Internet” and aim at a larger audience instead of zeroing in on a smaller niche.
A niche market enables you to target your sales messages with great precision. The more narrowly you define your niche market the easier it is to appeal to the specifically defined interests of people in that market. This is why picking a niche and marketing to it effectively is the key to a successful online business.
You wouldn’t want to start a marketing campaign selling a product about generating website traffic and aim it at every internet marketer. It’s true that a lot of internet marketers will want to use a product that generates traffic but you need to focus your attention on the people who are actively buying website traffic products and using them everyday in there business.
A couple of really good places to research your niche are my space and you tube. Its fairly easy to find, and join, groups related to your niche on sites like my space and you tube. These are just a couple of the social sites out there that can give you some insight as to what your target market wants. You can participate on the discussion boards and learn a lot about your niche. You can also search friends by interest and add new friends who are interested in your niche.
Another way to find a niche market is to work backward from the benefits of the products you are currently offering. Start by listing all the benefits provided by your product or service. Then list some of the characteristics of prospects whose current situation can be improved by those benefits. You will start to see a clearly defined group emerge as a niche market.
Once you learn how to effectively target your niche then you will advance a lot faster in your chosen field. It’s the same with list building, if you build a large list of ten thousand or more people, another marketer could have a more responsive list with only 1000 people on it. This would be because the list is actually highly targeted towards the chosen niche.
Figuring it all out is easy, all you need to do to define your niche is to research it effectively. Visit the places or sites that the target audience in your niche hangs out in and become a part of their community. Pay close attention to what your niche wants and then find a product to suit those needs.
By: Mike SchantzAbout the Author:
Forex Trading
May
23
What does niche marketing mean? Niche marketing is about finding small opportunities on the web, small areas in which people might be interested and for which they might be searching. Big companies and experienced webmasters are not interested in these areas because they are not important enough. But a small business could be something in which you might be interested.
Perhaps a small mini website will not generate thousands of dollars every month; it might generate 100 bucks, for example. That is ok, if the effort involved in terms of creating this mini website is not too high; in this way, you could repeat the same business model again and again. Taking into consideration that every small business could generate around $100 every month, with ten niches, you could earn $1.000 monthly. Does this sound better? And what if you could create 50 websites?
The first step in this kind of business is always keyword research. You need to find small markets which do not have competition. Wordtrack is a very good tool to use for finding niche opportunities. For every keyword, it tells you the number of searches and how many results are found on each search engine. You need to pay special attention to the KEI column. KEI is the index that balances the number of searches and the number of competitors. The more searches and the fewer the competitors, the better for you. A KEI higher than 10 is good, but you should, ideally, look at keywords with a KEI over 100. More than 400 is a gift.
Once you have identified your niche, you need to find content for it. Don`t worry about which product you are going to sell; this will come later. The “fuel” of any Internet business is content. So where can you find content? Well, if you are an expert in an area, you could write your own articles, but if you are not, you have to look for content somewhere else.
There are many article directories that offer a lot of content that you can use. You can also find much content just by searching the web. Use search engines, find blogs, forums, websites, etc. Last, but not least, you can always find information as in “the old times,” go to the library or buy one or two books.
After you have found enough content, it is time to register a domain name. You should choose a name that has something to do with your target market, but if your intention is to create multiple mini websites, you don’t need to register a different domain name every time. You can save money by having one global domain name, and create sub domains for each business.
The question now is, “Since everything looks good, how do I make money with these sites?” You need to follow this 3 step formula (CTM):
- Create Content
- Generate Traffic
- Monetize your website
You can build traffic by optimizing the webpage content for the search engines and by analyzing your competitors in order to build a better SEO strategy (but this is another chapter). Blogging and pinging is a way to make sure that your site will be spidered by the search engines. Wordpress is a very good option for creating your blog, as it allows you to post, not only articles, but pages. You can easily build miniwebsites with Wordpress. Finally, there are three easy ways to earn money with your site.
1. Sell some product that you can create yourself. If you have this ability and you want to allow people to buy your products with a credit card, the easiest way is to create a Paypal account. If you don’t have one, visit http://www.paypal.com and create one.
2. Join affiliate programs. Find people who sell products related to your market niche and who have affiliate programs already set up. You will earn commissions just by selling other people’s items. A good place to find affiliate programs on products is http://www.clickbank.com.
3. Google Adsense. Create an account at Google Adsense and include Google ads on your site. Every time someone visits your site and clicks one of those ads, Google will share its profit with you.
Creating small businesses is like a game. They do not require high investment, but they will not make you rich either. However, if you start playing many of those games, it can become a serious business.
By: David RieweAbout the Author:
Discover how to Make Your Online Business An Outstanding Success with David Riewe’s FREE ezine “The Ultimate Marketing Tips” http://www.riewe.com
Loan Consolidation
May
20
Jody Gabourie wrote:
A niche market is simply a narrowed target market. Developing a niche takes some time, research and thought - but the results are worth it. You start by looking at several possibilities and narrowing it down based on several factors such as the fit between your business and the niche, the possibility for growth, and so on.
Below are 4 criteria to think about and explore when trying to choose the ideal niche for your company:
1. the niche “fits” you
* your unique knowledge, gifts and strengths are a match with the niche
* you like to work with these kinds of people and environments
* you can utilize your expertise in this area and become known as an expert
* you have contacts and/or experience with this niche
* you are passionate and knowledgeable about this specific niche’s issues and problems
2. the niche market is the right size
* not too large that it is impossible (in terms of money, time and resources) to market to it
* not too large that the big companies (who have the money, time and resources) have targeted it
* not too small that there is not enough people to justify and sustain your marketing and business efforts
3. there is competition in the niche
* if there is no competition it usually means that there is not enough demand for any products and services, and there doesn’t exist potential for growth in this niche
* you need to be sure that the people in this niche know they have a problem and are actively seeking a solution
* there should be potential for prospective partnerships and collaborations with other businesses serving the same niche market
4. The niche is reachable and receptive
* you have several different ways to connect with prospects and clients in this niche - i.e. media, publications, online and offline strategies, etc.
* you need to make sure there are several ways in which you can be highly visible to the people in this niche, i.e. writing, speaking or networking
* this niche market is open to getting help and spending money on products and services to aid them
Use these 4 points as a guide to helping you choose a particular group of people to offer your products and services to. Remember that when you choose a niche market to focus your marketing on, this doesn’t mean that you can’t work with others who may come to you - via your website, speaking engagements, referrals and so on. All it means is that your efforts and resources are focused on marketing to your niche and getting really well known in your niche.
Many people get panicked at the thought of having to choose one niche only and spending the rest of their business lives catering to them. Don’t forget that marketing is a process that changes and grows as you and your business evolves. You can always refine your niche market as you learn more and there’s nothing stopping you from having multiple businesses that cater to different niche markets!
Discussing Forex Trades
Dec
17
Jane Foster wrote:
In ecology, a niche refers to the place or position occupied by an organism or a population within an ecological community called the ecosystem. It is the term which defines the role the organism or the population plays in the general scheme of things. The niche an organism or a population holds is the one responsible for dictating the ability of the species to survive. It is the one which spells whether an organism or a population will perish or thrive.
In marketing, a niche refers to a service or a product that occupies a special area of demand. It is that small corner in the market that accounts for a certain kind of specialty concerning an unmet customer need. To be able to attract a strong, solid market, the choice of a niche product should ultimately complement the website one owns. It is through this scheme that he is able to generate a specific market for the niche product he is trying to sell.
Niches are involved in niche marketing, the process of finding market segments that are small but potentially profitable nonetheless. To maintain a profitable quantity of sales, this marketing strategy relies on increasing the loyalty of customers so that their corporate objectives will be met or surpassed. Illustrative of this is the fact that the quality of the product or service sold will generate customer satisfaction and, consequently, customer loyalty. The result is profitability garnered through a solid market base that trusts in the ability of the product or service to really deliver.
One of the great things about niche marketing is that it encourages those who indulge in it to be unique and one-of-a-kind. Here one is not forced into the lion?s den and made to compete against established marketers. He is made to occupy a strong and secure position that ultimately wins him a real place in the market. Niche marketing differs from other online marketing strategies because this particular quality allows it to operate almost autonomously and without having to contend with corporate sharks that tear each other to pieces.
One of the most important things that should be thought over by those involved in this type of business is the niche business that is going to be involved in the process. It is important to consider the type of business that one is going to work on to be able to ensure himself of the success that he hopes to have. It is also important for him to know everything about the niche business at hand. Learning the tricks of the trade in is one of the things that one could do to make a niche business prosper tremendously.
Being able to reach the niche market is another consideration to make. In doing so, one should know the exact phrases that people are searching for. The use of tools can help a lot in knowing the type of keywords that should be used to make the business profitable. Targeting the right keywords does a lot in making this type of business soar.
Those who engage in niche marketing know that determining the potential of a niche before doing everything else is a must if one wants to save all the time and effort that might be wasted if he plunges into everything head on. Building a niche marketing site that proves to be profitable should be done after an unsatisfied customer demand is identified, and marketing the site appropriately by reaching out to customers the best possible way is what niche marketers should consider if they want their business to reach skyrocketing success.
Is niche marketing needed in a world teeming with a hundred like systems designed for people to make money online? Those who know how the system works will answer in the affirmative, because niche marketing is the only system capable of filling up a gaping hole in the market by catering to the unsatisfied needs of customers - needs that are usually not given notice by those in the big league. Though niche marketing, one is able to gain a foothold in the market by being a needle in a haystack. Small and inconspicuous it may be, but its ability to sting someone so madly once it is found will render him more than surprised.
Auto Repair
Jul
20
Mike Schantz wrote: Many people are now turning to niche markets as they realize that generalized marketing is quite expensive, where niche marketing is cheaper and provides much better results. This type of marketing, actually studies into how certain customers decide to choose a certain service or product. Then a niche marketer works to understand this specific group and tailor make promotions to sell their product. So, if you are involved in niche marketing no doubt you can use some niche marketing tips to increase your profit.
Tip #1 - Use the Language of Your Niche Market - There are many great niche marketing tips; however, one of the most important is to make sure that you use the language of your niche market. When you are writing sales letters or web content directed towards your niche market, you will need to use their language. Using the language of your niche market helps you to approach your market as a peer instead of an outsider. If you can’t speak their language, they won’t hear you, so keep the language true to the market.
Tip #2 - Have a Unique Selling Proposition - Having your own unique selling proposition is another important niche marketing tip that you’ll need to use as well. Market saturation is continuing to increase, which means that more and more consumers are not becoming jaded. There are more advertisements in the market and they are bright and loud, which can cause ads to all start looking the same to the consumers. To stand out among the rest of the marketers in your niche, you’ll need to have a very unique selling proposition to draw customers.
Tip #3 - Research Your Consumer Base - If you are not familiar with your consumer base, there is no way you can successfully market to them. Another of the many important niche marketing tips is to make sure that you research your consumer base. You need to know everything you can about the consumer base and you may want to learn about any additional services that they want as well. This can help you avoid stagnation if you can develop other products for your niche market.
Tip #4 - Develop a Sub-Niche - Last of all, another helpful niche marketing tip is to develop a sub-niche. Believe it or not, developing a sub-niche can actually help you to expand your consumer base. For example, while women are a niche, a sub-niche could be women under the age of 30.
If you are involved in niche marketing today, you know how profitable it can be; however, there is always some room for improvement. Take these niche marketing tips and put them to use so you can increase your profits and become an even better niche marketer.
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