What is Niche Marketing?
It is a very effective and profitable way to advertise and sell specific products or services to a targeted audience.
The word ‘niche’ is defined as: “A special area of demand for a product or service”. ‘Marketing’ is defined as: “The opportunity to buy or sell”. If you put the two words together, it means buying or selling a product or service in a special area of demand.
It must be designed to meet the unique needs of a targeted audience. Entrepreneurs must tailor their niche to meet those unique needs.
If, for example, you have designed something to make poodle grooming easy enough for the untrained, those who own poodles will be most interested in your solution to their problem. Those who own Blood Hounds or cats couldn’t care less.
If you have written an e-Book that will explain how to start and succeed at an online business, those who are looking for that information are your niche market. Those who are happy doing what they are doing are not interested in it at all.
One of the things that make it so attractive to sellers is that their advertising budgets go further. It costs less to advertise online than it does to advertise to a broader market, therefore much more profitable.
What Niche Marketing is Not
It is not about trying to sell to the world at large. As a small businessperson, you couldn’t afford that kind of multi-million dollar advertising. It isn’t possible. You can, however, with only a computer; an Internet connection and a good idea sell to a smaller audience and make good money.
It is not about trying to compete. Competition is taken out of the equation. You aren’t out there in the world lined up beside or behind a million competitors who are selling the same thing you are. You are selling to a targeted audience that you have created for yourself.
It is not about selling to different people every day of the week. Once you have your list built, you can sell to the same clients again and again. By taking time and putting forth enough effort to get to know who are interested and are buyers you can continue to sell to them.
It is not about focusing on the big picture. It is about focusing on the small niches and the smaller the better. Narrowing your niche down to very specific customers assures you of gaining a share of the cake.
The world is a big place and there are billions of people. You only need an infinitesimal portion of the population to have a huge list of potential buyers.
It is about looking closely at the possibilities. Small niche possibilities converted to sales can be very profitable.
What Niche Marketing Really Is
It is just one of those hard, cruel facts of life that the big boys have all the money they need to advertise and sell their products. Competing with them isn’t feasible…or possible, for that matter. So what are little guys supposed to do?
Niche targeting is the answer. We can advertise online to the world at large. One person with a computer, an internet connection and a good idea can go into business for himself and target those who would be most interested in what he has to sell.
All of the above can be done on a very limited budget.
Finding the right niche isn’t really all that difficult. Just think about whom the customers are who would be most interested in what you have to sell.
For example, if you have concocted a shampoo formula that will take chlorine out of a person’s hair, you can’t be competitive with giant companies that sell shampoo, but you can narrow it down to a niche and target sales to those who have swimming pools.
You buy a domain, get a server and build a website to advertise your product JUST to people who have swimming pools.
In essence, niche marketing is selling something to those who want or need it the most.
