Niche Marketing, Niche Marketing Strategy, Target Marketing

These days, it seems like every idea for a startup business, whether small, medium or big, has been done already. We’re inclined to agree with this belief, with one caveat – any business idea can work of you find the niche in that market, and develop a niche marketing campaign that can allow you to own that particular corner of the industry.

The problem is that when people have a new business idea or are looking into starting up a business, it can quickly become overwhelming.  Before you know it, your desire to offer everything to everyone means that your business has lost all focus – and now you’ve got no customers at all!

So, if you have a business idea that you’d like to develop into your own startup business, do the research. Visit other businesses in your market, both online and online. See what they’re doing, and if they maybe have overlooked a crucial segment of their customer base.

Another fundamental research technique is looking at the general trends of customers, both for your market and as a whole.  Factors like the economy, the ease of Internet shopping, the increase in people working from home, food or entertainment trends, the season’s must-have product or service, or even what celebrities are into right now can spark an idea for the perfect niche market.

Once you have come up with a few ideas, test them out on your existing or potential customers.  They are your best focus group! See what need they have for your niche product or service, and try some of your best niche marketing ideas on them and pay attention to their responses.

As for the actual marketing of your niche, you have the opportunity to gain a loyal following if you know your target demographic.  For example, let’s say you owned a hair salon, and your niche market was to older women.  Your niche marketing campaign might highlight the need to cover up gray hair, or to tap into the anxieties surrounding high school reunions, or perhaps say that for this anniversary, look as good as you did the day he proposes.

With niche marketing, you don’t have to be all things to all people – you can tap into the specific needs of a smaller group of customers, and through their loyalty you can bring in more business – and can even expand your business.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3