We often stumble upon the term “niche” on the internet (or elsewhere) and assume that we know what it is all about. Most of us assume that niches are existing sub-sets of bigger market segments, while the fact is that niches do not exist in actuality; a particular niche is created and demarcated by a marketer based on the identification of specific needs and requirements of a potential base of clients. Niche Marketing gives you the power to specify exactly who you are marketing to which enables you to streamline your resources accordingly.

A Closer Look

A few days back, I came across this site http://www.domystuff.com/ which enables you to put up a proposal of the chores that you want to get done, followed by people bidding on how much they would charge to do them and finally selecting the best contender for the task. This is one amongst the thousands of brilliant niche marketing or micro marketing ideas that are afloat today.  Interestingly, an estimated 60 percent of such ideas end up in utter failure, while only about 40 percent of them meet the desired levels of success.

Why do niche marketing strategies fail?

Although there are several reasons for this, the prime reason is the fact that enthusiastic entrepreneurs assume that once they’ve defined a niche, it will automatically turn out to be profitable. A colleague of mine had come up with the novel idea of selling ice over the internet and kick-started the idea without proper research. In the end, he had to bid adios to a major chunk of his savings. Apart from lack of proper research before implementation, defining a niche that is too wide is another major faux pas, since it will only give you a vague idea of what your consumer wants. Several marketers use Google Analytics, Google AdWords Keyword Tool, Google Trends and so on to research and analyze the possibilities that potential customers would be interested in, while others just follow their lifelong passion. Whether it is a passion or a popular trend, it is highly essential to adjudge the economic viability and business prospects of catering to the particular niche.

5 Secret Ingredients for Niche Marketing Success

1.    Observe and identify needs that are largely unattended

There are no fixed ways to do this. You have the liberty to conduct online and offline surveys or look at social media conversations or even relate with your personal experiences. Be open to all sorts of ideas and don’t restrict your thoughts based on feasibility here, as this is only the first stage of defining your niche. Once you come up with a novel idea, the research aspect comes to play.

2.    Focus on your top 20 percent high paying customers

This is called the 80/20 Pareto Rule which states that one of the ways existing businesses can find their niche is by focussing on the top 20 percent of their high paying customers in terms of studying their behaviour in detail, reassessing their specific needs, asking them for feedback and referrals, expressing gratitude, making small gestures that make a big difference to them and eventually orienting your products or services to suit them the best. This enables you to define a profitable niche for your business.

3.    Traverse the areas that your competitors are neglecting

Very often, we try to imitate or copy what our competitors are doing. Instead, do a SWOT analysis of your competition and determine the areas that they are weak at or neglecting. Attempt to focus on those areas and see how it works out.

4.    Do your Homework well

Proper research is very important. Be very specific about whom you want to sell to, clearly define their needs and establish your financial prospects before you take the plunge.

5.    Don’t tread into a saturated market

Very often, entrepreneurs make the mistake of implementing an idea or trend that has caught up lately or has achieved phenomenal popularity in a short span of time. Very often, these markets are already saturated and new entrants have to struggle to establish themselves. Besides, tapping into a saturated market will not be as profitable as defining your niche where you have an upper hand.