by Tim Whiston
The Web is a big place, and while it can technically never get “full”, the playing field now feels smaller than it did a few years ago. There are literally millions of businesses and individuals selling products and services online, and competition can be extremely fierce in some markets.
While a true abundance mindset rejects the idea of competition and realizes there is more than enough for everyone, it still makes sense to avoid jumping into the fray with thousands of sites that are selling almost identical products to the ones you are offering. You can make a lot more money with much less effort by narrowing your focus to a niche market.
The term “niche marketing” gets used a lot online, but most of the time it’s not used correctly. A niche, in terms of marketing, is a relatively small group of customers who have very specific interests and/or needs.
Targeting a niche makes it easier for you to create profits for a couple of reasons:
1. You are marketing to a group of people with very specific needs. In many cases these folks actively want the solution you are offering.
2. There is almost always less (even minimal) competition when you are targeting a niche because few online businesses will take the time to research these smaller market segments. Most marketers go for the broad markets, leaving many lucrative niches pretty much untapped.
It should be pretty clear how your business could benefit from focusing on niche marketing. But what is less obvious for many entrepreneurs is how to do this; i.e. many people confuse the concept of a niche with that of a specific market.
When asked to list a few niches, many people would come up with answers such as horse training, weight loss, and home improvement. These are sincere responses, but they are not niche markets by any stretch of the imagination.
Each of the above markets is very broadly defined. To find a niche, one must more narrowly refine his or her search into a broad market.
On this premise, horse-training equipment for left-handed children might be a niche worth exploring.
As would safe weight loss strategies for men over 40 who are recovering from alcoholism.
By the same token, another possible niche market would be adding bay windows to second story rooms to enhance both interior lighting and equity value.
Are you beginning to see the difference in a broad market and a tightly focused niche? The examples above are totally made up off the cuff, and may or may not be profitable; but hopefully you see the point I’ve used them to illustrate.
While a broad market may have millions of consumers, it also probably has at least tens of thousands of qualified businesses working hard to sell to these prospects. On the other hand, a good niche with only a few thousand customers may have just one or two merchants currently catering to their needs.
As an online marketer you could earn a substantial living with a few hundred core customers. And if you are among the first to discover the potential of a certain niche, you can position yourself very strongly in the eyes of your target prospects and generate sales without a lot of hard work.
It only takes a little research to find a good niche. By spending a few hours of your time looking for a very focused group of consumers you could literally set yourself up for massive success on a long-term basis.
Niche Marketing: What Exactly Is It?
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