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Niche Market,
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Niche market is a narrowly focused of a particular market and address the need for particular product or service. Your "niche" is either your passion (you love it!) or for your profit (you don't love it, but it's a money-maker).
By focusing, you will be able to customize your marketing strategy and then market directly to the group of people that actually need your services. You will be able to market better to the small group and provide a great service to the potential demand that any mainstream supply has overlooked. Because these small groups are already thirsty for supply waiting for you to help them out, a well tailored niche market can be very profitable if you create awareness around your product and services.
We all know that the main reason if not the only reason, we venture into business is to make money. OK, you are wondering if it’s that obvious… Well, it no brainier! What you need to know is that people buy from someone they like, trust and respect. To earn the respect of your targeted niche visitors, who will later graduate into customers and further graduate to repeat customers, your site need to over deliver high-value contents and your visitors need to know that they are gaining, I mean really gaining from your site. Imagine the first time you visit our site, would you have come back or read through some articles if it is not relevant to you?
You need to give as much useful information as possible to create awareness in your niche market to make it worth the effort.
First Thing First …
Think about something you like, love or passionate to do and you have knowledge about it or you are willing to research more and use it as your niche market. Your success is based on the efforts you are able to put in to your business, so it is extremely important that you choose something that excite you.
So I ask you...
Who wouldn't want to make money from their hobby?
Who wouldn't want to make money from something they enjoy doing and they’re going to do anyway? Or
Who wouldn’t want to make money doing something that they know there is already a demand waiting for someone to fill the gap that the mainstream market overlooked?
If you are able to relate to at least one of those questions, then …
Target a tiny and narrow niche of product or services you know best. As a general rule, make sure the scope of your niche is not too broad that you cannot manage and not too tight that that you exclude potential customers from buying your products, services or clicking on your ads – You want your niche to be able to sustain you at the beginning and then turn into huge success after you’ve applied other monetization options. Knowing your targeted audience within your niche is very critical and will help you in building a great content.
You need to do your visibility survey about your potential customers and ask yourself the following questions to be able to get your ideal customers:
- Is my ideal customer young, middle age or senior?
- Are the predominantly male or female?
- Are they financially secure of budget minded?
- What are their interests, what excites them, what do they like for leisure?
- What are their pressing concerns?
- What are the keywords they are likely to type into the search engine?
- What problems do they have?
- In what way can I help them solve their problem?
- Is my product solving a particular problem or multiple problems?
Knowing your target customers will help you to plan your market very well and you may even learn to “talk the talk” if necessary to relate to your customers better.
Is it too late to enter the overcrowded market?
It’s never too late to get started; the result you get will depend on the efforts you are able to invest into your business. However, there are some “gorilla” markets like Amazon and eBay that may be tough to try and grasp their market share and compete directly against - they already have the first-movers advantage. The good news is the market is so huge that even the kid that has not been born will grow up to make his/her million online one day – if that is a comfort, then don’t be discourage or worry about the time you join. Rather, take it that NOW is your TIME.
Because there are competitions in most niches makes it to be more interesting and every little difference you make, every little effort you are able to add into your business that makes your business stands out will help you to create your own “Brand of One”, and set you apart from your competitor. This does not come easy, you will need to put your “thinking caps” on and do above and beyond what the customers are currently experiencing.
To have the competitive edge over your competitors, watch out for new products in your niche, evaluate it, and get the word out quickly to your list, e-zines and other marketing tools available at your disposal. The quicker you act the better for both positioning and marketing.
Your ability to be creative and incorporate your own ideas about how to add more value, I mean really huge value into your product will help you to tap into the already crowded market and get you your own share.
How to be a “First-Mover” – #1 in the Market
Positioning is very important in your niche market, as we all know that almost anything you can think of selling is already on the Web, so what you need to do once you’ve figured your niche market is to take the existing product and create a different game plan for it ( a face lift), new dimension and focus to differentiate yourself from your competitor.
If you present your product very well and your offer to target a specific niche, you can sell your product higher than your competition and the key is to narrow your niche and focus on a particular key point. When you are #1 on your field, you will be the first on people’s mind and once you’ve master one niche, go ahead and find another niche where you have a chance to be #1.
There is no market out there with zero competition, besides you don’t want a market where there is no supplier already. You don’t want to be in your own island alone. After improving on your niche market, you can now use customer satisfaction survey or any other survey method of your choice to find out what your customer would like to have that is not already being provided. This would give you an idea to create a product or service based on the fact that there is a need and it will then place you in the first-mover’s place - you can then expand on it and dominate that market.
You have to come up with information about product ideas, research the market, and create the product from brainstorming to launching without holding anything back. If your niche is to provide information, you should five your swipe files and a ready to use template that will make the life of your user easier “product in a box” crate a comprehensive detailed package without holding anything back. One thing is, such services are considered premium and they are not cheap – but it will set you apart.
Remember, everything that looks great today actually start as a tiny little gesture, idea, advice or a request. It only grows when you act on it and add value as much as you humanly possibly can.
Is Affiliate Marketing a good place to start?
As a newbie, it is always advisable to research your market very well first, affiliating with an existing marketer may be a good place to start and test the market. You can then improve on existing market that you fell in love with and use it as a base to create your own product or service. It can also help to serve as a fuel that will help you to fund your business until you are able to build your own product - Learn more about affiliate marketing that you can use as one of your niche market.
What you need to succeed in your niche market?
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Albert Schweitzer.
Albert Schweitzer rightly said it in its quote, love, passion and knowledge is the most important tool you would need to give you insight on how to construct and present to your niche market to be successful. Your thoughts will flow better when you are writing about something you know and like, you will feel free without any obligation to do more research when you are in doubt and going the extra mile, which will not just help your business but help you to know more about your passion – talking of a win-win situation!
You need to understand the true profit potential of your niche to help guide you about how to approach your set up along with the other monetization options available from the beginning - this will help to set you up correctly once and for all.
What you need to be above your competitor is just a slight edge – your wiliness to improve yourself and familiarize yourself within your niche will set you above your competitor. You can get this by doing one or all the followings …
- Take advantage of our site by reading some of our articles that relates to your niche or even ask submit your specific topic of interest for review
- You can buy books, e-books, tutorial DVDs or attend trainings or
- You can register for special tutoring with some of the internet gurus who have successfully done tons of internet products and promotions and tap into their knowledge so that you can gain ideas of how you can improve your business – warning! This option is not cheap
One of the most important things you need is the ability to write a good and convincing content that will grasp your reader’s attention and get you the sales. When it comes to business and sales, the QUALITY of clicks is what matters not the quantity.
You will have a higher quality of traffic if the quality of your content is good and you will get more sales as a result.
Copywriting skill is essential to promote your business and the most valuable skill you can ever own as an entrepreneur.
To get your niche marketing started, get a free copywriting mini-course from Perry Marshall
Resources to Succeed – "To Do’s"
- Find reliable sites to educate yourself – our site is one of them and probably the most reliable
- Look for reasonably cost, within your budget educational resources (books, e-books, training etc.)
- Some real life gurus are willing to share their experience and expertise and insight for a price – Not cheap
- Tools to automate your process are available to use and they are relatively cheap
- Look for Fulfillment services if your product is physical
- Another thing to your advantage is that people are now less skeptical and more comfortable about buying on-line this is a plus and a guarantee that your business will survive if you have great products and services
“3 Steps” How-To
Step #1. For any niche you've chosen, RESEARCH your market very well, you can not do too much research – it will get you out of future regrets. You should know more about your competitors, what they do, how they do it and how you can do it even better. Make sure you are meeting the unique needs of your niche and you have your specific solution plans in place. Use the information to write your main contents (Home Page)
Step #2. Look for other MONITIZATION OPTIONS - you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket. The more sources of income in your business, the better, it will keep you focus to fix what is not working when you have other source that is working and generating revenue to sustain your business. The information here will go into your navigational pages
Step #3. More detail drilling into your niche market to get the ACCESSORIES that your visitors will need or that is required to actually perform their activities. This step may or may not be necessary depending on your niche market.
For example, if your niche marketing is about “Golf “, you may want to use this opportunity to search for golf school, golf resorts, golf equipment, where to get PGA instructor or how to play better e-book …
Action Plans
The following action plan is not one size fit all kind of a thing; feel free to customize it to fit your own niche. You may need one or combine multiple to suite your need, use it as a guide to give you an insight on your possible action plan guide.
Action Plans for Step #1
- Do you know how many people are buying cars on eBay and then have them shipped to their state rather than having to go and pick up and drive down? Then imagine if you can provide them with the company that they can trust enough to bring their precious car to their final destination - you've just solve somebody's problem - think along this line, imagine a problem and find out how you can help to solve it
- Research your possible problem and see if there is anybody providing a possible solution or thinking in that line – Google is a great search engine for research
- Search Amazon for great authors on your niche market and watch out for topics with lots of books and resources available. The more resources, books, interests available on a topic means it is a healthy market – It’s a clue for you to know that you're not alone
- Create a great content, say the right things, speak your visitor’s language, to pre-sell your product or services
- Place your ad where you know your market will look
- Finally, TEST your niche market to see if it is something that can bring you money, if it works, good luck; if not, quickly move to another niche – back to RESEARCH face
Action Plans for Step #2
- Depending on your niche market you can use this page to sell paraphernalia, Google Ads, Auctions, affiliate links, get finders fee or referral income from major companies relating to your niche. Your monetization options depend on your business theme, your creativity and interest
Action Plans for Step #3
- Interview authors, judges or recipients on a particular subject matter
- Create a review on most popular companies in your niche
- Check magazines for articles - make sure you get permission to publish their link on your site as a return for their favor
- Allow your visitors to contribute their opinion on related but interesting subject
- Educate your visitors about cost and possible duration if you are promoting a class, training or a course
- Interview current schools or students if you are promoting a class and link the MP3 version of the interview on your website
Make sure your love and passion for your niche shows in your content, give as much information as you possible can regarding your niche - give your thirsty market what they want and need with how you can solve their problem.
Don’t say what you cannot do; honesty is the best policy that can get you a repeat business. Treat your customer as you would love to be treated and the sky is your limit.
Wish you best of luck in your niche market search.
Abby Lawal
P.S. Remember, one of the most important assets you can add to yourself is your ability to write great contents,
don’t forget to get your must-have skill that will help you to promote your business – take advantage of Perry Marshall’s free mini course.
