Niche
Marketing for Your Business
Most companies, whether big
or small, direct their marketing to select
niche audiences. Even the country's largest
manufacturers target carefully pinpoint market
segments to maximize the effectiveness of their
programs and often tackle different niches for
each product group.
Hewlett-Packard, for
example, markets all-in-one machines that
print, fax and scan to segments of the
home office market, while targeting
larger businesses for higher-priced,
single-function units.
Niche marketing can be
extremely cost-effective. For instance, imagine
you offer a product or service that's
just right for a select demographic or ethnic
group in your area, such as Hispanics or
Asians. You could advertise on ethnic radio
stations, which have considerably lower rates
than stations that program for broader
audiences. So your marketing budget would go a
lot further, allowing you to advertise with
greater frequency or to use a more
comprehensive media mix.
Taking on a new niche can be a low-risk way
to grow your business, as long as you keep in
mind several important rules:
1. Meet their unique needs. The
benefits you promise must have special appeal
to the market niche. What can you provide
that's new and compelling? Identify the unique
needs of your potential audience, and look for
ways to tailor your product or service to meet
them.
Start by considering all the product or
service variations you might offer. When it
comes to marketing soap, for example, not much
has changed over the years. But suppose you
were a soap maker and you invented a
new brand to gently remove chlorine
from swimmers' hair. You'd have something
uniquely compelling to offer a niche
market--from members of your neighborhood pool
to the Olympic swim team.
2. Say the right
thing. When approaching a new market
niche, it's imperative to speak their language.
In other words, you should understand the
market's "hot buttons" and be prepared to
communicate with the target group as an
understanding member--not an outsider. In
addition to launching a unique campaign for the
new niche, you may need to alter other, more
basic elements, such as your company slogan if
it translates poorly to another language, for
example.
In instances where taking on a new niche
market is not impacted by a change in language
or customs, it's still vital to understand its
members' key issues and how they prefer to
communicate with companies like yours. For
example, suppose a business that
markets leather goods primarily to men through
a Web site decides to target working women.
Like men, working women appreciate the
convenience of shopping on the Web, but they
expect more content so that they can
comprehensively evaluate the products and the
company behind them. To successfully increase
sales from the new niche, the Web marketer
would need to change the way it communicates
with them by expanding its site along with
revising its marketing message.
3. Always
test-market. Before moving ahead, assess
the direct competitors you'll find in the new
market niche and determine how you will
position against them. For an overview, it's
best to conduct a competitive analysis by
reviewing competitors' ads, brochures and Web
sites, looking for their key selling points,
along with pricing, delivery and other service
characteristics.
But what if there is no existing
competition? Believe it or not, this isn't
always a good sign. True, it may mean that
other companies haven't found the key to
providing a product or service this niche will
want to buy. However, it's also possible that
many companies have tried and failed to
penetrate this group. Always test-market
carefully to gauge the market's receptiveness
to your product or service and message. And
move cautiously to keep your risks
manageable.
Companies spend tens of thousands of pounds
with agencies developing a USP but it is a
process and you can do it yourself. Just go to
http://YOURID.yourusp.hop.clickbank.net
and see how you can do
this for yourself and save thousands of pounds.
You will then be able to leave your competition
behind and watch your profits increase every
month.
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