An Approach on Having a New Niche Market
Author : Mike Paetzold
Most companies advise their marketing to select niche audiences. Even the country’s largest manufacturers target thoroughly the identified market sectors to maximize the effectiveness of their programs and often undertake different niches for each product group.
Niche marketing can be extremely cost-effective. For instance, imagine that you offer a product or service that is suitable for a selected demographic or ethnic group in your area. You could advertise on ethnic radio stations, which in fact have considerably lower rates than those stations that program for a wide-range of audiences. With this, 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 expand your business as long as you keep in mind some important rules:
1. Know their unique needs. The benefits you promise must have extraordinary appeal to the market niche. Identify the unique needs of your potential customers, and look for means to customize your product or service to meet them. Start by considering all the product or service variations you might offer.
2. Say the right thing. When approaching a new market niche, it is necessary 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 and not as an outsider. In addition to introducing a unique campaign for the new niche, you may need to revise other, more basic elements, such as your company slogan if it translates poorly to another language.
In instances where taking on a new niche market is not impacted by a change in language or customs, it is still imperative to understand its members’ key issues and how they prefer to communicate with companies like yours.
3. Do test-market. Before moving ahead, assess the direct competitors you will find in the new market niche and determine how you will position against them. For an overview, it is best to perform a competitive analysis by reviewing competitors’ ads, flyers, brochures and Web sites, looking for their key selling points, along with pricing, delivery and other service features.
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 purchase. However, it is also likely that many companies have tried and failed to infiltrate this group. Always test-market carefully to determine the market’s receptiveness to your product or service and message. Then move cautiously to keep your risks manageable.
Niche Marketingis about targeting a certain market with the same interests that you have. It sells a specific product for a certain market
