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Niches - The Path to More Profits
Hey, as business owners we CAN'T be all things for all customers. I mean it would be fantastic if we could, however, you just can't meet the needs and wants of everyone, you would run yourself ragged trying :o( BUT ... that doesn't mean you throw your hands up in dispair and give up ;o) Stick with me for a few minutes and we'll go over a few ideas that come to mind and see if they get your creative juices flowing. Firstly, what the heck is a "Niche" anyway?? I mean I am sure you have seen the word flying around the Internet and a lot more lately. You've seen newsletter articles and email letters from some of the top guru's now sprouting "Niche" as the new "catch" word of the time. The term is NOT NEW. Basically a "niche" is finding a specific target market and catering to their specific wants and needs. Ummm let me give you an example... As a marketing coach/consultant my business is providing a service "marketing" to businesses. Now obviously the business arena is too general so what I want to do is break it down into bite size sectors or smaller target markets. I may want to deal specifically to the needs and wants of Dental Offices and decide to specialize in Dental Office Marketing. I could take on the legal sector and specialize in marketing legal practices. Get where I am going here?? I can't be all things to all businesses out there, so I break the business sector down into target markets and the find the ones that I want to specialize in and cater to that group specifically. Now, you may be thinking ok, that's good for you being a marketing coach, but I am an affiliate for a progam...how does "niche marketing" affect me? Glad you asked ;o) When people first come online with the desire to start some sort of eBusiness they typically go into the "emarketing" niche and promote products/services with a marketing theme. It makes sense from a marketing point of view, you go where there is demand. However, with demand also comes competition and the "online marketing" arena is saturated and highly competitive. So...what do you do? Well, what you need to do is sit and think of markets outside of the "online marketing" arena which could also use your products/ services and target your messages specifically to them. Umm I feel an example coming on here...ah ok, here is one for you. Lets say you are an affiliate for an autoresponder service. Excellent service because you know that anyone who starts a business online needs an autoresponder. While that is great, what isn't so hot is the fact that you are not the only autoresponder service in cyber-land and they too are targeting the same niche you are. But...the difference between you and them is this article ;o) See, we all go for the obvious niche or target market when we sign onto an affiliate program. We go after the others just like us and market to them. What we fail to do is find the OTHER niches or target markets out there that haven't heard of an autoresponder and have no idea what it is let alone how much time we can save them. I am thinking about niches like, oh...perhaps Real Estate Agents. A few friends are in the market for a new house. Every week they get in the mail (snail mail) the new listing sheets for all the houses listed that week. The idea is that they go through these sheets and see if any of the houses peak their interest and then they are to call their Agent and ask to view them. It was an ok system, but imagine how much time and MONEY a Real Estate Agent could save if they had an autoresponder service? All they would have to do is create the new listing templates, enter the email address and names of their client base (even that is automated) and blast out the new listings once a week, or more often if they wanted to. No more printing costs and gone are the mailing costs and the time factor you have saved them is PRICELESS! See the potential here??? Are you beginning to get the idea about finding other market segments (customers) for your products/services?? If you are an affiliate for an autoresponder service you could promote autoresponders to Dental Offices. They send out appointment reminder cards...imagine the cost savings for them if they had an autoresponder service, not to mention the time savings of having staff to stick labels and post them out?? It is just a matter of seeing what they do and how your service can save them the time and money. AND...the best part about this thinking is that not many take on this sort of business stance. Now lets get away from the "online marketing niche" for a second and think of other ways of creating profit through niches. Another thing is to look to your hobbies and interests. Lets say you dabble at DJing on the weekends as a hobby. With that very hobby you could create profit by creating a little niche site geared towards DJing. Your site could focus on showing someone how to break into the weekend DJ business and provide sites that offer good DJ equipment (that you are affiliated with of course). The idea about NICHE Marketing is that you DON'T have to stick within the "Online Marketing" niche. You can find a niche based on an affiliate program, a hobby or a special interest. Some of the top marketers have found other niches like; stop smoking, weight loss, online dating, model trains, travel, golf and yup even cooking. Don't limit yourself to the niche of online marketing. Step out and find other market segments that are not being served or where there is limited competition and build your niches around those. It's like taking a path of least resistance and a path to more profits! Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach writing from her home office in Northern Ontario (Canada). Imagine What You Could Accomplish With a Marketing Coach in Your Back Pocket! Take the No Cost TEST DRIVE! http://www.profitspace.com/coach
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