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Marketing Resource Center |
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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'tmeet the needs and wants of everyone, you would run yourselfragged trying :o( BUT ... that doesn't mean you throw your hands up in dispair andgive up ;o) Stick with me for a few minutes and we'll go over afew ideas that come to mind and see if they get your creativejuices flowing. Firstly, what the heck is a "Niche" anyway?? I mean I am sureyou have seen the word flying around the Internet and a lotmore lately. You've seen newsletter articles and email lettersfrom 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 aservice "marketing" to businesses. Now obviously the businessarena is too general so what I want to do is break it down intobite size sectors or smaller target markets. I may want to dealspecifically to the needs and wants of Dental Offices and decideto specialize in Dental Office Marketing. I could take on the legalsector 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 thebusiness sector down into target markets and the find the onesthat I want to specialize in and cater to that group specifically. Now, you may be thinking ok, that's good for you being a marketingcoach, but I am an affiliate for a progam...how does "nichemarketing" affect me? Glad you asked ;o) When people first come online with the desire to start somesort of eBusiness they typically go into the "emarketing" nicheand promote products/services with a marketing theme. It makessense from a marketing point of view, you go where there is demand. However, with demand also comes competition and the "onlinemarketing" arena is saturated and highly competitive. So...what do you do? Well, what you need to do is sit and think of markets outside ofthe "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 foryou. Lets say you are an affiliate for an autoresponder service. Excellent service because you know that anyone who startsa business online needs an autoresponder. While that is great,what isn't so hot is the fact that you are not the only autoresponderservice in cyber-land and they too are targeting the same nicheyou are. But...the difference between you and them is this article ;o) See, we all go for the obvious niche or target market when wesign onto an affiliate program. We go after the others just likeus and market to them. What we fail to do is find the OTHER niches or target markets out there that haven't heard of anautoresponder and have no idea what it is let alone how muchtime 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 allthe houses listed that week. The idea is that they go throughthese sheets and see if any of the houses peak their interestand then they are to call their Agent and ask to view them. It was an ok system, but imagine how much time and MONEYa Real Estate Agent could save if they had an autoresponderservice? All they would have to do is create the new listing templates,enter the email address and names of their client base (eventhat is automated) and blast out the new listings once a week,or more often if they wanted to. No more printing costs andgone are the mailing costs and the time factor you have savedthem is PRICELESS! See the potential here??? Are you beginning to get the idea about finding other marketsegments (customers) for your products/services?? If you are an affiliate for an autoresponder service youcould promote autoresponders to Dental Offices. Theysend out appointment reminder cards...imagine the costsavings for them if they had an autoresponder service,not to mention the time savings of having staff to sticklabels and post them out?? It is just a matter of seeing what they do and how yourservice can save them the time and money. AND...thebest part about this thinking is that not many take onthis 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 profitby creating a little niche site geared towards DJing.Your site could focus on showing someone how tobreak into the weekend DJ business and providesites that offer good DJ equipment (that you areaffiliated with of course). The idea about NICHE Marketing is that you DON'Thave 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 nicheslike; stop smoking, weight loss, online dating, modeltrains, travel, golf and yup even cooking. Don't limit yourself to the niche of online marketing.Step out and find other market segments that arenot being served or where there is limited competitionand build your niches around those. It's like taking apath 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 YouCould Accomplish With a Marketing Coach in Your BackPocket! Take the No Cost TEST DRIVE! http://www.profitspace.com/coach
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