| "A
niche market enables you to target your sales
message..."
Find
a Niche Target Market
What
is your target market?
When I ask business owners that question I usually
hear something like...
* Small Business Owners
* Opportunity Seekers
* Doctors
* Homeowners
Do you define the targeted market for your business
similar to one of these? If you do, you're working
harder and spending more money than necessary
to promote your business. And you're enjoying
only a fraction of the sales you should be getting.
Most business owners recognize the value of
targeting a market. But when you target a broad
audience like those listed above, you're only
targeting prospects who CAN use your product
or service. You have to narrow your focus if
you want to target prospects who are LIKELY
to use your product or service. One of the best
ways to do this is to find a niche market.
WHAT
IS A NICHE MARKET?
A
niche market is a narrowly defined group that
includes all of the following:
1. Individuals in the group have the same specialized
interests and needs.
2. They have a strong desire for what you offer.
3. You have (or you can create) a compelling
reason for prospects in the group to do business
with you instead of with someone else.
4. You can easily reach individual prospects
within the group.
5. The group is large enough to produce the
volume of business you need.
6. The group is small enough that your competition
is likely to overlook it.
WHY
YOU MUST NARROW YOUR FOCUS
A
niche market enables you to target your sales
messages with great precision. The more narrowly
you define your niche market the easier it is
to cater to the specifically defined interests
of people in that market. For example, some
businesses describe their target market as "opportunity
seekers". But this is a broad audience. You
cannot cater to specifically defined personal
interests of individuals in this group because
it may include all of the following:
* Executives who want to get out of the corporate
environment and start their own business
* New mothers who want to start a home based
business
* Students who want to generate some extra income
Any promotional message to this group would
have to be very general. But people don't respond
to general talk. They respond only when they
feel you are talking directly to them about
their individual needs.
SPECIAL
ADVANTAGE: A highly defined, small niche
market can insulate you from competition. Other
small businesses are likely to overlook it.
Large businesses will find the market segment
too small to bother with.
HOW TO FIND YOUR OWN NICHE MARKET
One way to find a good niche market is to evaluate
your existing customers. Can you uncover a segment
of customers with similar characteristics? For
example, I recently talked with an MLM distributor
for a health products company. About a year
ago she noticed that many distributors in her
downline were health or physical education teachers.
She now has a lot of success targeting a niche
market of female physical education teachers
who are married, have children and are members
of the same professional association. Another
way to find a niche market is to work backward
from the benefits you offer. Start by listing
all the benefits provided by your product or
service. Then list some of the characteristics
of prospects whose current situation can be
dramatically improved by those benefits. You
should begin to see a narrowly defined group
emerge as a niche market.
IT'S
YOUR BOTTOM LINE
Is your target market specific enough that you
can you develop sales messages so sharply focused
that prospects believe you're talking specifically
about them? If not, use the information in this
article to help you find a niche market of your
own. Then tailor your sales messages to the
specific interests and needs of that niche market.
You'll see an immediate increase in your sales
and profits.
Written
by: Bob Leduc 11/18/2000
TARGET MARKETING STRATEGY -- FIND YOUR OWN NICHE
MARKET
Copyright 2000 By Bob Leduc
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting
sales personnel and developing sales leads.
He is now a Sales Consultant. Bob recently wrote
a manual for small business owners titled "How
to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple
Postcards" and several other publications to
help small businesses grow and prosper. For
more information... Email: BobLeduc@aol.com
Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (702) 658-1707
(After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc,
PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
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