Tool Box
Issue No. 48 - August/September 2009
The benefits of niche marketing
by Carol Haslam
The more closely you can define and pinpoint your target market, the more success you’re likely to enjoy.
Many businesses make the mistake of trying to be “all things to all people”. You’re better off choosing the markets you want to target and then focusing exclusively on serving these segments better than anyone else.
Specialise — don’t generalise. Choose niche markets that are both easily identifiable and accessible. Carefully examine the results you’ve achieved up to this point. Chances are the 80/20 rule, also known as the Paredo Principle, comes into play here. This concept states that 80% of your business comes from just 20% of your customers. Run the numbers and see if this idea is accurate in your experience. In most cases, it is.
The next obvious step is to review those 20% of customers who account for 80% of your business. Do they fit into a particular niche that’s identifiable and accessible? Perhaps the top 20% of your customers live in the same neighbourhood, a characteristic not shared by the other 80%. Or, it could be that the top 20% fit into specific occupational or special-interest groups.
It may be your top 20% consists of a variation of professional occupations like architects, dentists an chiropractors. In this case, each group could represent a specific niche and each niche may require a separate marketing approach – one that ‘speaks’ to them as special members of their peer group. In seeking a niche in which to focus your marketing effort, select a target group with an already established ‘want’ for what you offer. Success is much faster and more of a sure thing wherever there’s the likelihood of a strong desire for the benefits and advantages your product or service offers.
Don’t try to create a desire for your product; find where that desire and demand already exist, then offer your superior solution in the most advantageous and appealing way. As marketing consultant, Anthony Bl...
