The Niche Factor

by F. Terrence Markle

Published on this site: July 2nd, 2005 - See more articles from this month...

What's all the talk about niche marketing? It's all about marketing to a special area of demand for a product or service! There are plenty of opportunities available if you haven't got into niches yet. As everyone knows… the Internet market is huge. Niches are everywhere and they are here to stay. Do the research and you can find one or more profitable niches that will make you smile all the way to the bank.

Should you pursue Internet marketing products or niche marketing?

There are a lot of newcomers and more experienced marketers anting to sell Internet marketing products. Unfortunately, it is the absolute worst choice unless you are an experienced and successful marketer! The arena is saturated with marketers that have a strong foothold and are not about to relinquish their firm grip. They are only interested in pushing their products. Can you blame them?

Forget it when the gurus say.. I want to see you succeed and I will show you how. What they really mean is.. "I want you on my prospect or customer list so I can promote my products and sell to you forever." It's a simple matter of protecting your turf.

Get smart and get the heck out of trying to sell Internet marketing products online. You are most likely setting yourself up for failure if you try to compete with the established marketers. Instead.. go after niche marketing with a passion. It's a very dynamic and wide open marketing opportunity.

What is niche marketing anyway?

Niche marketing has been around a long time. However, it is getting a lot more attention in Internet marketing and will continue to grow. A niche is a tightly defined group of potential customers with a specific "want or need".

Large businesses are not interested in small niche markets. They want to sell to the large masses. The niche marketer, however, can make a very comfortable living marketing the right product or service to a niche market. It's what I call the "Niche Factor".

The trick is to find a niche you can capitalize on and has a potential customer base with unsatisfied wants or needs. Develop a product or service to satisfy that customer base and you are on your way. Don't make the classical mistake of developing your product first and then trying to find a market for it. Fight the temptation and do it the right and profitable way.

Niche marketing is all about satisfying the wants or needs of a specific group of people. As an example, assume that an individual wanted information on "Louisville Slugger" baseball bats. The market segment could be "baseball", the niche could be "baseball equipment," the sub-niche could be "baseball bats" and the sub-sub-niche could be "Louisville Slugger baseball bats". This classification could go down to even deeper levels depending on the market category.

A focused or tightly defined niche will enable you to assess the worthiness of the potential market. You need to be unique and highly specialized in order to define a niche where you can compete on a level playing field.

The Internet has tons of information on just about any topic you can possibly imagine. People are always searching for products and services on the Internet. Most individuals want free information. If necessary, however, they are willing to spend money for the right information.

There are more niche markets than you can shake a stick at. You can put just about any keyword or keyword phrase into a major search engine and get back search results that range in a huge number of sites to just a handful. No matter what your skill, hobby or special interest.. you can rest assured other people are looking for information on that specific topic.

Find out what people are searching for and develop or acquire a product or service to sell to them that satisfies their wants or needs. Just make sure it's in a profitable niche.

How do you identify your niche market?

This is the most critical area of niche marketing. You need to research and analyze the supply and demand of potential niches before you rush out and build your website. The niche has to have enough potential customers willing and able to spend their hard-earned money on a product or service they want or need.

You need to carefully look at your skills, interests, hobbies and any other factors that could influence your decision in selecting a niche market. Make a list of all the possible things you could market to a specific niche market. You need to brainstorm and let your imagination run wild. You will be surprised at the number of items you wind up putting on your list.

You can develop your own product or service after you identify a niche but it's not absolutely necessary. You do not need to be an expert in your selected niche. The ability to research your niche, analyze the profit potential and select a product or service are the key requirements.

If you are unable to develop your own product, you can always find an expert to provide you with valuable content or someone to develop a product for you at a negotiated price. Look at your likes and dislikes very carefully before deciding on a niche market to service. It will be a tough road to walk down if you hate doing whatever is required to satisfy your niche market.

Summary and Conclusion

First, select a niche based on the items previously discussed. Second, determine if a demand exists in your chosen niche by using the available research tools like Overture, Wordtracker, etc. Third, perform whatever tests are necessary to determine if there is potential for profit in your selected niche. Fourth, analyze the information you acquired and determine whether to proceed in servicing the niche. Fifth, develop or acquire a product or service to satisfy the wants or needs of your niche.

Unless you already sell a profitable Internet marketing product or service, do not waste your time trying to sell Internet marketing information to all the other marketers. It's a dead-end situation and only a very small number of newcomers or semi-experienced marketers will be successful at breaking through the barriers. The odds for success are stacked against you. The established and profitable marketers selling Internet marketing information only want to sell you their products.

Why fight it? Capitalize on the "niche factor" and look for a profitable niche market where you can satisfy the wants and needs of the potential customers in that niche. Do not try to be everything to everybody. Be unique and specialize in your niche or niches.

Sell a product or service tailored to meet the requirements of your niche market and you will earn a respectable if not a significant income. If you are really motivated, develop multiple sources of income by catering to multiple profitable niches.

Do yourself a gigantic favor and pursue niche marketing and not the marketing of Internet marketing products. Pursue niches where you can make money and not be just another starving and dissatisfied marketer!

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