Whatis a niche?
A niche is a specialized area of business with distinct characteristics that makes it unique from the general population. A niche can be even more specific when focusing on a cross-section of different audiences. For example, in the bicycle market, high-performance mountain bikes are a niche that appeals to adventurous bikers that ride over rough terrain. A more specialized niche within the same category could be high-performance mountain bikes for teens.
What is niche marketing?
Niche marketing is a method of learning as much as possible about a target market and using that information to attract a certain type of customer. Niche marketing usually focuses on attracting customers who are left out by mainstream products and need a unique solution to a problem.
For example, specialty foods are a popular niche market because of dietary restrictions. People who need to eat gluten-free, are vegan or avoid certain allergens are often neglected by mainstream snack manufacturers. Someone who wants to sell energy bars might have a hard time capturing market share and standing out from all the other energy bar companies, but by marketing their product to gluten-free vegans, they could immediately set themselves apart from competitors and gain interest from a highly motivated customer.
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Benefits of niche marketing
Taking a product or service to market often comes with the challenge of getting customers to notice your business and try it.Starting a business by marketing to a niche can help you find a foothold in a larger market by initially targeting niche customers and slowly expanding to reach a larger audience. While large corporations may have the capital to flood the market with advertising to build brand awareness, small businesses on a budget can directly reach their target customer using niche marketing methods.
People within niche markets often look for products to solve their specific problems, which means they search for and seek out products within their specific niche. When you build your brand around solving a problem, customers with that problem will often seek you out, which saves you money on traditional marketing methods.
Niche marketing can help business owners to get more out of their market research. Trying to appeal to everyone could be challenging, so researching the likes, dislikes and buying motivations of a specific group can result in highly effective advertising and customer outreach.
Niche marketing is also an excellent way to build relationships with a dedicated customer base who may then promote your brand and make repeat purchases. Having a group of core fans who make regular purchases can give your business reliable cash flow while you experiment with reaching out to other markets. If you know exactly how to appeal to one type of customer, it can be easier to make a sale once you reach out to them.
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Examples of successful niche marketing
Small businesses and large corporations alike have had great success with niche marketing strategies. Here are a few examples of how niche marketing can help businesses connect with their customers and generate sales:
Lume
Lume is a natural deodorant brand that attracts their target market through amusing video advertisements. Their niche marketing strategy focuses on telling customers how they’re different from both conventional deodorants and other natural deodorants. Lume’s target market is people who have sensitive skin that gets irritated by standard ingredients like aluminum and aren’t happy with other natural deodorants’ results. That may seem like a specific niche, but Lume’s collaboration with a marketing company receivedviral success for their creative videos that honed in on a unique problem of deodorant users.
BarkBox
BarkBox is a dog toy subscription service that regularly ships new, durable dog toys to pet owners. Their commercials explain that BarkBox is a great solution for pet owners who have dogs that destroy all of their toys. Many of their plush toys have a second toy hiding inside, showing their target customers that they can get value out of their toys even after their dog tears them open. BarkBox also connects with its niche through specialized customer service, sending personalized notes on customers’ pets’ birthdays and allowing owners to fully customize each box by size and type of toy.
Lefty’s
Lefty’s is a retail shop with a very clear target customer: left-handed people. About10% to 15%of the population is left-handed, so most manufacturers and businesses design hand tools and other goods for the remainder who are right-handed. Lefty’s recognized this niche and built a business specifically targeting lefties. Lefty’s makes specific products like left-handed scissors and left-handed notebooks, and the company’s name also acts as a quick explanation of their business.
Tips for finding a niche market
Before you can create a marketing strategy to reach your niche, you may want to think about your target market. Follow these steps to find a niche with great growth potential for your business:
Consider your interests
It’s typically easier to connect with a niche market if you already have personal insight and experience in that field. Think about what problems you have in your day-to-day life and how a business could help you solve them. Look at various services and products and consider how they could be more appealing to people who share your hobbies, interests or values. Many niche products can come from a business owner wanting to make their own life easier or create a product tailored to their lifestyle.
Do keyword research
If you don’t know where to start with finding a niche, try performing basic keyword research on what people search for online. You can find useful inspiration from the questions people enter into search engines. Your niche business could potentially be the answer to their questions.
Seek out communities
One of the benefits of marketing to a niche is that there are often existing communities of people within a niche who spend time together and discuss their shared interests or issues. Look for social media groups or in-person meet-ups where you could reach out to your target audience. Ask for feedback about what types of products and companies appeal to their community, then implement those ideas in your business. This way, you can perform market research while also building relationships with your target audience and creating word-of-mouth publicity.
